Ever wondered about the glamour of being a war photographer?

Very interesting, thanks for that.

Don McCullin's Unreasonable Behaviour is another insight into life as a war photographer and the effects it has on people.
 
Hmm six weeks without a wash, not knowing where the next meal is coming from; living rough, trying not to get stopped by the freindly forces or killed by the enemy forces, stoned by locals, or shot by the Yanks.....
OR
A a nice cozy bed in your own home; coffee and cuassants for breakfast; then a short trip in a comfy car to the studio to take pictures of obliging sexy ladies in variouse states of undress... yes THAT is 'glamour' photography!
Not dodging bludy bullets!
 
Teflon-Mike said:
Hmm six weeks without a wash, not knowing where the next meal is coming from; living rough, trying not to get stopped by the freindly forces or killed by the enemy forces, stoned by locals, or shot by the Yanks.....
OR
A a nice cozy bed in your own home; coffee and cuassants for breakfast; then a short trip in a comfy car to the studio to take pictures of obliging sexy ladies in variouse states of undress... yes THAT is 'glamour' photography!
Not dodging bludy bullets!
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I would take your first option any day
(Wife would probably say no)
 
Yeah yeah, yawn yawn.

Has this lightweight ever done a cheque pres in Shepton Mallet at 9PM on a wet Thursday in February, huh? I think we can guess the answer. Calls himself a photographer...
 
jon ryan said:
Yeah yeah, yawn yawn.

Has this lightweight ever done a cheque pres in Shepton Mallet at 9PM on a wet Thursday in February, huh? I think we can guess the answer. Calls himself a photographer...
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Considering that Eddie started as a cub on the SLP, I suspect that he's done something fairly similar in his past! :D
 
You mean there's something wrong with not washing for 6 weeks :shrug:
 
You dont notice it after 2 or 3 days
More interesting things to do
:)
 
DemiLion said:
Considering that Eddie started as a cub on the SLP, I suspect that he's done something fairly similar in his past! :D
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Couldn't hack it, huh? Went for the soft option. Either you can take it or you can't...
 
brad131987 said:
I would take your first option any day
(Wife would probably say no)
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It may be slightly less Dangerous than living with my ex-wife.
It may be a very worthy pursuit; showing the true nature of conflict to the uneffected masses.
It may be a perversely 'attractive' thing to do.
But it is not glamorous.
War is not romantic.
It is not something that we ought to see in those dreamy kind of terms.
Did you see his pictures?
People running from mortars open armed towards the tanks, old men, women children, carrying what few possessions they could carry.... and then having a rifle shoved in their face, and made to kneel down in front of a sub-machine gun pit....
He went, he did his bit, bringing it home to the people.... he, has recounted some of the more humorous incidents, conter-pointing, and playing down, where he was in mortal danger and in the middle of people being blown to chunks of gore..... but I think, if you think its in some-way 'glamorous' you got the wrong message. Its anything but.
andy-julia-glamour-photography.png

That's glamour.....
dtem-army-7.jpg

This just isn't.
dtem-cas-5.jpg

In any way-shape-or-form.

I can applaud him having been. And I can appreciate his pictures. But I really don't think that what he wanted to envoke in the viewer was any sense of glamour, and that going to war was something we OUGHT to find appealing!
 
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Ive been there and done that
My pictures are similar to his but I was on the ground fighting

I find the pictures interesting

Just to let you know the sub machine gun pit you speak of is a minimi its a Light machine gun and General purpose machine gun we dont use sub machine guns any more :)

He shows the perspective of a civilian
Mine show the perspective of the people that fight to help them (not that you see many)
 
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brad131987 said:
Just to let you know the sub machine gun pit you speak of is a minimi its a Light machine gun and General purpose machine gun we dont use sub machine guns any more :)
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If you really want to pick holes, the Minimi is classed purely as an LMG not as a GPMG.
 
