Steve McCurry - about Moscow, dangerous photography and dreams of Siberia
This summer at the Moscow Museum contemporary art With the support of the State Hermitage, a personal exhibition of the world-famous photographer, the author of the portrait of the “Afghan Girl” Steve McCurry, “The Untold Story”, was opened. The project's exposition includes more than 80 works - unique series of photographs, fragments from notebooks and the photographer's travel routes. The Untold Story will run until September 2nd.
At the opening of the exhibition took placepublic talkwith the participation of McCurry himself and the curator of the project, the head of the State Hermitage Department of Contemporary Art and the head of the Hermitage 20/21 project, Dmitry Ozerkov. The meeting participants could not only listen to the photographer's speech - they had the opportunity to ask McCurry their question. MOSGORTUR collected the photographer's answers to the 10 most interesting questions.
About Moscow
One of the most significant exhibitions for me took place in the Hermitage, one of the greatest museums in the world. Of course, holding an exhibition in Moscow is also a great honor for me. The first time I was here in the 1980s, I remember that it was cold and gray. In 2018, people walk around Moscow dressed the same as in Paris or New York. What impressed me the most was the people. They have become more “globalized”, more complex.
About photographers who have influenced their professional activities
These are Brian Brake, who always saw a beautiful composition, André Kertesz, who could always capture an interesting moment, Ernst Haas, who shot in color, and Elliott Erwitt, who mostly took black and white photographs.
But there is a photographer who influenced not only me, but the whole generation - this is Henri Cartier-Bresson. He knew how to be in the right place in right time, and he had a talent for spotting interesting shots. We met several times in Paris. Henri always treated me well, but he was quite strict and criticized a lot. I think if he had spoken unflatteringly about my work, it would have killed me, and I would have decided to quit photography.
Women in a shoe store. Kabul, Afghanistan 1992
Henri taught me a lot through ordinary conversations. Once he gave me advice: "In professional shooting, take color photos, in personal photography - in black and white." However, I never used this advice.
About Finding a Story
First of all, I am interested in traveling and visiting different places. Life is, after all, not only about photography, but also about learning new things. I always keep about 20 stories and objects in my head when I look around. I am always fascinated by couples, and also by people who read, sleep, walk, play. It doesn't matter if it's at the airport, car or somewhere else.
Places I've never been but would like to visit
I would like to go to Iran (but it's difficult now when you are an American photographer), Madagascar and Siberia. It seems to me that Siberia is one of those places that you constantly hear about, like Timbuktu. In the name itself there is some sense of remoteness, the other end of the world. I was in Timbuktu, but I was not in Siberia, and I definitely want to fill this gap.
I didn't photograph much in Russia. Every time I come here I get rich experience. If I could turn back time, I would trade some trips in the 1970s and 1980s to India for trips to Russia. I would like to visit China in those years, because the changes that have taken place there over the past 30 years are amazing.
Monks on the Golden Rock. Kyaikto, Myanmar 1994
I would like to shoot more in my own country. But every time someone says to me, "I have a plane ticket," he never means another state - it's always another country.
In May I was in Mongolia where I met amazing people, places and culture. It was very interesting to learn about reindeer herders and hunters who live in the steppe. It's always great to visit new places you've heard about but never been to.
About Travel Assistant
Organizing a trip is not that difficult - booking a hotel and all that. The most important thing is to have a reliable interpreter or guide who knows the local language and who you can trust. Such a person can explain where to go, where to find a car or a horse. When I first started, I had a guide who stole all my cameras. Then I realized that it is imperative to know who you are working with.
About dangerous photography
Once I took a photo from the train, and the assistant had to hold my legs. That's why you have to trust your assistant. This is a person who not only monitors equipment and things - sometimes your life depends on him.
When I first started, I tried to find my chip. Then I really felt the adrenaline from dangerous filming and was ready to take risks. Now the most important thing for me is to tell an important story, even in dangerous places. I have never been a war photographer and never aspired to be. I did do a few jobs in war zones, and I've always been interested in telling stories about people's behavior in such situations. Sometimes I find myself in places like this by accident. Probably, shooting in zones of military conflicts in total is one year out of forty years of work. I don't think photography is to die for.
About whether to interfere in the course of events
I am often asked: do good photo or save a life. I answer: "Of course, take a photo." It's a joke. I think that in such a situation, 99% of people try to help with food, money, medicines. It seems to me that it is important to provide any help, at least at least try. But my experience shows that I usually show up quite late, when doctors are already helping people. I think we should all help.
Shaolin monks training. Zhengzhou, China 2004
About filming
I have been approached twice by Hollywood directors. It was 15-17 years ago. I'm still waiting for the next phone call.
