I find many photographers to be role models in different ways. If I had to pick my favourite photojournalist of all time, it would be Don McCullin. Don had a way of capturing images that had a huge impact and emotional attachment to them. I admire his bravery for putting himself in extremely dangerous situations so that he could share what was going on during the war times with the rest of the world. Mentally, Don saw too much with his photography but never once resorted to any therapy. Don deals with all the nightmares of reliving these situations he encountered while on the battlegrounds on his own.

Don McCullin was born on October 9, 1935. He is a well know photojournalist known for his war photography and photographs of urban strife. Don McCullin has been featured in a pile of publications and has a large number of awards. McCullin’s first war he covered was in Cyprus. After that, don McCullin became very much “obsessed” with shooting wars and couldn’t imagine living without doing war photography.

My favourite image shot by Don McCullin is “Shell Shocked Marine,” shot during the Vietnam War in 1968. In this image, a soldier sits with his riffle stock down on the ground. The soldier is looking straight through the viewer of the picture. The interesting thing behind the story of this image is that Don McCullin shot five frames of this man. All five frames were the same. The soldier did not move or bat an eyelash. I feel this image is compelling and sends a strong message to the world about how traumatic the war is to the human mind

There is a documentary on YouTube that I highly recommend watching. If you didn’t know who Don McCullin was until now, I hope you enjoyed the introduction and spend some time looking at his amazing photographs.