First class posts: David Hurn’s Instagram highlights – in pictures

The Magnum photographer’s social media feed combines superb old images with modern reflections – on Brexit, bum thermometers and radical coffee shops

Main image: Having a ball … Young Farmers’ Meeting, Brecon, Wales, 1973

  • November 2016: Amateur Photographer, Cannes, France 1963

    Magnum’s David Hurn is one of Britain’s most influential documentary photographers. In 2016, he started an Instagram account to allow him to share constructive photography advice: tips, books and recommendations. His stream developed to include reflections – as printed in this gallery – on photographs from his 60-year career; his ennui during the endless days of lockdown; the work of fellow photographers; and a grappling with questions of AI and artifice in photography. David Hurn on Instagram is published by Reel Art Press
    NOVEMBER 2016/CANNES, FRANCE 1963Amateur photographer photographs starlets at the Cannes Film Festival, 1963

  • November 2016: The Beatles, London, England 1964

    In the book there are photographs from the Hungarian revolution in 1956, Halloween celebrations in Hurn’s local Welsh village during the pandemic and images on the set of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night in 1964. Of the latter, Hurn noted on Instagram: ‘Richard Lester directed A Hard Day’s Night and asked me to act as a special photographer on the film. Bizarrely, most of it was shot on a hired train travelling each day between Marylebone and Minehead stations’
    November 2016: The Beatles, London, England 1964. In the book there are photographs from the Hungarian revolution in 1956, Halloween celebrations in Hurn’s local Welsh village during the pandemic and images on the set of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night in 1964. Of the latter, Hurn noted on Instagram: ‘Richard Lester directed A Hard Day’s Night and asked me to act as a special photographer on the film. Bizarrely, most of it was shot on a hired train travelling each day between Marylebone and Minehead stations’

  • November 2016: Julie Christie, London, England 1965

    ‘I did a photo essay about Julie Christie for Look magazine in the US. At this time she had just been in two films, Darling and Dr Zhivago. For each film she received major awards. In life she was very unassuming and frequently could be seen travelling in London on the tube train’
    November 2016: Julie Christie, London, England 1965‘I did a photo essay about Julie Christie for Look magazine in the US. At this time she had just been in two films, Darling and Dr Zhivago. For each film she received major awards. In life she was very unassuming and frequently could be seen travelling in London on the tube train’

  • 30 January 2017: Churchill Funeral, London, England 1965

    ‘30 January is the anniversary of the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill who, in our years of greatest danger, became the personification of the will of the British nation. I was a comparatively young photographer of 31 when this was taken. I had elected to work totally on my own rather than take a pool position. I started at 4am as people arrived near the Houses of Parliament and wandered. I later spent time in Trafalgar Square as two Wrens attempted to have a better view of the cortege’
    30 JANUARY 2017/ Churchill Funeral. LONDON, ENGLAND 1965I am working on archives and realise that 31 January is the anniversary of the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill who, in our years of greatest danger, became the personification of the will of the British nation. I was a comparatively young photographer of 31. I had elected to work totally on my own rather than take a pool position. I started at 4am as people arrived near the Houses of Parliament and wandered. I later spent time in Trafalgar Square as two Wrens attempted to have abetter view of the cortège.

  • 22 August 2017: New York Bus & Bubbles, New York, USA 2007

    ‘I did love being in New York – it revitalised me. Everything moving fast, so many characters seemingly having fun. Sadly, I suspect it will have been the last time I go’
    22 August 2017/ New York Bus & Bubbles, New York, USA 2007I did love being in New York – it revitalises me. Everything is moving fast, so many characters seemingly having fun. Sadly, I suspect it will have been the last time I go.

  • 25 April 2018: Young Farmers’ Day, Brecon, Wales 1973

    ‘A great photographer and friend, Abbas, died last night. He was an Iranian photographer who I suspect will be most remembered for his extensive essays on various religions. I often hear photographers claiming “an in-depth study”, Abbas actually fulfilled that claim. He seemed perpetually working, relentlessly attempting to get that last piece in his jigsaw vision of life. He was an inspiration for me and I am sure for many others. This picture has a tenuous link with him. He came with me on a day trip to a Young Farmers’ Club day in Brecon’
    25 April 2018/ Young Farmers’ Day, Brecon, Wales 1973A great photographer and friend, Abbas, died last night. He was an Iranian photographer who I suspect will be most remembered for his extensive essays on various religions. I often hear photographers claiming ‘an in-depth study’, Abbas actually fulfilled that claim. He seemed perpetually working, relentlessly attempting to get that last piece in his jigsaw vision of life. He was an inspiration for me and I am sure for many others. This picture is a tenuous link with him. He came with me on a day trip to a Young FarmersClub day in Brecon.