About objectivity in the photo
I think it depends on the task of photography. For example, if it's a news photo, it should reflect the facts. In this case, no interpretation or personal view of the photographer is needed, only accuracy and facts are needed. If you're trying to build more meaning, then you're telling your story.
For example, if you want a news photo of this meeting, you will take a photo of this room, not book store downstairs and not a sleeping person. Otherwise, you will come to the editorial office with these photos, and they will ask you: “Why did you do this? What was needed was a photograph of a room, not a sleeping person, even if it was a masterpiece.”
Sharbat Gula. Afghan girl. Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan 1984
About plans
My wife and I will go to Australia and then to the Galapagos Islands. And, of course, I plan to visit Siberia.
Steve McCurry is one of the most talented photographers. His portrait of a 12-year-old Afghan girl was named the most recognizable in the history of National Geographic magazine. His works tell stories, and therefore they can be found on the pages of the largest publications.Steve McCurry has taken over a million photographs in 35 years.
Biography
The most important thing is to be extremely attentive to the person, serious and consistent in your intentions, then the picture will be the most sincere. I love people watching. It seems to me that a person's face can sometimes tell a lot. Each of my photographs is not just an episode from life, it is its quintessence, its whole history.
Steve McCurry
Steve McCurry (Steve McCurry) was born in 1950 in Philadelphia. He became interested in photography while studying at the University of Pennsylvania in the film department and the student newspaper "The Daily Collegian" willingly printed pictures of a young amateur photographer. In 1974, he graduated with honors from the university, received a diploma in theater arts and ... got a job as a photographer in a local newspaper. A more than prestigious education did little to help Steve in the profession of a photojournalist; he made his way to the heights of skill by trial and error, trying to learn as much as possible from his predecessors. “Creativity played a big role in my development as a photographer,” he recalled, “In addition, I carefully studied the books of such masters as Dorothea Lang and Walker Evans.”
The young man could not sit still: the quiet, unsaturated everyday life of his native country in the mid-1970s seemed boring and banal to him - and for the most part they were. In 1978, after saving some money, Steve bought 300 rolls of film and went to India. It was a real test: he had no financial support, spent the night in the cheapest hotels, was malnourished, and often risked not only his health, but also his life.
In 1979, still in the status of a "free artist" or in other words a private person, he went to Afghanistan to make a report on the clash between rebel groups and government forces. “I was very worried: after all, I had to illegally cross the border and get into the war zone,” he said, “But I pulled myself together and went. I spent two weeks on the front line. And when it came time to return, I had to get nervous again - I was afraid that my films would be confiscated at the border. At great risk, sewing films into his turban, socks and even underwear, he returned to Pakistan. Several photographs made it to the pages of The New York Times, but special attention they did not attract - few people were interested in the events in a small Asian country then.
A few months after the events described, the Soviet-Afghan war began and the situation changed dramatically: the fate of yesterday's still unnecessary people interested not only politicians, but also the "average American housewife." And then it turned out that not one of the Western agencies does not have up-to-date photographs from Afghanistan. “Suddenly, the leading magazines around the world - Paris Match, Stern, Time, Newsweek and LIFE - began to print my photographs,” McCurry recalled, “Soon I was signed to Time; after working there for a few months, I moved to National Geographic.”
Since then, he has repeatedly visited Afghanistan, often risking his life: “... My track was lost in 1980 and 1988 in Afghanistan. They thought I was dead, ”he said in an interview. In 1992, he once again came to Kabul, which at that time was under the rule of the Taliban. At two o'clock in the morning, armed men burst into the hotel where he stayed (by the way, he was the only guest). Hearing a knock McCurry opened the door and locked himself in the bathroom. Uninvited guests ransacked the room and stole everything of any value. “Fortunately, the equipment, money and documents were not found, I hid them in a safe place,” the photographer shared his joy.
But to this we must add problems with the transportation of equipment and materials across the border, the unwillingness of many photographed to serve as models for foreigners, the natural anger of people in conflict zones, the desire of those in power "not to take dirty linen out of the hut" and so on and so forth. But you never know what other problems can arise in an unfamiliar country for a person who, in the apt expression of Elliott Erwitt, is “armed only with hopes and ambitions”? In the immediate vicinity of him, automatic bursts sounded, bombs fell, mortar shells exploded, he got into a plane crash, he was beaten, they tried to drown him, he was taken hostage ... The situations in which Steve McCurry was between life and death are too many to mention tell in short article, he is quite worthy of becoming the hero of an adventure novel - it's up to the writer.
