Don McCullin

Don McCullin

West Hartlepool in 1968

Don McCullin a British Photojournalist born on October 9th 1935. He is particularly known for his war photography. His photojournalism career began is 1959. His career has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed and downtrodden.

At the age of 13 he received a scholarship for painting to the Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts but when his father died, when Don was just 15, he was forced to go into work. For his national service he joined the RAF. He became a photographic assistant, working on aerial reconnaissance printing. He failed to pass the written theory paper necessary to become a photographer in the RAF, so he spent his service in the darkroom.

In 1968, his Nikon camera stopped a bullet that was intended for him.

Today we are going to focus at one of his photos in particular, West Hartlepool in 1968. In this photo one of the first things you notice is the contrast, from the dark grounds to the light sky being polluted by the industrial air. The light can be seen reflecting on the broken fence, this is a important part of the image as it's the first thing you eye is drawn to from the bottom half of the image.

The feeling of the image is increadabily isolated. One of the main reasons why this photo looks so depressing and isolated is because it is shot in black and white film. The man is walking alone along a empty road. The broken fence and abandoned field on the left also promotes the isolated feeling as it shows exactily what is around the man in the long black jacket.

As soon as you see the photo you can predict what era the shot is from. This could be down to the texture and detail. The photo has perfect texture making the image feel life like. The clothes that man is wearing were wore a lot during that time, so that helps distingwish the period aswell.

This shot is very powerful and Don McCullin managed to shoot it perfectily. The image is a great sign of the times and is somewhat a poster of what life was like in Hartlepool in the late 60s.

Tommy Wilson