Steve McCurry

 Hey Teach,


My first impression of Steve McCurry was, OH, this guy. I know him. The first photo I saw being the one of the girl covered in dirt. It was an instant recognition, and very striking, which means he already ranks high on my score sheet. The second/third thing I noticed was he has many portraits of kids who look like they’ve been traumatized and that he is considered a photojournalist, which sets the backdrop for maybe a War photographer? Either that or something similar. I’m not quite sure yet, but the next step I usually take is looking at an online gallery. BANG. Spot on, he was covering a war in Afghanistan. That’s the first series I chose to look at in his gallery. What I think he excels at is really grabbing the most emotion packed moment or expression and ham squeezing it with vibrancy, focus, and gorgeous colors. All of his portraits even in the war are gorgeous, but in a way they have a metaphorical contrast because of the whiplash of WHAT and WHERE he’s photographing compared to the beauty of his photos. 


This photo specifically speaks to me. It’s analog and there’s others that use color to make the image pop. But this one is a masterful showing of the other technical requirements of a good photo such as contrast, the boy having the most pop, focus, in the way the boys face is locked in on and the scars and details you can see, as well as the composition and meaning in the piece with the guns, our background knowledge, and the pain evident on the young boys face, and he really sells the emotion of a young angry boy, who will soon grow up to most likely be a monster.

After I saw this series I looked a little closer at his other works which all seem to be very different culturally to what I’m use to and where he is from, as well as less covered areas, or areas in need of coverage like wars, and I started to gather a philosophy from him. The beauty and innocence as well as the danger that exists in these places, the need to spread the message and show whats happening, as well as a honoring of traditions and culture.
Overall i really quite like Steve McCurry because of his exceptional use of focus to capture the face and eyes as a window to the soul. As well as his amazing composition of terror and beauty in one image.





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