"The Photographs I Love" 3 – Steve McCurry

“A good photo, I think, takes us somewhere.
It's not about color or composition, but about life and sharing.”
(Steve McCurry)

 

Steve McCurry. “Flower seller”. Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, 1996

The third choice can only fall on Steve McCurry.

It's undeniable that for me, as for many like me I believe, his images were the open door to the world and to the fascination of Photography.

I know it's all too easy as a choice and – to be honest – I know that his name sometimes casts a long shadow over the actual value of his path.

Sometimes you have to be ruthless even with your own myths, and I am not embarrassed to confess that his latest photographs don't drive me crazy, mainly those taken in Italy; some of them, deprive of his signature, I find banal and without force. That then, in recent years, he has started making calendars and walking around with a team of people who prepare the sets for him does not surprise me. I met him in Rome, in 2016, while he was autographing his latest biography; his right hand was shaking and he could not move it.

 

With McCurry. Rome – 22 June 2016

Apart from that, I still believe that his first photographs in Afghanistan and India are masterpieces. As well as his portraits.

He may have tamed himself now and survives thanks to his legend, but he has certainly not backed down in the best years.

His biography seems like a picaresque journey, between camouflages in shalwar kamiz to cross Afghan borders, bullets, almost drowned when a plane carrying him fell into a lake in Yugoslavia, was attacked by leeches in India. One could go on and on – just read his biography. 

“I was born in the United States, in Philadelphia, in 1950, I lived in the suburbs of the city, who could I dream of being?”

 

And so he became the iconic photographer of National Geographic, thanks to his commitment, tenacity and some shots gone down in history that need not be remembered.

Steve McCurry is meticulous, he studies the places he goes for a long time, he documents first, he moves with the locals, he lurks for days to study variations of the light and what happens, to get the photo he has in mind. 

“It takes a long time to develop your own vision and have your own style, weeks or months are not enough, it takes years.

It takes practice, discipline and refinement to succeed: photos are such an immediate thing and taking is such a quick gesture that people think they can be done quickly.

That's where they're wrong: if you want to be a photographer you have to watch a lot and try a lot. I looked at Henri Cartier-Bresson so many times, no one else has come so close to elegance, completeness and perfection.”

 

“Women during a sandstorm”. Rajasthan, India, 1983

In the beautiful book “With Open Eyes”, Mario Calabresi asks him to choose which photo is his favorite and McCurry chooses this one taken in Rajasthan, in 1983, during a sandstorm.

My favorite, if possible to choose one, is always in India: the flower seller in Kashmir.

Also for this photo, McCurry, is not limited to a single shot, but accompanies the man on the boat to the flower market for several days, standing behind him.

Similar attitude in another famous photo, also in Srinagar in Kashmir, the same year as the photo I chose; but in that image there is the sweet look of a little girl behind, maybe, her father.

 

“Little girl with her father on board a Shikara”. Srinagar, Kashmir, India, 1996

In this photo, however, he is alone. It's 8 in the morning. McCurry also has a discipline in the hours in which to photograph: always from dawn until 10, 11 and then in the hours before sunset until the evening, never in the peak hours of the sun.

He feels this time is perfect for photo, for the water circles and how the seller's body is magically framed by reflections on the water.

 

I loved McCurry's photos, right from the start, for the power of his colors.

This photo never tires me, precisely because of the harmony of the contrasting colors of the red flowers and the green-blue water.

That water then reminds me of the Impressionist paintings, the table of the water lilies by Monet, for texture and shades.

Finally, for the position of the American photographer, who leads us to be there with him, behind the man, and we can almost hear the oar breaking in the water, the singing of birds in the trees.

 

After all, it's thanks to his images that I started to get interested in Photography. And I thank him forever.

 

Oman, 2014

“Only if you are willing to take the risk, only if you are completely convinced, then you are ready. The beautiful photos are in that dirty water, you cannot protect yourself, stay on the edge, a little outside and a little inside: if people are submerged up to your neck you have to be inside with them, there is no separation, you cannot stand on the bank to watch but you have to become part of the story and embrace it all the way.”

(Steve McCurry)

 

READ ALSO:

• The Ancient Light: “My Bangladesh” Photo Series (2) 
• Rohingya Girl: “My Bangladesh” Photo Series (3) 

Steve McCurry: “Portraits” (Phaidon, 2003) 

Steve McCurry: “Sud Est” (Phaidon, 2004)
Steve McCurry: “Looking East” (Phaidon, 2006)
Steve McCurry: “India” (Electa, 2014)
Steve McCurry: “From these hands: A journey along the coffee trail” (Phaidon, 2015)
Steve McCurry: “Sensational Umbria” (Umbria – SuEst57, 2014)
“Steve McCurry” (National Geographic, 2010)
Gianni Riotta: “Il mondo di Steve McCurry” (Mondadori, 2016)
Mario Calabresi: “Ad occhi aperti” (Contrasto, 2013)

Italian version