Steve McCurry is an American photographer who has won many of the top photography awards. He is very influential in the world of photography and many of his images have become famous and iconic.
Steve McCurry was born on February 23rd, 1950 in Darby, Pennsylvania. He attended Penn State University with the intention of acquiring a filmography and cinematography degree. Fate brought him in a different direction. He ended up with a theater arts degree and graduated cum laude from the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State in 1974. While at Penn State, he took an interest in photography and worked for the newspaper The Daily Collegian. After graduation, he worked at Today’s Post for two years. In 1978, he left his job and took a leap of faith. Most people wouldn’t leave a stable position, but his daring and courageous nature is what made Steve so good at his job. He left his home in the United States and took a freelance position in India and took pictures all over the country. He worked in India for a whole year, but this is not what jump started his career.
He travelled to Pakistan for work where he met two Afghan men who told him all about the war across the border in Afghanistan. Steve was inspired, and this was a turning point in his career. He dressed in traditional native Afghan attire and crossed the border into rebel-controlled Afghanistan just months before the Russian invasion. He saw horrible things in this war ridden country. He said, “They were literally destroying whole villages with helicopter gunships.” During his time here, he took seven rolls worth of photos throughout his time in Afghanistan. Because of the political climate, it was difficult to transport anything in or out of the country, but that didn’t stop him. He sewed his rolls of film into his robes and his turban and stuffed them into his socks and underwear. These photos were the first to show the conflict in the Middle East. It made it that much more real to the people of the rest of the world.
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The pictures he took were eventually published in The New York Times, Time Magazine, and Paris Match. The photos that he got during his travels across India and the Middle East would eventually get developed and go on to win many awards, such as the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad. That prize is awarded to photographers who exhibit exceptional courage and enterprise. See the end for a photo1 from the roll that won him this award. This was not the first time McCurry took pictures from a war. After the first time, he went back and covered the Iran-Iraq War (September 22, 1980- August 20, 1988), the Lebanon Civil War (April 13, 1975- November 1990), the Cambodian Civil War (March 1967- September 1975), the Islamic Insurgency in the Philippines (1969- Present, ongoing), the Gulf War (August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991), and the Afghan Civil War (August 1992 – December 1996). McCurry wasn’t just on the sidelines taking photos, either. He earned that Robert Capa Gold Medal. In Pakistan, he was chained and arrested. He was beaten and nearly drowned by a crowd at a religious protest in India. He had not one but two near death experiences in Mujahedeen. In Yugoslavia, he survived a plane crash. He has actually been reported dead twice. (He is not dead- he is still alive today. He is 60 years of age.)
McCurry’s pictures have a particular concentration in the toll that war takes on humans. He didn’t usually spend his time taking photos of landscapes or animals. He wanted to photograph the people that inhabit the land. He wanted to capture the “soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face” (McCurry). He wanted to convey what it was like to be the people in these horrible situations. He wanted to show the human condition. He wanted people that saw his photos to take away that there was a connection between everyone. Yes, every human. The girls in Garden City and the soldiers in the middle east are all connected because they’re all human, despite the differences in ethnicity, language, and religion. McCurry also said he becomes dedicated to the story he’s telling. It isn’t about the fame or the adrenaline for him, he becomes all consumed with the story. He has witnessed horrific and distressing events where he would use his camera as a shield to protect himself from the violence. But he stays and fights and tells the story because he believes that that story is one that the world has to know.
Steve has done some other crazy things that may hit closer to home to New Yorkers. On September 11th 2001, he had just gotten back from Tibet. He got a call that the World Trade Center was on fire and he ran to the top of his building to take photos. He said he watched the buildings crumble before his own two eyes. He called his assistant and rushed to Ground Zero where he saw a fine white powder. That would be the remains of any signs of life: office papers, filing cabinets, clothing, pencils, food, building; nothing was recognizable.
McCurry used real film until 2005, when he finally made the transition to digital photos. He was actually gifted the last roll of Kodachrome film to ever be produced by Kodak (the photos he took with this roll2 would later be printed by Vanity Fair). This brought up questions of McCurry’s uses of photoshop when old photos of his were revealed with parts that he had erased or manipulated. He is a self-proclaimed “visual storyteller” not a photojournalist, so he feels there is no reason he can’t help his photo tell the story he wants it to. Everyone uses photoshop these days, what’s the harm in getting rid of a misplaced garbage can or an unfortunate photobomb in what would otherwise be a perfect photo?
McCurry is most famous for his photo “Afghan Girl” which was taken in December 1984 and published as the cover of National Geographic in 1985. The photo starred 12-year-old Sharabat Gula, an orphan and refugee in a camp on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He said he was afraid the photos wouldn’t develop well because of the dust and people around them. He also said when he saw that photo, he knew it was special, and the editor of National Geographic leaped to his feet and shouted, “that’s our next cover.” That photo has always been special and is a great piece to be recognized for. Gula was recently found to be living in Pakistan, and the photo was recreated almost 20 years later.
Steve McCurry risked his life over and over for the perfect photo. It obviously paid off, and he is one of the most famous photographers because of it.
