Steve McCurry

Today I attended a talk by Steve McCurry, an award-winning photojournalist.

For those who have never heard of Steve, the Afghan Girl photo on National Geographic was taken by him.



Here he is, in what seems to be a favourite shirt:



Apologies for the ugly photo, its the best I could get from my seat... without blocking anyone's view.

He wasn't imposing, or impressive in the flesh, just a normal person. Perhaps that helps in the field of photojournalism? I'm not quite sure.

So anyway, what did I gain from the talk? Nothing really. Although his photos were stunning, he didn't seem keen on revealing much information. And luck seemed to have played a major part in him getting the shots. He also evaded many questions during the Q&A, but I'll attribute that to him being unwilling to share trade secrets.

But anyway, here's what part and parcel of being a photojournalist is like.

Photographing 'situations, where you discover real life as it unfolds'.

What's important - light, composition, and the human angle.

Sometimes when there's no news, you cover 'weather, features, slices of life'.

There are also 'times worth risking personal safety' - Steve gave an example of taking a shot of Indian porters passing breakfast outside of the train - and he was hanging out of the train to take the photo, with an assistant holding on to his legs.

Its about 'capturing people unaware', whether it be sleeping or playing.

Also, Steve likes taking photos in the rain. 'Love when its raining, how people react'.

Then there was a photo of people of some religion (I forgot) who were mutilating their backs which were bloody and all - and they didn't mind him taking their photo instead of attacking him or something. So people can turn out to be friendly and normal, not what you expected.

Steve also said he doesn't take photos of unwilling subjects, as there will be negative energy which disrupts photos etc. But I assume not all of his photos were taken of wholly willing subjects alone.

He added that he 'found most people very happy to be photographed'.

Maybe that's because its a different society? Or due to his skin colour... fame... we don't really know. I mean, try photographing people in Singapore for awhile and you'll find that most locals here are suspicious instead of willing and happy.