McCurry said in an interview that he doesn't feel like a celebrity because usually "people recognize a photograph, not its author." However, since the mid-1980s, he was already quite famous, he no longer had to starve and spend the night in the slums. Some of his works - especially the portrait of Sharbat Gula, which will be discussed below - have become world-famous photo icons. In 1986, he became a candidate member of the famous photo agency Magnum Photos, and in 1991 - a full member. And he was not at all lost among the brilliant succession of photographers and journalists of the agency! He received many prestigious awards both at home and far beyond its borders, several times was recognized as the "Best Photographer of the Year" by various magazines and associations. Among other things, he received the highest award of a military photographer - the gold medal of Robert Capa for "the best photographic report from abroad, which required exceptional courage and initiative."
Steve McCurry published his first book, The Imperial Way, in 1985. It was followed by Monsoon (Monsoon, 1988), Portraits (Portraits, 1999), South Southeast (2000), Sanctuary (2002) , The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage (2003), Steve McCurry (2005), Looking East (2006) , "In the Shadow of Mountains" ("In the Shadow of Mountains", 2007). The most recent photo album, The Unguarded Moment, was released in 2009.
Steve McCurry has an amazing ability to always (at least much more often than it follows from the theory of probability) to be at the right time in the right place. He is surprisingly lucky - though it should be remembered here that the luck for a photojournalist is usually the misfortunes of other people or even entire nations. We have already seen how the Soviet attack on Afghanistan affected his career. But the “main luck” was waiting for the photojournalist at home.
Steve McCurry spent all of August 2001 in Asia and returned to New York only on September 10th. The next day, he woke up very early and felt preposterous - the change of time zones affected. Later, his assistant's mother called him: "Look out the window," she shouted into the phone, "the World Trade Center is on fire." “At first I couldn’t believe my eyes,” the photographer recalled, “but in the next moment I grabbed the bag with the equipment and rushed to the roof of the house.” After shooting a few films, he realized that he needed to try to get closer. He did not have the opportunity to obtain permission to shoot, so he had to spend most of his time hiding from the authorities - the benefit of the experience of illegal work is not to occupy him. McCurry got to Ground Zero around noon and shot until the film ran out. But even then he could not force himself to leave, looked around, probably “photographed without a camera”, trying to remember everything that was happening around. In the end, fatigue took its toll: Steve McCurry went home, beginning to realize that this was probably the most important day of his life.
I was so carried away by the story of the adventures of McCurry as a journalist that I said almost nothing about his habits as a photographer.
To begin with, let's look into his bag: 3-4 professional Nikon film cameras and 6-7 fast lenses (fixes) with different focal lengths. He carries a tripod and a flash with him, but he does not use them often. He tries to have as much spare film as possible and spends it sparingly - there were days when the number of videos shot was measured in dozens. The photographer considers the Swiss army knife and the Leatherman tool kit to be the most necessary parts of his ammunition, which more than once helped him out in difficult situations.
Steve McCurry shoots exclusively on color film: "A lot of this decision is dictated by the market," he admits. But it's not just that, because "color is another dimension." McCurry believes that a good color photograph should remain good even in black and white: "I don't want my photographs to stick only to the light." Does he succeed? I invite the reader to independently experiment with converting his photographs into black and white, although it seems to me that many of them, along with color, lose some of their attractiveness. This fully applies to the most famous photograph of McCurry "Afghan girl" ("Afghan Girl"), the story of which I saved for last.
Steve McCurry has many great photographs and is rightfully considered one of the best photojournalists of our time. Everything is in order with him and with artistic taste, some of his works can serve (and serve) as decoration for the most demanding art museum. However, many photography lovers know him as the author of a single photograph.
This is not unusual: a photographer is often remembered for one photograph, as an actor for one role, a writer for one book, an artist for one painting. Few people know that something other than the Black Square came out of Malevich's brush, and Conan Doyle invented not only Sherlock Holmes. There are also more curious cases: the ardent opponent of the death penalty, Dr. Guillotin, is remembered as the man who gave his name to the beheading machine. And who cares now that he proposed it as an alternative to more cruel methods of execution (burning at the stake, hanging, quartering).
But back to photography. At the end of 1984, Steve McCurry ended up in the Nazir Bagh Afghan refugee camp near Peshawar (Pakistan). He was allowed to take pictures at the school, including in the girls' class. Later, he recalled that he noticed her immediately, but, sensing her embarrassment and confusion, approached her last. The girl allowed herself to be photographed, which he did not fail to take advantage of. It never occurred to him to write down or even ask her name, she was for him one of the thousands of children of the war: “I didn’t think that this photo would be any different from many other pictures that I took that day,” the photographer admitted later.
But she was different. In June 1985, the photograph appeared on the cover of National Geographic and immediately thereafter became a symbol of the Afghan people's struggle for independence. In the 20+ years since its first publication, the Afghan Girl has become one of the most recognizable photographic images of the era. The photo was replicated by other magazines, appeared on postcards and posters, on the backs of peace fighters in the form of a tattoo, and so on and so forth. She was included in the top 100 photographs by the National Geographic Society United States, in the late 1990s, she was on the cover of National Geographic's collection of selected photographs. In 2005, the cover of "Afghan Girl" was included in the top ten "Best Magazine Covers of the Past 40 Years".
