…A Thousand Words.

The Mandolin Player,

Photographed Despite a Death Threat to the Photographer

Don McCullin

 

I think photojournalism is such a powerful art form. Not only do such images create a reality out of a tragedy, but they anchor true emotion. It isn’t a replication. It just is.

Take Don McCullin’s ‘The Mandolin Player’ – you can just picture it, can’t you?

It is 1976. A man stalks, cat-like, through Quarantina, a Muslim ghetto. Armed with his camera, it is clear he does not belong. Nonetheless he continues, merging with the shadows cast through the run down alleys of East Beirut. He isn’t sure what he is looking for, he just knows he will recognize it when he finds it. And then, it happens.

“Hey Mistah. Mistah! Come take photo.”

A mandolin player is waving. He stands amongst a group of Christian Falangists. They are celebrating over a new life lost, dancing over the body of a Palestinian girl. This man has a choice. He raises his camera, adjusts the shutter, and clicks.

…shortly afterwards he discovers that there is a death warrant out for him.