Don McCullin's best shot (original) (raw)

People think this country is terribly dull, but to a photographer it's manna from heaven. Sometimes the most amazing things crop up, like this shot. I had a bit of a crush on the north in the early days - I was influenced by the photographer Bill Brandt and his attempts to see how the other half lived. I was making my way up the east coast of England in 1965, just browsing, when I came across this strange place called Scarborough.

First I went to the market, where the boats were bringing fish in. I had a look and photographed a few of the local people. When I was bored with that, I saw some boys playing football on the beach, so I wandered over. They worked in fishing, and were using their lunch break as an excuse to get the old leather out. They didn't seem to mind me taking pictures. I used a Nikon F 35mm camera - the same one I used in all the wars I ever photographed - with a 28mm lens, Tri-X film and no flash.

The beach looks so heavy and depressing - not the kind you'd book your holidays on - but the image is still very romantic. It's got all the ingredients: the grand hotel in the background, that Venetian Canaletto sky, and football, a very strong part of English culture. Now, those boys would be in their 60s. I feel uncomfortable thinking about it, as I'm now rather old myself.

It's not a picture of a lost world, but there is nostalgia attached to it, because things have certainly moved on in the past 30 or 40 years. I look back at this lesser-known picture with fondness, unlike most of my work, which has too many horrendous connotations - other people's deaths, murders, children starving. I like the idea that I'm capable of far more beautiful things than just photographing the ugly side of what life throws up.

· Faith and Church: Portraits by Don McCullin is at the National Portrait Gallery, London (020-7306 0055).

· Interview by Leo Benedictus