“I think that many people like the photo of an Afghan girl due to the combination of several components,” its creator shared his understanding of the reason for the popularity of the photo, “Firstly, she is very beautiful. Secondly, her gaze is mesmerizing, it simultaneously feels excitement and determination, steadfastness, dignity shines through in all her appearance. She is poor, but in this poverty there is genuine nobility. Dress her in Western fashion and she will look like most members of our society."
All this is of course true, but there are not so few girls that fit this description, including in other photographs. Steve McCurry. Meanwhile, the impact of "Afghan Girl" on the viewer is unique; it seems to me that it is impossible to explain it in words, the best that can be done here is to refer to the mysterious "power of art."
For a long time, the fate of the heroine of the picture remained unknown. The photographer himself returned to Afghanistan about twenty times, but if he tried to find her, he was unsuccessful. Finally, in January 2002, seventeen years after the first publication of the famous photograph, the administration of National Geographic organized an expedition to search for "the girl with green eyes." They showed the photo to local residents in the area of the Nazir Bagh refugee camp, which is still active, where McCurry took the famous picture. Someone recognized the girl in the picture, but the hope in the heart of the photographer was replaced by disappointment after meeting with the alleged "model". But, in the end, luck smiled at them - one of the local residents recognized her and promised to bring her to the camp. It took three days - she lived in the mountains near the caves of Tora Bora, which for a long time served as a shelter for terrorist groups led by Osama bin Laden. Apparently McCurry did not really hope for luck, but when a young woman entered the room, one glance was enough for him to understand: it was her.
The young woman's name was Sharbat Gula (Sharbat Gula, translated from Afghan - "Flower nectar"). At the time of the second meeting with McCurry, she was between 28 and 31 years old, in any case, no one could determine her exact age - not even herself. At the very beginning of the war, her parents died under Soviet bombs, for several weeks she, as part of a small group of refugees, made her way to Pakistan - through snow-covered mountains, without warm clothes, hungry, hiding in caves from air raids. In 1984, Sharbat ended up in the Nazir-Bagh camp, where she was met by McCurry. Simple arithmetic shows that she was between 11 and 14 years old, although she looks older. The woman remembers this day well: then she was photographed for the first time in her life. Shortly thereafter, she married, gave birth to four daughters, one of whom died in infancy. They do not live richly - Sharbat's husband works in a bakery, earning less than one dollar a day! Was she ever happy? It seems very doubtful, her life was very hard.
It seems quite reasonable to assume that the main, if not the only reason why they agreed to meet with the photographer and his companions is the hope of somehow improving their well-being and educating their children. Their hopes were justified, at least in part: “When we started the search, there was no talk of money for herself or her family,” the photographer said, “However, we provided her husband and children with the necessary medical care. I bought a sewing machine at her request, because she wanted her daughter to learn some craft. But there was nothing like paying for photos. However, I think we made it clear to her that we are going to take certain steps that will change her life for the better. Of course sewing machine It's nothing compared to National Geographic's income from the sale of the "Afghan Girl" image, but for a family living on a dollar a day, that's a fortune.
Sharbat Gula did not express much enthusiasm for the famous photograph; moreover, it was absolutely incomprehensible to her what these strangers could find in it. She was very upset by the fact that someone saw her in a holey shawl. "She still remembers the day she accidentally burned a hole over the stove," a spokesperson for the magazine said.
During their second meeting, the photographer was allowed to take several more photographs of Sharbat, which were printed in National Geographic, and then went around to many publications around the world. In one of the photographs, with an open face, she tried to take the same pose as seventeen years ago, in the other - this time in a veil - she holds her famous photograph. It must be assumed that the photo session was not easy for her, because she had to pose in front of an outsider, show him her face, talk to him ... Of course, all this in the presence of her husband and brother, for whom this event was also not an easy test.
In conclusion, I note that the press several times raised the question of a possible mistake: they say that women in the photographs have very different upper lip, nose, facial proportions, eye sizes. However, the photographer is sure that he was not mistaken: “I don’t need any scientific evidence - I already see that this is the same girl that I photographed in 1984,” he stated, “To be sure, look carefully at her a scar on the bridge of her nose, moles that do not change with age, and indeed her own recollection of what happened that morning in 1984 should be taken into account.
And one more thing: no need to idealize Steve McCurry, no matter how much he sympathizes with the people of Asia, he is primarily an American and supports the policies of his government: “Not 100 percent, but basically I agree,” he answers the question about his agreement with US policy in Afghanistan, “War is not the way to solve the problem. But I think that we should do our best and destroy these people(Highlighted by me - A.V.). Of course, care is needed so that civilians do not suffer. ... I want to go to Afghanistan again, but after the Taliban.”
