David Hurn began his career as a self-taught freelance photographer and gained an early reputation with his reportage of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Hurn eventually turned away from coverage of current affairs, preferring to take a more personal approach to photography. Of his style, he has said: "Life, as it unfolds in front of the camera, is full of so much complexity, wonder, and surprise that I find it unnecessary to create new realities. There is more pleasure, for me, in things as they are."