A Master at Work: Sir Don McCullin Kolkata

[Music] chaos that I love it just from my photographic life is coming to an end someone gives me the very best cameras that you could ever put into your hands it's a tragedy I always carry to all my life in the old days I used to have two cameras 30 rolls of film and 2 exposure meters and I came here to photograph the Bangladesh war in 1971 in the monsoon rain and each day I lost the camera the rain would get into the prism and when I left I had one camera left and one exposed to me though but I had 28 rows of the best film ever shot in my life I'm always worried about things going wrong in photography as they do because if you've run out of cameras on film that you could suffer they're greater pain and that believe me this is the most visual city in the world there's no doubt about it photographers dream I'm so pleased we came to Calcutta because it's one city that still excites me and never disappoints me I think I'm gonna get this guy yeah mr. just uh my age I'm not really gonna couple halfway across the world and do this kind of thing again but while I'm here I become ageless I don't feel as if I'm 82 years of age you know I think I feel like the spirit you know comes back to me and I feel like a young photographer again it's amazing I suppose in a way I'm living never know stop thinking like that I've had it with you absolutely amazing place without question I've been to all the great cities of this world every city every major capital of the world almost there's no city quite like Kolkata it's it's a city of dreams for people who come here seeking their fortune and they will continue to come from the countryside here and they will continue to multiply it it's a city that possibly has the most densely populated city in the world right now [Music] and also a city where people really struggle for every little patch of soil they stand on and it's a city of survival the struggle to survive here is unthinkable [Music] [Applause] Calcutta is I think looking a calamity in the near future it's the greatest kind of canvas you'll ever look upon and see a real humanitarian struggle you see lots of people live in these houses here you know great beauty mix with great tragedy [Music] I suppose the nearer we get to the river the closer we get to history but that bridge is extraordinary look at it it looks like a real piece of British from account of engineering of this the city is full of history particularly linked to the English colonial period of which now looking back on it we really shouldn't be too proud we stole into the liberty of this country for 200 years we didn't have the right to come here and help ourselves to your resources and your minerals we took everything from them so you know I'm aware of that I could come around this city blindfold it I still get good pictures look on the left look at that washing in the street I'm afraid this is a process of just hanging around of waiting you know I mean things will come here there's so many extraordinary people here you just wait and they all come you know round that corner in a minute something you've suddenly become wrong and the day is just beginning now you know in another hours you know the way you stand when you photograph is important the way you represent yourself is equally as important as the way you expect others to give you that great image that's the thing about being a photographer you know you almost have an almost kind of hunting kind of feel about you which is uncomfortable well I'm working life is how I feel as if I'm mugging the people the people are so unsuspecting of you know what's happening in the next two seconds in front of them when I appear I try to be as tasteful as I can there's no getting away from me I'm taking advantage really especially with this equipment I can work ten times faster with this equipment than I can ever have done in the past with film there's so many hundreds and thousands of people coming towards you past you it takes a time for them to realize that somebody is photographing them and somebody from another country so you could say I'm not being totally kind I'm taking advantage of my my professional photographic ability when they see you photographing oh boy they realize they've been photographed you know there isn't the anger that you find in other countries you could be really badly treated in other countries but you know the indian tolerance is what are the prime things that stands out in my mind is that they have enormous tolerance what's remarkable about the people that Calcutta is they live in some of them the most appalling conditions and yet it hasn't taken away the kindness of the people themselves and I found this kindness stretches the whole length and breadth of India itself the people of India thank you have a natural kindness particularly to travelers and foreigners they always ready to help you and always treat you with great courtesy and respect that's why I like coming to India you see so many biblical faces here money money [Music] you know they suffer from boredom here I mean I'm talking about the street people so when they see us suddenly appearing they're interested they need to find something to distract their boredom so seeing a farmer with these cameras and amazing color all of a sudden they they wake up and they they take notice don't wait please I can't go away give you nothing I'm looking ok ok please you'll always get one heckler in the crowd who's gonna say why is he doing this he's a foreigner there is a very fine balancing act in certain atmospheres that you have to bring to an end as quick as you can [Music] I've photographed some tragic scenes some beautiful