I didnt word it right and mistook the 1 of the pictures as a GPMG I didnt mean it as the same class
And I was not picking holes just leting people know :)
 
Minim? GPMG? What do I know... I just made bits for made ASRAAM's & SM2's & stuff like that!;)
curiouse how soon as teh Cheshire cat came into office, the production schedules ramped to the milenium, but we got no confirmed order quantities beyond that;)
 
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Advanced short range air to air missile
And standard missile-2
?
 
brad131987 said:
Advanced short range air to air missile
And standard missile-2
?
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Yup; asraam was the mach-8, super-smart MIG killer. SM-2, was a glasnost-conversion job, reffitting ship-launch two-stage ICBM's as high-altitude interceptors; was what they shot down that supposed weather satalite with a few years ago when the Yanks were having a willy-waving contest with the Chinese. I was one of the mushrooms in the labs, with bits of string, gaffer tape and an osciloscope, proving that the guidance system could make it hit what it was aimed at.... suposedly :shrug:
Really wanted to witness the test firings; but bosses refused to let me into the light of day very often, let alone fly me to the Caribbean to sit on a beach with a pair of binoculars! :(
 
When you walk into the lab, and one of the boffins shows you a bit of MDF board with some nails hammered in it.... rubber bands, string, gaffer tape, some bits of copper wire.. you know the stuff you have in your walls between plug sockets.... with the insulation stripped off and lying on the floor..... chewing gum wrappers, bits of blu-tac and lots of different colour insulation tape... and asks you if you have a lighter.... you do WONDER where people get the idea that 'Rocket-Science' is such a hi-tek cutting edge profession!
You have flash-backs to the 1984 Movie "Best Defence" with Dudley Moore & Eddie Murphey..... remember Eddie sitting in the tank, under-fire, pressing buttons, shells dropping out the back of the gun, controls coming off in his hand, NOTHING working.... Reminded myself that it was MY job to make sure that at least MY bits DID work, like Dudley's.... then you look at that 'Back-To-The-Future' prop on the bench; you look into the beaming face of a nieve lab-rat straight out of uni, who still wants to borrow your zippo..... and you say "This..." Waving at the bits of wire on the bench... "THIS..." you wave more emphatically.... "Is going to save the world from tyrany and injustice?"
Lab rat looks at you puzzled and replies "Ugh? Donno! But if this works..." He notes your eyebrows reaching new altitudes on the work 'if', so repeats himself "If this works, it will get my circumvention timing lag down by seventy eight nano seconds!" And smiles, like a child showing you their first painting... as if that makes ANY sense to you what-so ever!
Heaven Help Us.. you think, and give him your lighter.
Later, when he returns it, he pauses and says... "I just got wot you meant.... This stuff is supposed to KILL people, isn't it!"
You nod as the realisation sinks in, and you mourn, briefly, the loss of that poor fragile nievity, and think maybe there is SOME hope.
 
This whole not washing thing.. does that qualify me for being a war togger? haha, the mans got some serious balls for doing what he did.
 
I've just started working in the Basra area and looking at the photos nothing much has changed at all in the country. Only weapons on view now are Private Security Firms with AK's and the Iraqi military with the same!! Occasionally see a Hummer with a 0.5 mounted on it.

I was really surprised how much poverty there is in the country considering everything costs a fortune to buy.
 
Cool
Never went there
But how are you there what sort of job you on if you dont mind me asking?
 
Sorry for the delay in replying Martin - been a bit busy. I'm actually doing some HSE Consultancy work over there on a construction job for an oil company!! Used to do that type of work before moving into full-time photography. I'm lucky that the company are very flexible with my timings so I can fit my trips out there around my existing photography commitments.
 
Cool
Sounds interesting
Wish I had the chance to go there to take photos
 
Basra is pretty safe as most of bombings / trouble is in Baghdad and north of the country but you do need to have a sponsor to get in which is a real pain. I haven't taken a camera with me on my past two trips but I'm going to the next time I'm over there - seen some really interesting army vehicle graveyards.
 
i would want to many souvenirs
dont think work would alow me in a country were we are sort of still hated/wanted by some
 
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