Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry, 2009

Steve McCurry (born April 24, 1950 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA ) is an American photographer and photojournalist .

life and work

After studying film and history at Pennsylvania State University , from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts , he initially worked for a local newspaper for two years before moving to India as a freelance photographer.

He gained international fame through his documentation of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan . For this report he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1980. At the beginning of 1989 he accompanied the journalist Edward Girardet on a report near Asadabad when they had an unpleasant encounter with Osama bin Laden , which, however, turned out to be mild.

McCurry reported from numerous trouble spots around the world, including the Iran-Iraq war , the collapse of the former Yugoslavia , Beirut , Cambodia , Tibet , Yemen , the Philippines and the Gulf War . He keeps coming back to Afghanistan. But he also took photos in India and Peru.

He has been a member of the Magnum photography agency since 1986 .

After McCurry used Kodachrome film for years - according to his own statement he has a collection of 800,000 Kodachrome slides - he was given the very last roll of Kodachrome 64 in 2010.

McCurry's best-known photo is that of the “Afghan Girl”. In 1984 he succeeded in portraying a young girl with intensely green eyes in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp . The striking effect of this photo is so enormous that it got the title of National Geographic in June 1985 and has been printed countless times since then. In 2002, the girl's identity could be determined. National Geographic organized an expedition with McCurry's participation that managed to find Sharbat Gula .

He won numerous awards. In the 1985 press photo of the year election, he won four first prizes in four disciplines and two first prizes in 1992. He has been voted Photographer of the Year several times and has been an honorary member of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain since 2005 .

Exhibitions

• 2013: In the flow of time. Photographs from Asia 1980–2011 , Wolfsburg Art Museum , Wolfsburg
• 2013: Overwhelmed with life. Selected pictures from 1980 to 2012, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe , Hamburg
• 2014 Sensational Umbria , Palazzo della Penna, Perugia
• 2015: Steve McCurry. Photographs from the Orient , Museum of Design Zurich , Zurich
• 2016: On Reading , Amerikahaus , Munich
• 2017: Reading , Flo Peters Gallery, Chilehaus, Hamburg

literature

Illustrated books

• Bonnie McCurry: Steve McCurry. A Life in Pictures, a life for photography , Knesebeck Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-95728-098-5
• Afghanistan . Taschen-Verlag, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-8365-6936-1 .
• Paul Theroux: Steve McCurry. Read. A passion without limits. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-7913-8275-3 .
• India , de / en. Prestel, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-7913-8195-4 .
• Untold , Phaidon Verlag, 2013, ISBN 0-7148-6462-5 .

• Looking East , Phaidon Verlag, 2006, ISBN 0-7148-4637-6 .
• The Path to Buddha , Phaidon Verlag, 2003, ISBN 0-7148-4346-6 .
• Sanctuary , Phaidon Verlag, 2002, ISBN 0-7148-4559-0 .
• South Southeast , Phaidon Verlag, 2000, ISBN 0-7148-3938-8 .
  • Süd-Südost , Phaidon, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-7145-9109-5 .
• Portraits , Phaidon Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 0-7148-9083-9 .
• Monsoon , 1988.
• The Imperial Way , 1985.

Monographs

• Anthony Bannon (Ed.): Steve McCurry , Phaidon Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 0-7148-9464-8 (German edition)

Web links

• Literature by and about Steve McCurry in the catalog of the German National Library
• Steve McCurry in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Steve McCurry's internet presence
• Steve McCurry at Magnum Photos
• Pirelli Calendar 2013: Behind the Scenes from the shoot in Rio de Janeiro (English) on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ McCurry's 'Afghan Girl' exhibited at St James. In: Malta Independent. June 13, 2012, accessed December 12, 2018 . 
2. ^ Edward Girardet: On meeting Bin Laden. In: Global Geneva. March 24, 2017, accessed on March 29, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Stephan Orth: Photographer Steve McCurry: The face collector. In: Spiegel Online . July 14, 2009, accessed June 10, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Last Kodachrome roll processed in Parsons. In: kansas. Retrieved February 19, 2016 . 
6. ↑ War Photography: People on the Edge of War. (No longer available online.) Zeit Online , archived from the original on July 1, 2013 ; Retrieved July 1, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ http://www.sensationalumbria.eu/en/
8. ^ Website of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. Retrieved August 22, 2015 . 
9. ↑ America House On Reading - Photography by Steve McCurry. (No longer available online.) In: amerikahaus.de. May 21, 2012, archived from the original on November 25, 2016 ; Retrieved November 25, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.