• Home
  • My Notes
  • Images of the Month
  • Projects
    • Flowers
    • Taking a Break
    • Square Nation
    • ARPS
  • About
  • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

iJourneys

John Gough Photography

Don McCullin in Syria

by John Gough

 

“Now I’m in an old man’s body with a young man’s eyes,” says 82-year-old veteran war photographer Don McCullin as he struggles to the top of a shelled building in the Syrian city of Homs. He and architectural historian Dan Cruickshank take a road trip from government-controlled Damascus to Palmyra. The Unesco-listed ancient Syrian desert city of temples and columns ravaged by IS during the war that preceded the other wars that are desecrating this country.

BBC Documentary: The Road to Palmyra

McCullin and Cruikshank, who we assume are old friends have a close association with the city. In the programme, The Road to Palmyra they travel through this war torn land to return and understand the havoc wreaked there.

The documentary is an opportunity to see McCullin at work, “My mind says, ‘We’re going up there,’ my body says, ‘Hang on, are you sure?’ If my legs shake a bit, it’s not because I’m afraid, it’s my body refusing my youthful mind.” He has lost none of his ability to observe, empathise and document. However, it is the emotional input to his photography that is paramount, as it has been throughout his long career.

 

“Photography for me is not looking its feeling. If you can’t feel what you are looking at. Then you’re not going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures”

Don McCullin

 

The documentary will be available on iPlayer for a few weeks.

 

Filed Under: Journey, Photographer, Photography

Follow me on Twitter

Tweets by @@johnijourneys

Search My Notes

Gear Notes

Sony A7III Five Things You Did Not Know

Sony a7000 Delay Due to Fujifilm X-T3

Canon EOS M3 Review

Camera Wrist Strap or Neck Strap

Mirrorless Full Frame Cameras. The Race is On.

Will the Smartphone Camera Replace the Camera?

Canon EOS 6D Mark II Review of Reviews

Fujifilm X-T3 Real View

Canon RF 24-240mm Lens Part 2

Canon EOS R Street Photography Set Up

Photography Notes

Peterborough Cathedral Photographic Location

V&A Photography Centre

silver efex

Silver Efex Moody Monochrome

David Hurn: A Life in Pictures

Multiple Exposure

Copyright: John Gough 2019