Steve McCurry Portraits Monday, September 28, 2009

Steve McCurry's blog is a favourite of mine and he happens to be one of the most inspiring photographers.  He travels the globe and conveys in his pictures what is essentially the most sincere parts of the human condition.  His portraits are also some of the most recognisable in recent memory.  One that particularly stands out is of a young Afgahni girl with her hair wrapped in a burgandy scarf and her bright green eyes staring back through the camera lens (below).

One of the most recent posts on his website took my breath away so i wanted to share it with you.  If you go to Steve McCurry's blog and read the post titled "thoughts on portraiture" you will indeed get a lesson not only on what good photography should be, but also on ways of seeing truth behind a persons facade.

"As human beings we are all fascinated with each other and how we look. Diane Arbus talked about the gap between intention and effect as revealed in portraiture. People put on make-up and adorn themselves because they want to create an effect and give a certain impression, but often other people look at them and say it’s tragic or comical or curious or funny or odd. Arbus photographed a woman on Park Avenue trying to make a statement with her appearance, but in fact we see through it, we see the folly. Portraiture can be that kind of sharp critique."


The images will blow you away and you will certainly want to go back time and time again.

Steve McCurry, Timbuktu, Mali, 1986

A true portrait should today and a hundred years from today, be the testimony of how this person looked and what kind of human being he was. – Philippe Halsman

Laura xxx