I think this is the most powerful documentary of a photographer I have ever seen. It tells the story of how photojournalist McCullin has documented many wars during his career, with sensitivity, integrity and reality. What is amazing is trying to get your head around what it must feel like to be grappling with a manual camera, manual metering, composition, etc whilst in a heightened state of panic and shock and whilst on some occasions being shot at. How do you keep the camera still when people are dropping dead around you?
Many of the photographs portrayed in the film are harrowing, haunting, and shocking. On a factual level I learned a lot from watching this, but on a photographic level I think I understood even more what personal voice means. In McCullin's case he shot absolute atrocities of war, some things unthinkable (although persisting today), yet in each case he has captured the essence of suffering, the pain and anguish of the subjects, and the dignity with which he treated them. I was not surprised to learn that on many occasions he put his camera down to help people.
The film finished by showing McCullin outdoors shooting landscapes, with his original camera, as a cathartic process. Haunted by what he has seen and experienced, he wishes to create new memories, and I would certainly like to see more of this work.
What have I learned that I can apply? Well it's not to immerse myself into a war situation, that's for sure, but it is to immerse myself in what I am shooting. To look for the soul of what I am shooting, to capture what are the overwhelming sensations, and to do that with dignity and honesty.\
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