  • 6 March 2019: Viareggio, Italy 2019

    ‘Viareggio hosts the biggest Carnival in Europe. It’s a wonder of people organisation, no rules, everyone wanders wherever they like, no police, and I did not see a single drunk person. All were having fun, children mesmerised. I found it far too crowded to isolate personal happenings but I did see the most moving monument against destruction of the living planet I have ever seen. An 80ft-high whale strangled by plastic. I wish I knew who designed and made it – sculptor of the decade?’
    6 March 2019/Viareggio, Italy 2019I am posting a picture that is virtually all content, but I think important. Viareggio hosts the biggest Carnival in Europe. It’s a wonder of people organisation, no rules, everyone wanders wherever they like, no police, and I did not see a single drunk person. All were having fun, children mesmerised. I found it’s far too crowded to isolate personal happenings but I did see the most moving monument against destruction of the living planet I have ever seen. An 80-foot high whale strangled by plastic. I wish I knew who designed/made it – sculptor of the decade?

  • March 2019: Sheep Shearing, Snowdonia, Wales 1997

    ‘What a mess. I had felt I ought to try to do something on Brexit. I found it impossible as I couldn’t find two people who seemed to have gleaned the same factual information. Virtually every farmer I talked to seemed to have a different source of “facts” – this paper or that, this politician or that, this person in the know or that. Yet Welsh farmers are going to be greatly affected by whatever happens. Before the Gutenberg press, the problem was lack of information, and now, due to the rise of social media, there is too much information’
    March 2019/ Sheep Sheering, Snowdonia, Wales 1997What a mess. I had felt I ought to try to do something on Brexit. I found it impossible as I couldn’t find two people who seemed to have gleaned the same factual information. Virtually every farmer I talked to seemed to have a different source of ‘facts’ – this paper or that, this politician or that, this person in the know or that. Yet Welsh farmers are going to be greatly affected by whatever happens. Before the Gutenberg press, the problem was lack of information, and now, due to the rise of social media, there is too much information.

  • 20 March 2020: MG Car Owner’s Ball, Edinburgh 1967

    ‘Did you know that 20 March is the International Day of Happiness? Surprisingly, I feel upbeat today. So far I have managed to re-edit/caption/larger scan 273 key pictures taken from the past two years. A very accurate up the bum medical thermometer has arrived. This of course doesn’t tell you if you have or have not the virus, but it is a good indicator of something wrong, if there is something wrong – I personally find it very reassuring’
    20 March 2020/ MG Car Owner’s Ball, Edinburgh 1967Retired gentleman at the MG Car Owners Ball. Did you know that the 20 March is the International Day of Happiness? Surprisingly I feel upbeat. So far I have managed to re-edit/caption/larger scan 273 key pictures taken from the past two years. Arrived is a very accurate up the bum medical thermometer. This of course doesn’t tell you if you have or have not the virus, but it is a good indicator of something wrong, if there is something wrong - I personally find it very reassuring.

  • 25 March 2020: Disinfect, Arizona, USA 1992

    ‘Not the least important reason for inventing photography was to have a quick, accurate method of recording/collecting facts. I feel that simple documenting is still one of photography’s most important functions. It might not be your natural style but you can do worse than simply record your surrounds as they are now, be it stuff on the TV, what you are eating, reading, drinking. It’s a kind of jigsaw puzzle game. You or I may not produce any pictures that will pass the test of time but they will jog your/my memories in the future’
    25 March 2020/ Disinfect, Arizona, USA 1992Not the least important reason for inventing photography was to have a quick, accurate method of recording/collecting facts. I feel simple documenting is still one of photography’s most important functions. It might not be your natural style but you can do worse than simply record your surrounds as they are now, be it stuff on the TV, what you are eating, reading, drinking. It’s a kind of jigsaw puzzle game. I am sure you/I will not produce any pictures that will stand alone and pass the test of time but they will jog your/my memories in the future.

