| Steve McCurry | |
|---|---|
| Born | Steve McCurry March 28, 1950 Newton Square, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Photojournalist |
| Notable credit(s) |
Leica Hall of Fame Award Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad |
| Agent | Magnum Photos |
| Official website | |
Steve McCurry (born February 24, 1950) is an American photojournalist best known for his photograph, "Afghan Girl" that originally appeared in National Geographic magazine.
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Steve McCurry was born on February 24, 1950 in the small town of Newton Square, Pennsylvania. He attended Marple Newtown High School in Delaware County, and afterwards attended Penn State University to study cinematography and filmmaking, but ended up getting a degree in theater arts and graduating cum laude in 1974. He became very interested in photography when he started taking pictures for the Penn State newspaper The Daily Collegian.[1]
After working at Today's Post in King of Prussia for two years, he left for India to freelance. It was in India that McCurry learned to watch and wait on life. “If you wait,” he realized, “people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view.”
His career was launched when, disguised in native garb, he crossed the Pakistan border into rebel-controlled Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion. When he emerged, he had rolls of film sewn into his clothes. Those images, which were published around the world, were among the first to show the conflict. His coverage won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad, an award dedicated to photographers exhibiting exceptional courage and enterprise.
McCurry continued to cover international conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq war, Beirut, Cambodia, the Philippines, the Gulf War, and Afghanistan. McCurry's work has been featured worldwide in magazines and he is a frequent contributor to National Geographic. He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1986.
He is the recipient of numerous awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year, awarded by the National Press Photographers’ Association. The same year, he won an unprecedented four first-place prizes in the World Press Photo Contest. He has won the Olivier Rebbot Memorial Award twice.
McCurry focuses on the human consequences of war, not only showing what war impresses on the landscape, but rather, on the human face. He is driven by an innate curiosity and sense of wonder about the world and everyone in it, and has an uncanny ability to cross boundaries of language and culture to capture stories of human experience. “Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. I try to convey what it is like to be that person, a person caught in a broader landscape, that you could call the human condition.”
Steve McCurry is portrayed in a TV documentary titled "The Face of the Human Condition" (2003) by French award-winning filmmaker Denis Delestrac.
Based in New York, McCurry offers weekend photography workshops, as well as extended 2-week digital photography workshops in Asia (currently scheduled in Nepal, India, and Burma).
McCurry's most recognized portrait, "Afghan Girl", was taken in a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. A high point in McCurry's career was the rediscovery of the previously unidentified Afghan refugee girl that many have described as the most recognizable photograph in the world today. When McCurry finally located Sharbat Gula after almost two decades, he said, “Her skin is weathered; there are wrinkles now, but she is as striking as she was all those years ago.”
The image itself was named as "the most recognized photograph" in the history of the National Geographic magazine and her face became famous as the cover photograph on the June 1985 issue. The photo has also been widely used on Amnesty International brochures, posters, and calendars. The identity of the "Afghan Girl" remained unknown for over 17 years until McCurry and a National Geographic team located the woman, Sharbat Gula, in 2002.
The Last Roll of Kodachrome photos
Although McCurry shoots both in digital and film, his admitted preference is for transparency film. Eastman Kodak let McCurry shoot the last ever produced roll of Kodachrome transparency film, which was processed in July 2010 by Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas and will be housed at the George Eastman House.[2] Most of the photos, excluding a few near-duplicates, have been published on the Internet by Vanity Fair magazine.
"I shot it for 30 years and I have several hundred thousand pictures on Kodachrome in my archive. I'm trying to shoot 36 pictures that act as some kind of wrap up - to mark the passing of Kodachrome. It was a wonderful film."
McCurry returned from an extended assignment in China on September 10, 2001.
"I live by Washington Square Park, and my office has a view of Lower Manhattan. I was there, going through mail with my assistant, when we got a phone call saying that the World Trade Center was on fire. I looked out my window and saw both towers were on fire.
I got my camera bag and went up on the roof of my building and started photographing the towers. We didn’t even know it was a plane, because we were up on the roof without the radio or TV. We all thought it was a fire that would eventually be put out—a terrible disaster, I mean both towers were on fire. I figured I’d shoot it from my roof for about 20 minutes and then go down to the base.
And then they just fell.
I was in a state of disbelief. They were just gone. It didn’t seem possible. Like you’re seeing something but you don’t really believe what you’re seeing. Even though I had seen them implode and there was all this smoke, it was not in the realm of possiblilty for the towers to be gone. It felt like we were living inside a dream, or rather a nightmare.
After they fell, my assistant and I ran down to Ground Zero to photograph the situation there. It was surreal. There was this very fine white powder everywhere and all this office paper, but there was no recognizable office equipment—no filing cabinets, telephones, computers. It seemed like the whole thing had been pulverized. It was just dust, steel and paper.
