The daredevil behind the camera: Steve McCurry

A fine and daring photographer of the modern world, Steve McCurry is an iconic ally that stood out with his daring images over the last 30 years. He came to the fore as a photojournalist around 30 years ago, when he disguised himself as a native and crossed the Pakistan border into Afghanistan, and unleashed the first images of the conflict happening in Afghanistan. McCurry’s photographs are beautiful, uplifting, and leave a strong impression on your mind.

Early Life

McCurry was born on February 24, 1950 in Pennsylvania. As a child, Steve came across Brian Brake’s series ‘Monsoon’ of photographs, and at the back of his mind, he always had the thought of reinventing the same story. This was his first encounter with photography as a child. He became interested in photography when he started taking pictures for the Penn State newspaper, ‘The Daily Collegian.’ After working for two years in Pennsylvania, he later moved to India as a freelancer, and learned to watch and wait on life.

Steve covering the floods in a city of Gujarat during the early days of his career

Career

‘The Afghan Girl’ is the most celebrated work of Steve McCurry. He took the image in a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. The image has been named as ‘The most recognized photograph’ in the history of National Geographic magazine, and was also used as the cover picture for the June 1985 issue. McCurry has shot stunning images across various continents and countries. He has an uncanny ability to showcase various aspects of life into his photography. His work seldom reflects the conflicts of the human behavior, cultures that have now vanished in the modern era, ancient traditions, and also the complexity of the contemporary culture. He still retains the human element in his pictures, which makes him the master of this art.

The Afghan Girl

Awards

Steve McCurry has won innumerous awards throughout his career. One of the many being the ‘Robert Capa Gold Medal,’ an award which is given to those photographers who exhibit exceptional courage. McCurry has a penchant of covering armed conflicts. The Iran-Iraq War, the Lebanon Civil War, the Cambodian Civil War, the Islamic insurgency in the Philippines, the Gulf War, and the Afghan Civil War are some of the conflicts covered by him. He is also a frequent contributor to the National Geographic Magazine, and has also been the member of Magnum Photos, an international photographic cooperative since 1986. McCurry is also the recipient of an unprecedented four World Press Photo first prizes in a single year, which is simply remarkable. McCurry showcases not just the impact of war on a landscape, but rather on the human face that get highly affected in unavoidable circumstances. Steve has won more than 35 awards and recognitions over his three-decade-long career.

An image taken by him while covering the monsoon in Bombay, India

Book and Documentary

Award-winning filmmaker, Denis Delestrac, has also portrayed Steve McCurry in a TV documentary, ‘The Face of the Human Condition.’ A biography by the name ‘Steve McCurry Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs’ has also been published. The book traces 14 of McCurry’s most important assignments, with each story giving a look at Steve’s adventures, right from the first publication to the afterlife in the world. It is an ideal documented record of his exceptional career.

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