Here it will be appropriate to note that Sharbat Gula belongs to the militant Afghan tribe of Pashtuns, from which the backbone of the Taliban movement was formed at one time. Both she and her family are sure that the Taliban are much better than the Russians or the Americans, because "they had more order, but there were no bombings."
Which of them is right: a world-famous photographer or an illiterate Afghan woman, even with beautiful green eyes? Maybe you (like me) do not have a clear answer to this question, but still it’s great that there are photographs that make you think about it.
The life story of one of the most recognizable photojournalists of our time.
Which of your photographs best describes your life?
- Life is so complicated, it is difficult to describe it in one sentence or one idea ... Maybe a picture where a child runs along an alley between two walls with prints of children's hands. Perhaps he could represent me.
Broken arm
In 1950, a boy named Steve is born in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of five, he, curious and lively, like all boys of his age, falls down the stairs and breaks his right arm. The bone does not heal well, and Steve, a right-hander, has to learn how to use his left.
This case does not change his character at all - he is still interested in everything. Having matured, he chooses the most interesting profession - a film director. At the age of 19, he leaves for Europe for a year, travels to Sweden, Holland, and Israel. There, to save money and get to know the country from the inside, he lives with host families. In one of them, Steve meets and befriends a photographer.
They walk the streets of Stockholm, take pictures, and in the evenings they develop pictures in a dark room. Then the young man understands for the first time that photography is a wonderful way to combine a love of travel and an irrepressible interest in life. A broken arm in childhood makes itself felt - it is inconvenient for him to work with his left hand with cameras designed for right-handed people, but this worries him the least.
As a result, while studying at the University of Pennsylvania, he, in parallel with directing, actively studies photography. He especially likes the work of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. Having received a diploma with honors, Steve does not work a day by profession, but gets a job as a photojournalist in a newspaper. But first good photo he does two years before, still in his student days.
"The Snapshot That Made Me"
In 1972 he travels around Mexico. Walking down the streets of Mexico City, Steve sees a homeless man crouched against the wall, right under the window. furniture store. The glance of the young photographer could not help but catch this sad picture - a man in torn clothes lies on the bare slabs of the sidewalk exactly under a beautiful brand new sofa displayed in the window. It is this shot that will lead Steve on the path to professional photography.
Working in a newspaper quickly bothers a young man. Day after day he shoots the same thing: school graduations, club meetings ... He decides that he does not want to spend his whole life like this, saves money, quits - and leaves for India. Without any guarantees or hopes for photo orders from printed publications. Steve plans to spend six weeks there, but then he finds his true love - all of South Asia. Six weeks stretched into two years. He returns to America for only a month and immediately leaves again - to Afghanistan.
Real McCurry
Here in South Asia, he will become the Steve McCurry we know. In 1979, in Chitral, on the very border with Afghanistan, he meets several refugees from a neighboring country. They tell the man with the camera that a civil war is going on in Afghanistan - people are being killed there, villages are being wiped off the face of the earth. They ask him to go and film what is happening so that the world will know what is really happening.
Steve agrees, even though he's never been to a war zone before. He thinks it's interesting, that it's an adventure. He is dressed in local clothes and smuggled across the border. They shoot at him, he is scared, but he is already one of these people, now this is his story too.
He sends the photographs to a friend who offers them to The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor. In December of the same year, the USSR sent troops to Afghanistan. McCurry shoots that too. His photographs are published by Time and Newsweek magazines, the Associated Press publishing house. An unknown photographer who made small orders for regional newspapers appears on the front pages of international publications.
He is soon contacted by National Geographic. For half a year, Steve McCurry has been working on a story for NatGeo, because of which he and his guide end up in a Pakistani prison. They are shackled and not fed for several days. Then, without explanation, they are released without being deported from the country. McCurry continues to work, but National Geographic refuses to take the story - the editors do not like the text.
For a photographer, it's a big blow to realize that he failed the task of such a publishing house. But everything ends happily - "NatGeo" takes a different story of Steve and gives a new order. The collaboration continues to this day. It was on the cover of this magazine in June 1985 that McCurry's most famous photo appeared - "Afghan Girl".
In 1986, Steve becomes a member of the international photo agency Magnum.
"Afghan Girl"
1984, the war in Afghanistan is far from over. Steve McCurry and a colleague are filming life in a refugee camp in Pakistan when laughter erupts from one tent. Photographers look inside - there is a lesson in a makeshift school for girls. Steve asks permission to take some photos. One of the girls, who particularly interested McCurry, covers herself with an old hijab: it is not in the customs of these people to allow a strange man, especially a foreigner, to see a woman's face.
