Steve McCurry
April 23, 1950 - Present
Personal Background
Born in Philadelphia, Steve always had an interest in the arts. It wasn’t a few years after he realized what is passion would become. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University for Arts and Architecture. He worked at a newspaper for a couple of years and then ventured off to India to just study the art there. He loved it so much that he documented his time there but it was of the people and their daily routines. However, during this time there was a Russian invasion over south Asia and the middle east so he had to be disguised in the native clothing to cross over borders. His film was even sewn into his clothing!
Now Steve McCurry is a well known photographer for documenting life in many countries in Asia like India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and also other countries all around the world like the middle east (Iraq and Yemen) and Europe (all around former Yugoslavia). He has received many awards for his outstanding discoveries and images. Some are the Magazine Photographer of the year. This was by the National Press Photographer Association he has also won the World Press Photo contest (four first prizes). He also won the Olivier Rebbot Award twice.
Now Steve McCurry is a well known photographer for documenting life in many countries in Asia like India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and also other countries all around the world like the middle east (Iraq and Yemen) and Europe (all around former Yugoslavia). He has received many awards for his outstanding discoveries and images. Some are the Magazine Photographer of the year. This was by the National Press Photographer Association he has also won the World Press Photo contest (four first prizes). He also won the Olivier Rebbot Award twice.
Style
Steve McCurry’s images have such stunning visual characteristics that it makes you want to stare at his images. A large part of his images his the subject’s face. Especially there eyes. The eyes are what sucks you in to the composition and then you start to notice the more subtle features like the people around the the subject maybe hands touching the subject the dirt or mud on their face. Some of his images are landscapes and for those he takes advantage of the sun to sometimes mask the person and make them appear as a shadow. A few of his images have a very interesting factor that is as if he is invisible while taking these pictures. The subject and people around them will just be continuing their routines and not noticing him at all. It’s like they didn’t care he was going to come and document their life and were used to it. The final aspect to what I see in hist style is the texture, especially the skin and texture of the buildings. When you stare at the skin and feature of the face, you can almost feel that sensation on your hands and when you see the building it just makes you want to travel more and see the rest of the world and document your trip to show others. All in all, Steve McCurry’s images are so compelling and capture the important details of a person, their face and their loved ones.
Philosophy
The philosophy between McCurry’s iconic portraits is a rather complex theory. He believes a portrait is the gate way into a culture and even an emotional community. Furthermore, a picture of someone else reminds us of someone we would know of even of yourself and it is just captivating to find the similarities. He also loves to travel and learn about the culture of the places he visits. He loves shooting in Asia because of the exotic weather there compared to western countries. He also loves it there because of the change in civilization. It is as advanced as many countries but the old ways are still implemented in many areas there whereas it is almost nonexistent in the western countries.
Influence
The work by Steve Mccurry is such fascinating work that I think travel may be crucial to capture this sense of exotic. The really nails down the perfect features of the face that can help me up my game when taking portraits. He implements the setting slightly in his images which is a cool little tip on what I might do. I would do this because it gives the slightest background to the subject because where a person lives can show some character beyond the information one can spot form their face. There is no surprise to why he is such a famous photographer and why he has inspired many young photographers to go out into the unknown and document their times.
Left pictures are McCurry and Right Pictures are mine
This photo wasn't super difficult to attempt. The lines on the wall were similar to the ones running along near my floor. The statue I had wasn't a full body however, it was just the head. I wasn't able to get broken pieces from the wall to match the image but I think the angle is pretty similar.
The wall background was so detailed and had beautiful vibrant colors so I decided to use one vibrant wall with small yellow details on it. My dog is way bigger than the one in the photo but I think my brother's face was close to the perception of the subject's face. The hats also had a similar color just that McCurry's subjects' hat had a hole on the top.
I really liked the outcome of this photo and a lot of it goes to the green in the back. The shade is almost perfect to the one in the picture. My mom was really easy to take a picture of in this position. She did have her fitbit on which is one big difference. However, her hands were in the perfect place and her hair was similar to the girl in the photo. Her appearance was pretty close to the subject in McCurry's picture.
Artist Statement
I really enjoyed doing the second final project. Taking portraits was a much different task than landscapes. This is because whereas landscapes rely a lot on location portraits rely on small details with the person and the background matching up with the person. Kind of like juxtaposition. I learned the importance these types of pictures of on the viewers and why they are so popular to look at. McCurry's galleries are from all different places around the world so he see all types of faces on his website. Just thinking about it it must have taken MULTIPLE decades to build his collection of portraits and architecture/ landscapes.
Sources
- https://www.stevemccurry.com/bio
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/contributors/m/photographer-steve-mccurry/
- https://mymodernmet.com/steve-mccurry-portrait-photography-tips/
- https://www.australianphotography.com/profiles/steve-mccurry-the-interview
Images:
https://www.stevemccurry.com/galleries/children
https://www.stevemccurry.com/galleries/buddhism
https://www.stevemccurry.com/galleries/burma