Night Waves - Don McCullin

As the war photographer Don McCullin has a major retropspective of his work at the Imperial War Museum North, Rana Mitter looks at the state of photography today as both art form and tool of reportage . For more than 50 years, Don McCullin's images have shaped our awareness of modern conflct and its consequences. A unique collaboration between McCullin and the Imperial War Museum has resulted in a major new exhibition containing over 200 photographs, contact sheets, objects, magazines and personal memorabilia, which show how war has shaped the life of this exceptional British photographer and those across the globe over the last half-century. Rana and guests discuss whether the emergence of the amateur mobile phone and internet as a vehicle for up to the minute imagery of events such as the Haitian earthquake and the political conflicts in Iran denuded traditional photography like McCullin's of its power. Or should we think of them as adding exciting possibilities to the medium? The programme also looks at how the restrictions on the taking of photography by terror legislation has impacted on the ability of photographers to represent the world around them. Rana also discusses the status of photography as an art form asking whether it has lost ground and standing with our major institutions and the public at large.