Steve McCurry :: Biography

Talk about dead man walking. Steve McCurry's job has taken him all over the world and placed him in danger a ton of times. He's been reported dead in the media twice but he just keeps coming back.

Steve is a world famous photojournalist whose work has taken him far and wide. He's traveled to Thailand, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Tibet, Burma and the Philippines. He's taken tons of pictures during many wars, often coming very close to death.

He was arrested and chained in Pakistan, nearly drowned in a plane crash in Slovenia, beaten up and nearly drowned in India by fiery crowds at a religious riot, and almost killed by rebel fighters in Afghanistan.

Did You Know?

Steve McCurry made his first trip to Afghanistan in 1979. He disguised himself in the local garb and crossed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to capture the war-torn country on film. He had to sew his rolls of film into the hem of his clothes to get them out of the country but it was definitely worth the risk.

In 1980, Steve won the Robert Capa Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad for the Afghanistan pictures that appeared in Time magazine. The award is given to photographers that show exceptional courage and performance.

For over 20 years, Steve has been taking pictures for National Geographic magazine and is best known for his picture that graced a National Geographic cover in 1985. It was a picture of a 12 year-old Afghan girl who had lost both of her parents in the war when she was just a baby. Her piercing green eyes made the photo one that no one could ever forget.

The picture was named one of the Top 100 National Geographic photos by the magazine. In January of 2002, Steve tracked down the young Afghani girl, who is now about 30, and retook her picture.

Personal Info

"If you wait, people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view." - Steve McCurry on his photo portraits.

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