Learning episode 1: to know what influenced the writing of ‘War Photographer’

Do it nowWhat do you understand by the idiom ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ and how far do you agree with the sentiment?

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Do it now

The idiom ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ means ___________________________________

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How far do you think this is true for the picture below?

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New knowledge: Who is Don McCullin?The picture above was taken by Don McCullin. Sir Don McCullin was born in 1935 and grew up in a deprived area of north London. He got his first break when a newspaper published his photograph of friends who were in a local gang. From the 1960s he forged a career as probably the UK’s foremost war photographer, primarily working for the Sunday Times Magazine.

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New knowledge: the work of Don McCullinWe are going to begin this learning episode by exploring some of Don McCUllin’s work.

What do we learn about the photograph? What is your response to it?

What do we learn about the photograph? What is your response to it?

What do we learn about the photograph? What is your response to it?

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What do we learn about the photograph? What is your response to it?

What do we learn about the photograph? What is your response to it?

What do we learn about the photograph? What is your response to it?

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What do we learn about the photograph? What is your response to it?

Pen to paper: how has Don McCullin’s views on his work as a photographer developed over time?

Look at Don McCullin’s words and remarks about his photography over the years. How have his thoughts about his work developed over time?

At the start of his career….

In the middle of his career….

Towards the end of his career…

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‘I started out in photography accidentally. A policeman came to a stop at the end of my street and a guy knifed him. That’s how I became a photographer. I photographed the gangs that I went to school with. I didn’t choose photography, it seemed to choose me, but I’ve been loyal by risking my life for fifty years.’

‘I went straight down to Friederichstrasse and started working with my Rolleicord. Of course, I was sitting on the biggest story in the world, I saw the East Germans drilling the foundations and building the Wall breeze block by breeze block.’

‘Cyprus left me with the beginnings of a self knowledge, and the very beginning of what they call empathy. I found I was able to share other people’s emotional experiences, live with them silently, transmit them.’

‘It was beyond war, it was beyond journalism, it was beyond photography, but not beyond politics…we cannot, must not be allowed to forget the appalling things we are all capable of doing to our fellow human beings.’

‘Seeing, looking at what others cannot bear to see, is what my life as a war reporter is all about.’

‘No heroics are possible when you are photographing people who are starving. All I could do was try and give the people caught up in this terrible disaster as much dignity as possible. There is a problem inside yourself, a sense of your own powerlessness, but it doesn’t do to let it take hold, when you job is to stir the conscience of others who can help.’

Pen to paper: Don McCullin’s reflections (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2plqDFYcoY)

We are going to watch a short video clip in which Don McCullin reflects on his work for the Tate Gallery in London. As you are watching / listening, what challenges did Don feel he faced in his work?

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New knowledge: Carol Ann Duffy

The poem War Photographer is written by Carol Ann Duffy. Carol Ann Duffy was born into a working class Catholic family in Glasgow. She always wanted to be a writer, and she began publishing her poetry when she was only 15. When she was 16, Duffy entered into a relationship with a famous Liverpool poet, Adrian Henri. She went to Liverpool University to be with him, where she studied Philosophy. She has worked as a poetry critic, and a lecturer in poetry. She has published many collections of poems and won a number of awards.

Carol Ann Duffy was inspired by her good friend Don McCullin to write War Photographer. In conversation with him, Duffy realised the issues involved in communicating horrible events and she became intrigued by the challenge faced by these people whose job requires them to record terrible, horrific events without being able to directly help their subjects.

New knowledge: ‘War Photographer’ by Carol Ann DuffyLet’s now read the poem War Photographer.

1 In his darkroom he is finally alone2 with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.3 The only light is red and softly glows,4 as though this were a church and he 5 a priest preparing to intone a mass.6 Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.

7 He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays8 beneath his hands which did not tremble then9 though seem to now. Rural England. Home again10 to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,11 to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet12 of running children in a nightmare heat.

13 Something is happening. A stranger’s features14 faintly start to twist before his eyes,15 a half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries16 of this man’s wife, how he sought approval17 without words to do what someone must18 and how the blood stained into foreign dust.

19 A hundred agonies in black-and-white20 from which his editor will pick out five or six21 for Sunday’s supplement. The reader’s eyeballs prick22 with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.24 he earns his living and they do not care.

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ReflectionHaving now read the poem, can you identify any details in the text that suggest McCullin’s influence on Carol Ann Duffy?

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