Amateur Photographer (2019-05-31)

12 25 May 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

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The 13 Aprileditionof APfeatured

anarticleontherecentDonMcCullin

exhibitionat TateBritain,includinga

photoentitled‘Starving24-year-old

motherwithchild,Biafra,1968’.

Accompanyingit wasa discussion

byAlisonBaskerville,in whichshe

described‘thewomanof colourat

hermostvulnerableandwithlittleto

nodignity’.Shecommentsthatthe

womanis semi-nakedwithherbreasts

ondisplayandis unnamed.Latershe

makesreferencetobreakingdown

raciststructures,inferringthatthese

existwithinthisphotograph.

I reallymusttakeissuewiththese

remarks.McCullin’sworkcoversareas

of humandistresstheworldover,

andincludesbothsexesof different

ethnicorigins.Theappearanceof this

womanis, bydintof starvation,the

veryantithesisof femalesexuality.

Sheis a blackwomanindigenous

tothecountryin whichshelives,who

is tryingin hopelessconditionsto

breastfeedherchild.Forboth,the

outlookwouldseemtobebleak.

Forme,thereis absolutelynosexual

exploitationandnoquestionof racial

stereotyping.Thisis a proudwoman

wholooksdirectlyintothecamera

lenswiththemessage:‘I andmychild

havea righttolive.’

Thispictureis asrelevantnowasit

was 51 yearsago,andis aspowerful

in encouragingawarenessandchange.

Longmayphotographersof thisgenre

beleftalonetoreportthetragediesof

theplanetonwhichwelive.

JohnFontana

Weliketoreflecta diverserange

ofopinionin APbutI’mwithyouon

thisone,John.Althoughthereis an

issueof‘povertytourism’among

somephotographers,whichis

discussedelsewhereonthispage,

McCullin’sworkis certainlynota

goodexample.Although,tobe

fairtoAlison,shedidn’treallysay

thathewas,justthattimeshave

changedandshedidn’tfeelthis

approachis acceptablenow– Nigel

Atherton dit

Inbox

Don McCullinencourages awareness

GraemeYoungsontookthis s

Povertytourism

I thoughtJohnVahgatsi’s

letter(AP 13 April)on

povertyvoyeurismwas

verythought-provoking,

andI don’treallydisagree

withhim.

Thereis onepoint,

however,whichI thinkis

worthmaking.It is surely

thecasethatthereis much

moregoingonin the

streetsof countrieswith

warmerclimates.There

peoplenaturallyspend

moretimeoutonthe

streets,wherethey

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conducttheirbusiness

andsocialise.

Ona colddayin

Aberdeenthemainstreets

canoftenbeveryquiet,

thelightmutedandthe

coloursdrab,withmuch

feweropportunitiesfor

interestingstreetphotos.

Mostfolkarehuddled

indoors– in cafesor

shoppingmalls.

In countrieswithwarmer

climatestherearemore

vibrantandinteresting

scenestobecapturedon

camera, and yes some of

these countries may be

poorer than our own.

But I don’t think it should

necessarily follow that one

has to be disrespectful or

biased if they concentrate

their photographic efforts

in these countries or on

people worse off.

On a recent visit to

Valencia, Spain, I was keen

tolearn more about the

Spanish Civil War, and as

I wandered the streets of

the city centre I came

upon this scene (see photo

above). Here was a poor

woman, who judging by

her elderly appearance,

had lived through the

horrors of the Civil War

and was still enduring a

hard life. She is surrounded

by younger, more-affl uent-

looking Spaniards who

would have no fi rst-hand

experience of the war that

had divided their country.

I thought it made for a

thought-provoking picture.

Graeme Youngson

Diff erences

I agree with John Vahgatsi

(Inbox, 13 April) that

poverty voyeurism is

common in photography,

and I believe it is caused in

part by the desire to show

and emphasise difference.

In social science,

researchers warn of the

dangers of ‘tourism’, that is

looking for differences and

in so doing failing to see

similarities with ourselves.

Photographing the ordinary

may not win prizes, but it

will give a more realistic

portrayal of our world.

Bob Sapey

For many the joy of

travel is in experiencing,

and photographing,

different cultures, not to

photograph those things

that we can see at home.

Cultural diversity should

be celebrated. But the

‘Oh look, poor people’

attitude of some

photographers must be

discouraged – Nigel

Atherton, editor

EOS RP query

In your 23 March issue you

reviewed the new Canon

EOS RP. Regarding using

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supports 4K UHD. Offering R/W speeds of up to 100MB/s /60MB/s and a

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