The teacher asks the girl to remove her hands and look directly into the camera. The girl allows us to take a few pictures, but then, completely embarrassed, leaves the tent. But McCurry already knows that photographs taken without a flash, hastily, will be good - there was so much soul in those precocious adult eyes.
The portrait of an Afghan girl would become one of the most famous shots in history. It has been reprinted millions of times. But no one will know either the name or the fate of this refugee - until, in 2002, McCurry, together with the NatGeo group, with great difficulty, finds her again. After 18 years, the face of Sharbat Gula will again appear on the cover of the magazine.
In 2004, Steve will create non-profit organization Imagine Asia to spread the middle and higher education among the inhabitants of Afghanistan - such ordinary people like Sharbat and her children.
Last film
At the beginning of Steve's career, cameras were only film. In advance, before developing the frame, it was impossible to predict the quality of the picture. How the photos of Sharbat Gula turned out, McCurry will find out only after a couple of months from the moment of shooting. But digital cameras gradually completely replace the film ones. In 2009, Kodak decides to discontinue its most popular film, Kodachrome.
In recognition of the merits of Steve McCurry, who shot most of his shots on it, the company's management decides to give the latest produced film to the photographer. “I shot on it for 30 years. There are several hundred thousand photographs in my archive. And these 36 frames were supposed to sum up, embody them all - in order to say goodbye to Kodachrome with dignity. It was a beautiful film,” he recalls.
Having snapped off the last roll, Steve never shot with a film camera again. These photographs were developed on July 14, 2010, and the slides were donated to the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.
Below you can see all the frames from the latest film.
1 of 31
Actor Robert De Niro in his screening room in Tribeca, in New York City, May 2010.
De Niro in his screening room, May 2010. (Frame 4, not shown, is a near duplicate.)
De Niro in his office in Tribeca, May 2010.
Indian film actor, director, and producer Aamir Khan in India, June 2010.
A boy in a tea shop in Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia, near Mumbai, India, June 2010.
A sculpture studio in Mumbai that produces statues of notable Indian personages and Hindu gods, June 2010.
Indian film actress and director Nandita Das, in India, June 2010.
Shekhar Kapur, director of Elizabeth, in India, June 2010.
Amitabh Bachchan, one of the country's most prominent actors, in India, June 2010.
A Rabari tribal elder, photographed in India, June 2010.
A Rabari tribal elder, who is also an itinerant magician, photographed in India, June 2010.
A Rabari tribal elder and itinerant magician, photographed in India, June 2010.
A Rabari woman, photographed in India, June 2010.
A Rabari girl, photographed in India, June 2010.
An elderly Rabari woman, photographed in India, June 2010.
A Rabari boy, photographed in India, June 2010.
Turkish photographer Ara Guler (“The Eye of Istanbul”), in Istanbul, Turkey, June 2010.
Street art at Seventh Avenue and Bleecker Street, in New York City, July 2010.
A woman reading on a Saturday afternoon in Washington Square Park, in New York City, July 2010.
A street performer in Washington Square Park, July 2010.
Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt in his Central Park West studio, in New York City, July 2010.
A young couple in Union Square, in New York City, July 2010.
A self-portrait of Steve McCurry, taken in Manhattan, July 2010.
A man on a bench in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Union Square, July 2010.
McCurry at four a.m. in his hotel room watching a Stephen Colbert interview on television, in Parsons, Kansas, July 2010.
A local man sleeps outside a community center in Parsons, July 2010.
A statue in a cemetery in Parsons, home to the last photographic lab in the world that developed Kodachrome film, July 2010.
Deceased twice
One day, explaining why he is ready to risk his life in hot spots and go to the most dangerous places in the world, McCurry will say: “I think we want to witness history, to see events that have not yet been recorded. We want to be where history is written because, after all, we live a simple, boring life…”
But to someone, but to this photographer, there is no need to complain about boredom. He is imprisoned several times in Pakistan, robbed and almost killed in Thailand, once almost drowned in India. After a severe concussion, he loses his memory for a while, barely swimming out of a plane that crashed into a winter lake in Slovenia. Remains alive after a bomb falls a few dozen meters from his hotel in Afghanistan.
Twice while working in Afghanistan, his family is informed that Steve is "missing, presumed dead." And a few times he actually thinks it's over. But each time he continues to move forward, towards danger, even when the tragedy comes to his own doors.
9/11
September 10, 2001 Steve McCurry returns from a long assignment in China. The next day, he and an assistant sort through the mail in his apartment near Washington Square Park, when he hears phone call: "Fire in the World mall". McCurry looks out the window and sees the Twin Towers on fire.
“I grabbed my camera bag, went up to the roof of the house and started taking pictures. We didn't even know at the time that they were planes, because we didn't have a radio or TV on our roof. We thought it was a fire, a terrible tragedy, but it will soon be extinguished. And then they collapsed.
