Steve McCurry

 Steve McCurry



Joe Seck
Art 250
2/1/22


    Steve McCurry is an American photographer born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and is one of iconic figures in contemporary photography, which is basically creating photos with a digital or analog camera. McCurry then took only a bag of clothes, film, and his camera and began to travel. 
    During his travels, he came across a small village in Pakistan, which held a group of  Afghanistan refugees that help McCurry cross the border into their country. The images that he took during his time showed the brutality that was the Russian invasion into Afghanistan. As well as showing the brutality of the invasion his work showed off dying cultures and traditions that have been almost forgotten. All of his work also kept that grounded human factor that I will talk about when going over some of his work. 

Steve McCurry – Afghan Girl, Pakistan, 1984

    In the image shown above "Afghan girl" is one of McCurry's most famous works. This photo is very well known but not the story behind it. McCurry was tasked by National Geographic to take photos of refugee camps that were along the Afghanistan and Pakistan border. He had found Sharbat Gula in the Nasir Bagh Camp at a girl's school. She stands out due to her beautiful green eyes. The look she gives the camera is one that I would call haunting and intense as if she is projecting her trauma through a glance of her eyes. I think this image is one of my favorites of McCurry's work because of the way the photo makes me feel and now knowing the history of the work and the amount of misery this girl must have seen. 
    Looking at the photo below you wouldn't even think this was the same woman and even if you did you would think a massive amount of time would have passed due to her features being aged. This image was only taken 17 years apart which is heartbreaking because by the look on her face those 17 years were very hard and unforgiving. 


Steve Mccurry – Sharbat Gula, 2002


















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Herb Ritts

Image
 Herb Ritts Joe Seck Art 227 10/22/2020 Herb Ritts was an American photographer and director, his works include pictures of models, actors, and other celebrities. His works are in primarily black and white photography, most being portraits. Ritts also worked on music videos with some of the biggest stars of all time such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Brittney Spears, and Jennifer Lopez. This was the first picture that caught my eye, this is Jack Nicholson in his Joker makeup and costume. This photo shows the madness that runs through the Jokers mind, always with a huge smile and the crazy look in his eyes. This photo captures the madness that is the Joker. Ritts did a wonderful job in this portrait. The Framing was done so well so you look right into his eyes and see his ghastly smile.   This portrait of Michael Jackson by Herb Ritt was also really well done, you see him looking off in the distance so you can show of the jawline and the smile that Michael has. The lighting...
Read more

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Image
 Joe Seck 2/6/2023 Art 337                                    Hiroshi Sugimoto Hiroshi Sugimoto was born in Tokyo, Japan he thinks of his work as a time capsule as he wishes to freeze a moment in time. His works are mostly shot by 8x10 using very large exposure. He has some very gorgeous shots and you can tell he is clearly a master of his craft.  One of the photos we looked at in class is Sugimoto's photo of a this theater called Marion Palace in Ohio . This photo was taken with a very long exposure, this is shown in the blank screen as images were moving throughout the film. The light from the screen is what lit the theater and it looks amazing. It reminds me of something you would seen in a old time movie with very sharp shadows. The lighting was done perfectly and I couldn't image sitting there for that long of an exposure.      While looking through Sugi...
Read more

Annie Leibovitz

Image
 Joe Seck 10/27/21 Art 240                                                                                         Annie Leibovitz          Annie Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer who has taken portraits of some of the most important people in the world even a portrait of the late Queen of England as seen in the photos below. The lighting she used for this photo is absolutely stunning. I feel like the way she is posed shows a position of power. The image on the top shows the Queen in an empty room with the light just barely hitting her. The way I see the image of the darkness surrounding her speaks to how long she has been around and how she is in the twilight of her life. The two ima...
Read more