We were there until 9 at night. Then I walked home, but I couldn’t sleep. So I got up at 3:30 in the morning and walked back down there. As you can imagine, there was serious security: police, firemen, soldiers. But it was very clear to me this needed to be documented. I knew I had to do whatever I had to do to get back down there. I found a way to sneak in by cutting through a fence, and it allowed me to spend the morning of September 12 there. I eventually got removed by the police. They were really angry—the police, the firemen, everyone down there; emotions were running very high. One fireman threatened to beat my brains in with a shovel. I understood their position completely. From their point of view, we were there as tourists or spectators, when really we were there to record history, to create a record of this evil deed. The records of photography and magazines and radio and television are how we’re informed and how we know what’s going on in the world. This was something that absolutely had to be documented, and that’s what I do."
| 2011 | Leica Hall of Fame Award | St. Moritz, Switzerland |
| 2011 | Prix LiberPress | Girona, Spain |
| 2009 | Abrogino D’Oro | Milan, Italy |
| 2006 | Lowell Thomas GOLD | |
| 2006 | First Place, Buddha Rising, National Geographic, Dec. 2005 | National Press Photographers Association |
| 2006 | Honorary Fellowship | New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP) |
| 2005 | Honorary Fellowship | The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, London |
| 2005 | Photojournalism Division-International Understanding through Photography Award | Photographic Society of America |
| 2003 | The Lucie Award for Photojournalism | International Photography Awards |
| 2003 | Distinguished Alumni Award | Pennsylvania State University |
| 2003 | Co-recipient of the New York Film Festival Gold for documentary, Afghan Girl: Found" | New York Film Festival |
| 2002 | Distinguished Visiting Fellow | College of Creative Studies, University of California |
| 2002 | Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa | Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ |
| 2002 | Photographer of the Year - PMDA Professional Photographer Award | PMDA |
| 2002 | Photographer of the Year | American Photo Magazine |
| 2002 | Special Recognition Award | United Nations International Photographic Council |
| 2002 | Award of Excellence for "Women of Afghanistan" | French Art Directors Association |
| 2001 | Award of Excellence, Book Series: "South SouthEast | Photography Annual, Communication Arts |
| 2000 | Book of the Year: "South SouthEast"
Magazine Feature Picture Award of Excellence: "Women in Field, Yemen |
Picture of the Year Competition |
| 1999 | Lifetime Fellow Award | Pennsylvania State University, PA |
| 1998 | Our World Photo Winner, "Red Boy"
Our World Essay Finalist, India |
Life Magazine: 'The Eisenstaedt Awards' |
| 1998 | Award of Excellence, Portraits: Red Boy | Picture of the Year Competition |
| 1998 | Southern Asian Journalistic Award: Outstanding Special Project: National Geographic Story, India: 50 Years of Independence
Southern Asian Journalistic Award: Outstanding Photograph: Red Boy |
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| 1997 | Magazine Feature Picture Award of Excellence: Fishermen | Picture of the Year Competition |
| 1996 | Magazine Feature Picture Story Award: '"Beggar
Magazine Feature Picture Story Award: Burma: The Richest of the Poor Countries |
Picture of the Year Competition |
| 1994 | Arts and Architecture Distinguished Alumni Award | Pennsylvania State University |
| 1993 | Award of Excellence for Rubble of War | National Press Photographers Association |
| 1992 | Oliver Rebbot Memorial Award: Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad on Gulf War Coverage | Overseas Press Club |
| 1992 | Magazine Feature Picture Award of Excellence: Fiery Aliens
First Place, Magazine Science Award: Camels under a Blackened Sky First Place, Gulf War News Story: Kuwait: After the Storm |
Picture of the Year Competition |
| 1992 | First Place, Nature and Environment: Oil-Stricken Bird, Kuwait
First Place, General News Stories: Kuwait after the Storm Children's Award: "Camels under a Blackened Sky |
World Press Photo Competition |
| 1990 | Award of Excellence, "Spanish Gypsy | White House News Photographers Association |
| 1987 | Medal of Honor for coverage of the 1986 Philippine Revolution | Philippines |
| 1986 | Oliver Rebbot Memorial Award: Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad for work done in the Philippines | Overseas Press Club |
| 1984 | Nature Category, First Place
Nature Series Category, First place Daily LIfe Category, First Place Daily Life Series, First Place |
World Press Competition |
| 1985 | Oliver Rebbot Award Citation: Monsoons and The New Faces of Baghdad | |
| 1984 | Magazine Photographer of the Year | National Press Photographers Association |
| 1980 | Robert Capa Gold Medal for coverage of the war in Afghanistan for Time Magazine |
| The Iconic Photographs | Phaidon Press | Limited, 2011 |
| The Unguarded Moment | Phaidon Press | Limited, 2009 |
| In the Shadow of Mountains | Phaidon Press Limited | 2007 |
| Looking East | Phaidon Press Limited | 2006 |
| Steve McCurry | Phaidon Press Limited | 2005 |
| The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage | Phaidon Press Limited | 2003 |
| Sanctuary: The Temples of Angkor | Phaidon Press Limited | 2002 |
| South Southeast | Phaidon Press Limited | 2000 |
| Portraits | Phaidon Press Limited | 1999 |
| Monsoon | Thames and Hudson | 1988 |
| The Imperial Way - Photographs by Steve McCurry and Text by Paul Theroux | Houghton-Mifflin Company | 1985 |