Saturday, March 6, 2010

Looking Beneath the Surface


World famous photographer, Steve McCurry, was born in Philadelphia in 1950. In 1987 he started freelancing as a photojournalist. Some may say that his most thrilling photo, the most famous worldwide image, is the Afghan Girl with the glowing green eyes. Steven McCurry’s images represent humanity. Some of his subjects are sometimes taken in harsh circumstances, for example poverty and war, or the cruel corruption that rules their country. Steve McCurry says “…the pictures I shot back in 1980 are still as vibrant and as wonderful today as when I shot them.” This proves that he feels the pain and sadness of whom or what he captures, and shows his great skill of how he thinks about the world.


To me, the conflicts that cause the sadness is shown in this image, because of that one man who walks there, which emphasizes the loneliness to me. I think the background is less obvious, but still very important, because of the nothingness that flows in those mountains. To me it means how this man is walking away into the void. I think McCurry made me feel this way because of the man. My eye was immediately drawn towards the alley line in the middle. After a while of looking at the alley, I understood that this meant to be a big scar going across the land, which emphasizes the pain that this country has suffered.


I have learnt that photography has more than one meaning, and that there could be a story to a photograph. I think McCurry’s work reflects a great journey because he goes around the world and photographs the culture and the people of a country, which shows how he moves around in places and finds the best places to make pictures of. I think McCurry’s photographs also reflect the importance of a country.

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