scenes the amazing thing about some of the people in Calcutta took me to poor people [Music] despite the fact that the poorest people on God's earth they still have this command and dignity that they can bring out in themselves you're not just photographing a beggar you're sometimes photographing your kings it's like a giant fruit cocktail it's a banquet it's a feast for the eyes there is so much going on in front of you you don't know where to look first I don't think there's enough film or enough chips that you feed into your cameras to swallow the whole thing up and when you look at the people they ask this the Indian nation I've got some of the best and most hints of his people in the world you know forget Hollywood it's sometimes when you photograph them they can't understand your curiosity they think why is that man looking at me with that camera and they they're having to pinch themselves to find out what is my curiosity I look at people here who are so amazing looking distinguished-looking moustache is perfect bone structure it's hard not to believe that they're real really beautiful human beings every time I press the button and I know I couldn't play back in the old days when I photographed in India and I had film I had to wait three or four weeks to go back to England process the film hold the negative to the light now I can see instantaneously the image I've just taken I could have done with these cameras about 50 years ago amazing man stop stop [Music] look sir he's made of bronze you know there were times when I had to stop work at 6 o'clock at night because it was dark his cameras can take you into the night is amazing [Music] I've come a bit too late to the digital world at my age but I still know how to frame a picture and I'm quick at it and I'm self-assured because I I see things before other people even can't you know blink their eyelid I can see it it's it's the best thing I've got in my makeup so there's no way I'm gonna miss a picture you know why I had the discipline with film because I didn't want to run out of it so I was very stingy about film I used to treat film and great reverence that would never throw an exposure away [Applause] that's the one thing you don't have to worry about with digital cameras you haven't an inexhaustible supply of images you have to carry the almost black and white discipline with you when you make that transition you're always under the spell of photography it's the one love affair you will embark on you don't ever turn your back on to come here as a photographer I know I'm recording the last of the kind of jagged edges so when I press that button rule is making history of the way whether anybody cares on I don't know [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] mister mister mister mister it could break down your family life because you're constantly away on assignment and you're putting photography in front of your family life and things and it has a damaging effect one way or the other so whatever you do when you're pressing the button on these cameras it's not a case of just pressing a button you're tapping into your own psychology and your own concerns about you the subject the surroundings the authorities you're calling upon so many different aspects of you know if you had an ordinary job where you went into an office you're waiting that off as you sit down and you do what you're told or what's asked of you but in photography you are asking of your soul more than any employer would ask of you you're giving not a hundred and fifty percent you are giving a thousand percent [Music] you have to be careful with too much definition because I know photography I know how I want it to you know sometimes I like softness in light I don't always want everything to be like a knife edge [Music] so there's nothing these cameras won't do for you that's the bottom line really but you have to be careful how you use them just for a really beautiful place oh yeah I'm sweating but it's great is that really coming [Music] [Music] [Music] you must represent yourself as if it's got nothing to do with photography it's got or to do with your integrity now he's level with that lot see I can get some okay now I can get it now you know photographers are not all paparazzi type hard faces who just press buttons and they took about money and celebrity it's not like that at all it is for those people who do that but it isn't the people like me here we are in the beginning early days of April you're saturated by humidity in your own perspiration it's very draining you know if you get up early in the morning you don't last the whole day without feeling thoroughly exhausted but you can bet your life by the time you get back to your hotel and you look through your pictures you've got something there which pleases you all these cameras are full of amazing images my composition is not very good here but look at the color it's amazing see the Sun is still a bit bleachy you see what I'm feeling about bleachy myself fell in love with photography accidentally it shows me I didn't choose it and I haven't been disappointed but I have to tell you I've had to back it up with enormous hardwork risk pain injuries you should not be wasting one single day of your life you should be out on the streets every day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music]

Channel: Canon Europe

Views: 171,087

Keywords: canon, sir don mccullin in kolkata, sir don mccullin photography, sir don mccullin, documentary film, Clive Booth, Chris Clarke, Mark George, photojournalist, photojournalism, photojournalistic, kolkata

Id: LALtLUjSeJs

Length: 19min 0sec (1140 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019