  • June 2020: Country Doctor, Tintern, Wales 2020

    ‘Wye Dean Practice is as the NHS should be at its best, a wonder team of doctors, nurses, healthcare and other staff. They have always made me feel I am in good hands and safe in their knowledge and care. I am a coward, but had to have a blood test. Kate is best for that, I have never passed out. It seems the trick is, don’t be dehydrated. How I would love to be able to re-do Eugene Smith’s wonderful essay, Country Doctor. Well worth looking up’
    JUNE 2020/ COUNTRY DOCTOR. TINTERN, WALES 2020Wye Dean Practice is as the NHS should be at its best, wonder team of doctors, nurses, healthcare and other staff. They have always made me feel I am in good hands and safe in their knowledge and care. I am a coward, but had to have a blood test. Kate is best for that, I have never passed out. It seems the trick is, don’t be dehydrated. How I would love to be able to re-do Eugene Smith’s wonderful essay, CountryDoctor, well worth looking up.

  • 10 July 2020: Partisan Coffee House, London, England 1958

    ‘Will there ever be another coffee house like the Partisan? Set up in 1958 by the radical historian Raphael Samuel, along with Stuart Hall and the Marxist academic Eric Hobsbawm, it was the home of radical talk, where subversive thinking was encouraged and a cup of trademark mediocre coffee came with a complementary side-order of socialist discourse – it is said that Special Branch officers used to come in and play chess just to listen to the conversations. It was in places like this that I honed my photography and interest in the world’
    10 July 2020/ Partisan Coffee House, London, England 1958Will there ever be another coffee house like the Partisan? Set up in 1958 by the radical historian Raphael Samuel, with Stuart Hall and the Marxist academic Eric Hobsbawm. Home of radical talk, where subversive thinking was encouraged and a cup of trademark mediocre coffee came with a complementary side-order of socialist discourse – it is said that Special Branch officers used to come in and play chess so that they could listen in to the conversations. It was in places like this that I honed my photography and interest in the world.

  • May 2021: Social Distancing, Arizona, USA 1980

    ‘Ever since I can remember I have loved going out for breakfast. The funniest was perhaps in Cardiff, after the opening of the wonderful new photography gallery in the National Museum of Wales. Sir Don McCullin and other friends had turned up and we met for breakfast the next day: myself, Don, John Bulmer, Ian Berry and Patrick Ward. Was it an intellectual conversation about photography? No, it was completely discussing our deafness, our bad eyesight, our inability to get up once sitting down, our continual aches and pains – it was so refreshing’
    May 2021/ Social Distancing, Arizona, USA 1980Ever since I can remember I have loved going out for breakfast. The funniest was perhaps in Cardiff, after the opening of the wonderful new photography gallery in the National Museum of Wales. Sir Don McCullin and other friends had turned up and we met for breakfast the next day. Myself, Don, John Bulmer, Ian Berry and Patrick Ward. Was it an intellectual conversation about photography? No, it was completely discussing our deafness, our bad eyesight, our inability to get up once sitting down, our continual aches and pains – it was so refreshing.

  • July 2023: Think, Monte Carlo, France 1964

    ‘I suspect the producing of books is in jeopardy. Costs have jumped. I feel that zines could be made of what in the past would have been a major Life magazine or Picture Post essay. The problem is, that although minimal, text was always a part, but it would need to be in conjunction with a very savvy journalist who was not worried about taking a minor role. Someone might try it but remember the audience, don’t bore them with your subject matter. I guess I am saying it is the time for experimentation but do it from knowledge, quality is always seeable’
    July 2023/ Think,Monte Carlo, France 1964I suspect the producing of books is in jeopardy. Costs have jumped. I feel that zines could be made of what in the past would have been a major Life Magazine or Picture Post essay. The problem is, that although minimal, text was always a part, but it would need to be in conjunction with a very savvy journalist who was not worried about taking a minor role. Someone might try it but remember the audience, don’t bore them with your subject matter. I guess I am saying it is the time for experimentation but do it from knowledge, quality is always seeable.
Topics