Alisdair Macdonald
Introduction


[thumb\|Alisdair Macdonald at the *Daily Mirror* offices, 1962](/wiki/File:Alisdair_Macdonald.jpg "Alisdair Macdonald.jpg")

**Alisdair Macdonald** (1940\-2007\) was a British [press photographer](/wiki/Press_photographer "Press photographer") who worked for 26 years with the *[Daily Mirror](/wiki/Daily_Mirror "Daily Mirror")*. He took a seven\-year break to help launch the first full\-colour national newspaper [*Today*](/wiki/Today_%28UK_newspaper%29 "Today (UK newspaper)").

In 1963 Macdonald travelled with [the Beatles](/wiki/The_Beatles "The Beatles") to Paris to document their shows at the [Olympia](/wiki/Olympia_%28Paris%29 "Olympia (Paris)"). He would regularly photograph the band, up to and beyond their break up in 1970\.

In 1989 he won first place in the Humour category of the [World Press Photo](/wiki/World_Press_Photo "World Press Photo") contest for his photograph of a workman leaving the scene of a burst water main.

After his death, his child [Helen Macdonald](/wiki/Helen_Macdonald_%28writer%29 "Helen Macdonald (writer)") adopted a [goshawk](/wiki/Goshawk "Goshawk") to help them cope and later wrote *[H is for Hawk](/wiki/H_is_for_Hawk "H is for Hawk")* about the experience.Stephen Moss, [Helen Macdonald: a bird’s eye view of love and loss](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/05/helen-macdonald-interview-winner-samuel-johnson-prize-falconry), The Guardian, 5 November 2014\.


How does being a press photographer affect one's life?