Steve McCurry shocked the world with the Afghan girl; voted one of the best 100 photos in the world. Ever since then, he has been one of the world’s biggest photographers with his fascinating work, on humanity and, as I would say ‘the part of people’s lives we don’t see with our own eyes’.
McCurry’s main themes with his photography mainly consist with humanity ; in this case, life on the streets, all about human life. ‘His images capture the humanity of his subjects sometimes in difficult circumstances’ as Mrs. Whiting commented on her blog. When I think of Steve McCurry’s photos, I think of Poverty, War, grief, and sorrow. Not as in a bad way though. It shows how fortunate some of us are, and how some of us go through troubles every day, but they just learn to live like this. But some of McCurry’s photographs show the beauty of nature, and humanity. Not all of his photography is Pain and war. In fact some of his photos show the beautiful side of life.
‘What is important to my work is the individual picture. I photograph stories on assignment, and of course they have to be put together coherently. But what matters most is that each picture stands on its own, with its own place and feeling’ Steve McCurry
‘Every gun that is fired, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.’ Steve McCurry
To me, the main photos that stand out to me from Steve McCurry’s photographic collection… to me mainly come up under the ‘groups’ such as ‘Children at war’, ‘Afghan Wars’ and also photos of Children playing on tanks, and of poverty on the streets. But the main photo that stood out for me was the first photo under ‘Children at war’ on McCurry’s blog. A young boy, around 3 or 4 is standing in the middle of the picture. He has dirt slightly covering his face. He has war-combat type clothes on by the looks of it. His head is down, and he doesn’t seem to be too scared. You may ask why. This is because his tiny hands are holding onto a gun, almost as large as him. Right behind him the is a tall man, with his hand placed on the boys head, as if he’s trying to tell him that he’s in charge. You can’t see the mans upper body, so it’s hard to imagine what his facial expression would look like. Both men and boy are dressed in black and a very dark green, making the picture seem wearier. What surprised/shocked me about this photo was actually how calm the little boy seemed. His eyes just look forward, but slightly down at the camera, his eyes piercing your heart. If I was him, I would be terrified holding a gun at that age. This made me realize that he had been brought up like this. The war caused by the adults where influencing children to live this life. Because of this, how would these young children act when they were older?
In this photo I think that Steve McCurry is trying to tell us that humanity isn’t always perfect, and that some of us need to live through harsh conditions which most of us couldn’t live. He’s trying to tell some of us how fortunate we are ; and how some of us need help
McCurry’s work has really inspired me about Humanity, and about how the world really is. Sometimes when I see a photo, it just stares at me blank. But not like most of Steve McCurry’s photos. I see his passion. I see his grief. I see his fantasy of taking that photo, which could change his life forever. Photographs can be very powerful. Just like the Afghan girl, they can change someone’s life forever. Photographs can also show how the world is doing, or how it needs to be helped. Photos CAN make people be inspired. Some photographs make people want to go out there and change the world. To me, a great photo shows passion in the Photographer. It isn’t just a photo. Every photo is a masterpiece for the photographer. Not just that, but he ENJOYS what he’s doing. A photographer, who doesn’t enjoy taking photographs, doesn’t show real Passion in his work.
Fishermen cleaning nets, families sharing meals and celebrations, artisans crafting their wares, nomads continually on the move; even the most seemingly mundane activities can be inspirational when you look beneath the surface.' Steve McCurry
Check out his blog : http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling
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