David Hurn
‘I first met Elliott in the early ’60s, when I asked to be his assistant.
I had thought I was going to be wandering around London with him shooting pictures of dogs! When Elliott arrived, to my total surprise he was doing a big advertising campaign. At the time I was in this sort of silly stage where I thought photography had to be “pure”, and if you did advertising you would be shot down by a bolt of lightning.
‘Elliott was absolutely wonderful and was so important to me. He helped me to realise that doing the odd thing which is outside what you want to do pays more money and buys you time to do those things you want to do; and it’s also a very good learning process as you’re doing something outside of your own safety net.
‘The trick is just to do it well and learn technical things from it, learn to be on time, to be reliable, to understand what an assignment is, what the client wants and so on. This was all stuff I would never have learned, but I learned in three days from Elliott. I got on very well with him – he’s the best dry comedian and I liked him very much. He’s a close friend, who I’m in awe of. He’s such a gentle photographer, who is so full of decent humanity. All his pictures reek of the love of the subject matter.
‘The pictures from Rochelle – if one goes on to the Magnum site and looks at all the pictures – are in fact, to all intents and purposes, home family snaps. All those pictures are pictures of his family, his young wife and the kids.
‘This picture of the little kid standing on his head against the wall – I’m guessing it’s somebody in the family. But it’s not just a snapshot; the whole thing is designed. I love the idea that you can take a beautifully designed scene and memorable pictures of your own family. It’s also a very mysterious picture. My immediate reaction is: is it the right way up? I like it because it has that sense of mystery, the form is good, and I love the idea of it being the link to family.’
David Hurn is a British documentary photographer who has been a full member of Magnum since 1967 and was recently awarded AP’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Instagram.com/davidhurnphoto.