I could not believe it. I saw them explode, I saw smoke, but it was impossible - that they are no more. My assistant and I ran downstairs to photograph everything in place. It was so unreal. There was fine, fine white dust and office papers everywhere, but no more office equipment: no cabinets, no telephones, no computers. Everything seemed to evaporate. There was only dust, steel and paper.
We were there until 9pm. I went home, but could not sleep, got up at half past four in the morning and went there again. There were police, firefighters, soldiers, but I needed to document everything. I cut a hole in the fence and spent the entire morning of September 12 at the site where the towers stood until the police caught me. But it definitely needed to be documented - and I did it.
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"My home is Asia"
Now it is almost impossible to find McCurry at home. When he's not teaching photography workshops, he travels the world, often visiting Asia. “Asia is my home. I love this part of the world. There is such a deep culture, geography, such diversity. Their culture goes back thousands of years. The architecture, the language, the clothes, everything is so special.”
But what amazes him much more is how similar people are. They dress in different clothes, build different houses, eat different food. But everyone laughs or is sad the same way. Deep down, we all belong to humanity.
Now Stephen McCurry is 65 years old, but he does not think to stop. Because there are so many more places to visit: Madagascar, Iran, Russia, back to Tibet. Because "you only live once, and the opportunity to see the world, all its beauty, and secrets, and chaos is a worthy aspiration." Because a lucky day is “any day when I see something new, explore the world. And if you manage to take a good photo, so much the better.”
Steve McCurry's work includes many iconic images in the fields of photojournalism and documentary photography. The fruits of his creativity never cease to inspire and amaze people around the globe, leaving indelible impressions. With over 30 years of intense and passionate activity, McCurry is considered by many to be one of the greatest photographers of our time.
The future photographer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, studied film art at the university of his native state. He worked freelance for a local newspaper for a few years before deciding to travel to India, taking rolls of film with him.
After several months in India, he crossed the Pakistani border, then entered Afghanistan. McCurry changed his appearance and grew a beard so as not to stand out in the crowd. Then he made his first images of the conflict in Afghanistan. This was his launch into the world of realistic photography, which has dominated his work ever since.
Pictured is Steve McCurry.
About Steve McCurry and his photos:
Above all, McCurry's work bridged the gap that exists between artistic and realistic photography. They combine both.
His photographs need no explanation. Good pictures don't need a description. The photographer's works are fully consistent with this phrase, they are understandable to people of all ages and classes.
His color photographs carry an additional semantic load. Colors play in McCurry's photographs important role in determining the mood of the frame. Chroma and brightness have an added meaning and become part of the photograph.
The magnificent composition in McCurry's photographs turns them into works of art. (9 tips for photo composition based on the examples of the legendary Steve McCurry)
McCurry learned street photography from greats like Henri Cartier-Bresson, but he always adds something of his own.
He retained his passion for his work in the same way as at the very beginning of the journey.
Pictured: Steve McCurry
Steve McCurry quotes:
- If you want to be a photographer, first leave home.
- Personality is important to my work. I shoot stories on assignment, and of course the photos must be consistent. But, the most important thing is that each image exists on its own, with its position and feelings.
- Most of my photographs are based on people, I look at the "unguarded moment" when the soul peeks out, then life experience engraved on a person's face.
- There is an urgent need in my life to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.
- Photography is undeniably powerful remedy. Free from language barriers, it freezes unique moments in time.
"Afghan Girl"
Fishermen, Sri Lanka, 1995.
Rajasthan, India, 2008.
Jodhpur, India, 2007.
A boy in red paint at the Holi festival. Mumbai, India, 1996.
Holi festival, Rajasthan, India, 1996.
Representative of the Rabari tribe, India, 2010.
Father and son in their home. Jodhpur, India, 1996.
Bombay, India, 1993.
Porbandar, Gujarat, India, 1983.
Representative of the Rabari tribe in India, 2010.
Monsoon at Chandani Chowk, Delhi, 1983.
Porbandar, India, 1983.
Flower seller. Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, 1999.
Rajasthan, India, 1996.
Grand Central Station in New York, 2010.
Railway platform in Delhi, India, 1983.
Miner, Puli-Khumri, Afghanistan, 2002.
A farmer in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, 1992.
Portrait of an Afghan refugee in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Schoolgirl, Herat, Afghanistan, 1992.
Photographer with his camera. Kabul, Afghanistan, 1992.
School, Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
Myanmar, Burma, 2011.
Chaittiyo (Golden Stone) Pagoda, a Buddhist shrine in the Mon state of Myanmar, 1994.
Yangon, Myanmar, 1994.
Geisha climbing the stairs office building. Kyoto, Japan, 2007.
