Introduction “War is partly madness, mostly insanity and the rest is schizophrenia. “- Don McCullin. (BBC Imagine 2013 McCullin) Capturing the decisive moments of these wars have not just created a genre of photography called war photography but also enhanced public awareness. Both Donald McCullin and Eddie Adams, being photojournalists recognized for their war photography, have produced some outstanding photographs and successfully portrayed the harsh reality of war. Even though their conceptual concerns were similar, there was a visible variation in terms of their styles, techniques, compositions and subjects.
A further comparison between the two photographers for the above attributes has been done later. Apart from his coverage of 13 wars, American Photojournalist Eddie Adams is also known for capturing portraits of celebrities and politicians (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers), where as the British Photojournalist Donald McCullin was mainly into war photography and capturing the underside of the society, portraying the life of the underprivileged people (Don McCullin, Wikipedia 11 August 2015).
Donald McCullin There was a major influence of McCullin’s upbringing and his past on his work. McCullin was born in a poor section of London, United Kingdoms (Don McCullin, Contact Press Images). Despite of being dyslexic he aspired to be a painter and showed immense talent in his drawings (Nicholas Wroe, 22 May 2010).
It was very unfortunate that despite of getting junior arts scholarship to Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts, he couldn’t pursue his studies further and had to leave school to arn money for his family after his father’s death (Don McCullin, Wikipedia 11 August 2015). He got his first opportunity in the field of photography when he worked as a photographer’s assistant during his time of National service at the Royal Air Force (RAF) (Nicholas Wroe, 22 May 2010). In his early twenties with no formal training, McCullin began his career photographing the violent teenage gangs ruling Finsbury Park (BBC Imagine 2013 McCullin).
He took the photographs of a London gang to The Observer, a British newspaper, they asked him to click more pictures and published them (BBC Imagine 2013 McCullin). This was a great breakthrough for him as he came from a violent background where people were judged on how well one could fight or steal or do harm to the society. He later worked with the Sunday Times Magazine, to cover many wars as a foreign correspondent. He covered the Vietnam War and the Northern Ireland conflict for which he got a lot of recognition (Don McCullin, Wikipedia 11 August 2015).
His objective of choosing this profession was to bring the ugly truths of war to national attention. Some of his work includes photographs from the battlefields in Cyprus, The Congo, Biafra, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, El Salvador, the Middle East and the victims of the African AIDS epidemic (Don McCullin, Contact Press Images). He has been awarded with innumerable awards with pre-eminent ones being from the World Press Photo and was the sole photojournalist to be made the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) (Don McCullin, Contact Press Images).
He also wrote multiple books like “Unreasonable Behaviour”, “Don McCullin: A Retrospective”, “Shaped by War”; and a documentary was also made on him called McCullin, directed by David Morris and Jacqui Morris (Don McCullin, Contact Press Images & Don McCullin, Wikipedia 11 August 2015). Eddie Adams Eddie Adams was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers). He started with his photography career in his teenage as he started working for his high school magazine and later spread to wedding and portrait photography (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers).
He joined the US Marine Corps post his graduation and served as a battle photographer in the Korean War (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers). Three years later after quitting the Marines he became a member of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin staff and joined the Associated Press (AP). During this time he covered wars in Vietnam, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Portugal, Ireland, Lebanon and Kuwait (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers).
In the following time, around 10 years later, he quit Associated Press to join Time magazine and work as a freelancer but later returned to Associated press as a special correspondent, the only of its kind (Eddie Adams, Briscoe Center). One of his most famous pictures was the one he captured in Vietnam of the execution of a Vietcong prisoner by the police chief general, Saigon Execution Photo (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers). It got published in newspapers all over the world and gave fuel to the anti-war fire that was ragging throughout the United States.
It also won the Pulitzer Prize Spot News Photography and World Press Photo Award (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers). He later captured portraits of famous important people like Pope John Paul II, Indira Gandhi, Mikhail Gorbachev, Fidel Castro, George Bush etc. (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers). He won over 500 photojournalism awards was widely considered as one of the most influential war photographers (Eddie Adams, Briscoe Center). Adam continued to work after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and tried to create awareness of this illness but died later (Eddie Adams, Famous Photographers).
Subjects of photography Donald McCullin and Eddie Adams captured numerous photographs of the wars and the subjects mainly included soldiers, gangs, people who got injured or died due to the war and the circumstances, people in terror and families grieving on losing their loved ones. Don McCullin chose war photography because it made him feel he had a purpose (BBC Imagine 2013 McCullin). Purpose that was to portray the horrific humanity and the ugly truths of wars to the rest of the world and create awareness about the sufferings of people associated with these wars.
McCullin documented a substantial number of conflicts and atrocities with different subjects in the photographs. His own sense of accountability and judgment about certain circumstances restrained his from taking some pictures (BBC Imagine 2013 McCullin). Unlike other photographer, he not just clicked pictures and completed his duties as a photographer but also helped on humanitarian grounds with whatever physical ability he had (BBC Imagine 2013 McCullin). Eddie Adams had an intense desire to be perfect with his photography and took close up portraits with an emphasis on the storytelling (Margot Adler, 2009).
But despite of wanting to be perfect all the time with his framing, one of his most famous and iconic pictures, Saigon Execution, was a very spontaneous decision of just lifting the camera and pressing the click button without any thought process of how it’s going to look. Adams’ spontaneity and perfectionist skills have resulted in him capturing a lot of decisive moments like interrogation with a spear on the person’s throat, a portrait of a marine calling for air support on the phone with an intense expression in the middle of the field etc.
Margot Adler, 2009). Technique and Style of Photography “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera” – Lewis Hine (Steve Meltzer, 2013) And looking at the unbelievable stories the two photographers told the world through their photographs, it is of prime importance to understand the cameras and equipments they used to create such history. Donald McCullin’s first camera was a twin lens Rolleicord, with which he captured his first picture that got printed in The Observer (Danny Richardson, 2010).
He later exchanged it for a single lens reflex Pentax and further on as he progressed, he purchased a Nikon F7, which not just helped him capture remarkable photographs but also saved his life in Cambodia by stopping a bullet (Danny Richardson, 2010). Where as Eddie Adams used a 35mm lens with a Leica M4 and captured his Pulitzer Prize winner, Saigon Execution with it (La Vida Leica, 2014). McCullin wasn’t just a talented photographer but also had magnificent darkroom skills.
He used to plan exactly how much and from where to burn in or dodge the print to expose the areas of focus in the photographs (Danny Richardson, 2010). Most striking photographs clicked by both Eddie Adams and Don McCullin are mainly black and white with their interesting monochrome creating beautiful compositions. Conclusion Both Donald McCullin and Eddie Adams had no agenda but to be photojournalists and their photographs were about capturing the truth and the actual war circumstances and creating awareness in the world.
