AmateurPhotographer

STEVE MCCURRY
McCurr y’s
India
National Geographic and Magnum Photos
legend Steve McCurry talks to AP Editor
Nigel Atherton about his work and his
love of the Indian subcontinent
all pictures © steve mccurry/magnum photos
Steve McCurry needs no
introduction to most
AP readers. He is a
legendary multi-awardwinning
Magnum Photos and
National Geographic photographer
and author of its most famous
cover photo: the iconic ‘Afghan
Girl’. The Philadelphia-born
photographer has spent the past
40 years photographing people
and cultures in every corner of the
world. But there’s one place that
Steve has returned to time and
time again: India. It’s a country
of unparalleled richness and
diversity for the photographer,
which perhaps explains why Steve
has travelled there more than 90
times during his career. Now he
has collected some of his favourite
images of the subcontinent, many
of them previously unpublished,
in a beautiful new large-format
hardback book. AP was given
the rare opportunity to interview
Steve in front of a live audience in
association with Nikon School Live.
Here’s what he had to say about
his life, career and, of course, the
country that is so close to his heart.
Why India?
When I was about 12 years old, I
read a wonderful story in Life
magazine about the monsoons, by
the celebrated photographer Brian
Brake. I remember looking at
these dramatic pictures and they
captured my imagination; I was
captivated by the place. So about 20
years later, when I was starting out
on my freelance career, I decided to
go there, and I was hooked.
In India you have all these different
religions; you have this incredible
disparity between the ultra rich and
very poor; you have people living in
villages the way they probably lived
hundreds of years ago [alongside
some of the world’s most populous
cities]. Then there are all the
festivals. The country is just an
incredible array of culture. The
geography is also diverse. There’s a
variety of terrain and landscape. I
think India has probably more depth
than any other country in the world.
Mumbai, 1993.
Mother and child at
a car window. This
is one of Steve’s
favourite images
If you could go back one more
time to only one location, where
would you go?
I’d be torn between Ladakh and
Rajasthan. I like the colour palette
of Rajasthan, and the beautiful
architecture. Places like Jodhpur
and Jaipur are culturally very rich.
But I’ve always been drawn to
Buddhist culture, and Ladakh is
20 14 May 2016 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113