Fisherman on Inle Lake, Burma. 2008.
Agra, India, 1983.
Vrindavan, India, 1995.
Angkor, Cambodia, 1997.
Angkor, Cambodia, 2000.
Angkor, Cambodia, 1999.
Tibet, 2001.
He visited the most dangerous and beautiful places planets to collect vivid impressions in your photo collection. His style is unchanged, and under the gun of his camera is the whole world without borders: India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tibet, Burma, Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Philippines, Africa. His "Afghan Girl" is recognizable at first sight. Other pictures are undeservedly little known, but just as beautiful, thanks to their sincerity, non-staging and inner content.
His name is Steve McCurry. It captures moments of happiness, ecstasy and quiet joy. It conveys the sorrows of a difficult life and the seal of silent stoicism. He finds the thrill of “easy breathing”, the beating of wild love of life, the reflection of love in the look and the cobweb of fine wrinkles. Behind each is a dramatic, original fate of a person and a fantastic world around. Irrationality, passions, the experience of inner life are revealed against the background of harsh realities and familiar everyday situations.
This obscure young amateur photojournalist from a small local newspaper became a cult photographer in an instant. Just now he is an ex-student with a prestigious but impractical theatrical education, and suddenly his photographs end up in major magazines and end up on the cover of National Geographic. He wins the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Foreign Photojournalist. He becomes a "trendsetter" in the world of photography, he has a crowd of admirers, students and imitators. Articles are written about him, and his works are published among the hundred best photo frames. How and why did this happen?
The turning point came after four years of a measured, peaceful and unremarkable life. At 28, Steve McCurry dropped everything and went on his first solo trip. Modest savings went to 300 reels of film, which he sewed into clothes and secretly smuggled literally on himself. He went to India. Without money, knowledge of the language and culture, this became a real test for him. After a comfortable life in civilized America, temporary shelters and a constant risk to health and life awaited him.
Life in the midst of war
Further, the route leads through the Afghan-Pakistani border, directly to the hot spot - to where the Afghan war flared up. McCurry travels there, not knowing the way, at his own peril and risk, to make a report. He crosses the border illegally and spends two weeks in the war zone. People die here every day, and the photographer himself is on the verge of death. Steve worries not so much about himself, but about the possible loss or confiscation of the footage. Only by a miracle does he get to Pakistan alive and with a ready-made photo essay.
After that, Steve McCurry is invited to work at National Geographic. He continues to travel around the East and shoots life and death in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Cambodia, Beirut, Burma, the Philippines and Tibet, as well as in the Balkan countries. Steve makes photographic reports of international conflicts: the Iran-Iraq war, the civil war in Lebanon, the war in the Persian Gulf and in Afghanistan. He knows firsthand the sound of automatic bursts, exploding bombs and mortar shells. The photographer survived a plane crash, captivity, torture, beatings, but this did not stop him.
Story great photography: the best creation of Steve McCurry
Imagine a Pashtun refugee camp near the Soviet border. The photographer comes to the local primary school and gets a rare opportunity to capture the faces of Afghan girls (usually they are hidden under the veil). Among the crowd of children is a girl named Sharbat Gula, which means "flower sherbet". She looks mature (children grow up early here), although she is not yet fourteen.
No wonder: her parents were killed under the bombing, and the house was destroyed. For two weeks she crossed the snow-covered pass without food and warm clothes. However, from the sorrows experienced, she seemed to have only become more beautiful and stronger. Her wild, piercing sea-green eyes are directed directly into the lens, they fascinate and attract attention. Pain, determination and dignity gathered together in his eyes.
"Afghan girl" (Afghan girl) - the most famous photograph in the history of National Geographic magazine. She has become a symbol of the Afghan conflict and the problem of refugees around the world.
Crossing borders: a photo journey around the world
McCurry gives us the opportunity to travel to those distant, original, fascinating places that he himself has visited. Landscapes and people are so "alive", as if it is a broadcast channel from the scene. Looking at them, we mentally cross borders and forget about the time and space that separates us. The photographer does the impossible - conveys the state and atmosphere. How? No one knows.
McCurry makes a collection of portraits of people from countries with diametrically opposed cultural and religious traditions.
It reveals entire cultural layers of human civilization - the East in all its manifestations: dramatic, funny, beautiful, filled with emotions. The holiday and the birth of life coexist with war and death. Luxurious palaces - with poverty and simple everyday life. Unflappable mountain peaks - with ant-cities. People eat, fish, play, work and pray. And the more exotic the setting and the brighter the cultural differences, the clearer that in fact they are very similar.
You can simply admire his photographs, or you can try to look deeper and see human stories behind them. The personal is revealed against the background of the global - and it is not clear what is more important and significant. An empathic observer is aware of the infinite diversity of the world around and his involvement in it.