Don McCullin Landscape work is reflective and portraying what is been seen, but do we really know all the detail behind each Landscape photograph?
In the1980’s he got told that his war work was ‘too depressing’ by the Sunday times incoming editor Andrew Neil, McCullin returned back to photographing Landscapes and work with winter scenes of his beloved Somerset Levels, he had a close connection with the Somerset Landscapes.
McCullin says that he finds winter the best time of year to photograph because it is the most naked time of the year, quote - ‘I’m obsessed with photographing it in the dead of winter, at its hardest ...’ He becomes his most productive and creative in the winter time, he has four months of darkness and cold to express and show his emotion and feelings towards the landscape.
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Towards an Iron Age hill fort, Somerset, 1991
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Accessed on 09.03.2012
McCullin published ‘Homecoming (1979)’ he had always been photographing England but he ignored the urban side of it, for the last two decades he has turned to viewing and looking at the land around him and his homeland in Somerset. His work does not represent the sort of Somerset that would be looked at by tourists or for a tourist board. He only photographs in the winter period; he is always on the lookout for naked trees and where the land and sky meet. This sounds like a tranquil and peaceful place to you and me and to anyone that is viewing the images, but there may be a story and reason to why McCullin photographs like this.
He noted that his ‘eyes had grown accustomed to the dark.’ Everything he seemed to see reflected his childhood and the scenes he had witnessed of ‘dereliction, death and disaster in other countries.’ Some people say his Landscapes portray anger at the damaged environment.
"Photography is my whole life's blood," he says. "I'm no good at literature, I'm no good at language, I'm no good at anything - all I can do is keep myself nice and clean, print my pictures, constantly look at my photographic books. If I didn't have photography, I'd be a lost soul. I wouldn't be any good as a father or husband, because I can only have pride in myself because of the achievements that I'm striving towards in photography. Photography has given me respectability, in a way. It's given me recognition as a human being."
Interview by Aida Edemariam
Accessed 10.03.2012
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Rural Landscape and round dew pond near his village, Somerset 1990’s
Gelatin Silver Print 10.5 x 15.5inches/ 16 x 20 inches Open Edition
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In a BBC radio interview with Don McCullin the interviewer asked about his work regarding the landscape of Somerset this was the question “But do you feel that the landscape itself is a dark presence. I mean, you clearly have a very strong sense of nature. Now, is that nature beneficent, benevolent, or is it storing up all sorts of awful cruelty?” McCullin talked about how the countryside is been taken over by building new houses on the land and that eventually it will become like one giant theme park, ‘We have to realise the precious moment now, that we have to pass on to our children and grandchildren, and so on and so on.’ Even though most of his Landscape work is gloomy and dark, people like his work and want him to do more, ‘I'm moving towards one thing and hopefully, miles away from the other thing which was war.’
Transcript of the John Tusa Interview with Don McCullin
Accessed on 10.03.2012
There is always a story behind any piece of art work or photograph it may not be seen straight away or even after a few views but once you have seen a photograph/art work a number of times and know some more in depth information, the background becomes much more clear and so does the image.
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