Sharp eye for the human soul

Celebrated photographer Steve McCurry has a new book out and will be returning to China soon

Steve McCurry's photographs have become modern icons. Eloquent, riveting and beautiful, their poetry penetrates to the very heart of the subject.

The great documentary photographer from the United States has a new book out, Steve McCurry Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs.

The volume features the best of McCurry's photo stories taken around the world, from a portfolio spanning 30 years. Many of the photos are presented here for the first time.

"It is a tribute to the places I've been, the things I've seen and the people I've known," says the legendary photographer, whose documentary impulse is rooted in his curiosity about places, people and human behavior.

The book was published internationally in September, including a Chinese version by China Photographic Publishing House.

McCurry's stunning photos are currently on show at the Santa Maria della Scala museum in Siena, Italy. His work, which has achieved a compelling expressive intensity, has been displayed to the public in almost every corner of the world. China still awaits.

I met him in Milan, at a hotel along the Navigli canals. Shy, passionate and reflective, McCurry spoke calmly and earnestly, his intellectual candor counterpointed by unexpected moments of humor. The impression was of an accomplished and insightful artist.

The conversation shifted from his fascination with Asia to his interest in Buddhism. He especially spoke about his enchantment with China and Africa.

When asked why Asia speaks so photographically to him, he replied: "Because I find the regions of Asia so visually rich."

Born in Philadelphia in 1950, he studied cinematography and theater at Penn State University. When and why did he decide to make photography his career?

"I was 22. Photography was the kind of work that I wanted to do," he says, recalling the exact moment he made that decision.

"I was walking around on a street in Philadelphia, and photographing life and kind of relaxing, kind of meditating and doing something I thought was pleasurable ... photographing some bicycles, children and side-walkers."

He launched his international career in 1978.

"The year I quit my job as a staff photographer at a newspaper in my hometown, Philadelphia, to buy a couple of hundred rolls of film and a one-way plane ticket to India."

A member of Magnum Photos, he is a regular contributor to many international journals, including National Geographic, whose June 1985 issue was graced by McCurry's iconic cover shot, Afghan girl, the portrait of young Sharbat Gula taken in a refugee camp in Pakistan.

As well as covering war zones - Afghanistan, Kuwait, Ethiopia - McCurry has also traveled 85 times to India, where he never tires of capturing images that transcend mere snapshots. He has been on shoots several times in China as well. His insightful work across Southeast Asia earned him the famous Robert Capa Medal Award.

McCurry recalls his first trip to China in 1984.

"I was working on a story on the monsoon," he says. "I was looking at the weather, I was observing the people, how they coped with tragedy, how they helped each other. During the monsoon, life goes on.

"The political system was different. The people dressed the same; there was a kind of uniformity. We arrived at the train station and had to carry our heavy bags ... Everything was very simple then.

"On the other hand, when I got to Hong Kong the first time, I got picked up at the airport by a Rolls Royce and stayed in the Peninsula Hotel in this huge suite. It was such a shock, a huge contrast. But now you have all those wonderful hotels on the mainland as well, and very good restaurants too. Before, all that didn't exist. I remember I wanted to buy souvenirs, pick up some gifts, and I could hardly find anything."

His mind goes back to a visit to a barber shop. "I remember being shaved by a woman. I remember when she shaved my beard, she shaved my cheeks and also my forehead. She shaved my whole face. I found it quite unusual and funny."

McCurry returned to China in 1989, 1999, 2001 and 2006.

"During my third trip, in 1999, the country was in the midst of major modernization," he says "It was completely different. It was just beyond belief. Things moved rapidly. I witnessed the transformation.

"China is an economic miracle, a force, one of the most advanced countries. But it is also one of the greatest civilizations, a special place.

"The country's heritage goes back thousands of years. They have all that incredible history and so much of it remains. You have all this continuity, this sense of the past Americans don't have. The US is only 200 years old. A lot of great philosophies and religions originated in Asia. I try to practice Buddhism myself, striving for understanding."

McCurry once made portraits of Shaolin monks. "I had some trustworthy contacts that knew the monks quite well," he says. "I generally work through friendships. So we were able to get inside the temple. I had to consider the different lights, the different moods. Sometimes making a portrait is quick, sometimes it is more studied."

McCurry says he will travel to China in a few months.

"I love mountains, so on my next trip, I might go back to some place in the Himalayas, those sacred mountains. Gods reside in the quietude of those mountains.

"There are so many authentic, incredible regions in China that represent its varied traditions and sensibilities. So many exciting, interesting things are happening in China now: in cinema, architecture, music.

"But the world is changing rapidly and these landscapes won't be there forever. So it is good to see them now. I will probably travel through the beautiful and natural scenery of Sichuan province and go to Yunnan as well. Then, I'll stay a few days in Shanghai."

McCurry has always been impressed by the hospitality of the Chinese. "People are very welcoming. They treat foreigners with cordiality and generosity," he says.

More recently, he has developed a passion for Africa.

"It's a fascinating place," he says. "Next summer I will go back to Ethiopia, where I was this past August. And I'll return to Kenya as well. I want to explore Africa more and more.

"It's really like looking back in time there. It brings a glimpse of how my ancestors lived there, in Ethiopia, one time. They herded animals, living a simple life, without running water."

The New York-based photographer travels nine months a year.

"My job is very pleasurable," he says. "I wouldn't do it if it wasn't fulfilling and gave meaning to my life. I cannot imagine what could be more interesting than traveling the world and seeing all its geography, cultures, landscapes and people."

A sort of photographer of the soul, McCurry infuses even the most tragic shot with beauty, and the composition with chromatic harmony. His aesthetic sense has been influenced by the way light falls inside and outside in the powerful paintings of Caravaggio and Vermeer.

"Yes, I gravitate toward Caravaggio and Vermeer," he says. "While among the French, I have always loved Toulouse-Lautrec."

His favorite photographers?

"I admire the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and Dorothea Lange."

An eager reader as well, he prefers Paul Theroux and the 19th century explorer, Sir Richard Burton, as travel writers, while among poets, he admires Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson.

Can he tell when he has shot the perfect picture for a given situation?

"It comes naturally, when you just feel it tells the story you have to tell in the best way, when it has both meaning and depth. When it tells something about the world we live in and humanity. And you try to do it in your own way, in your own style every single time.

"I never force the creative moment. I've learned how to be patient. If you're simply open and attuned to the moment, the memorable picture comes to you. They magically happen.

"It's a combination of heart and mind, and the eye too, of course. You blend them together."

McCurry insists on the importance of "the eye behind the camera", rather than "the camera itself".

His photographs of life in Tibet are like a haunting silent movie, and are considered to be one of his most iconic series.

"My first trip to Tibet featured a visit to Tashi Lhunpo monastery, on assignment for a book entitled A Day in the Life of China," he says. He has returned many times to the Himalayan plateau where he captured the day-to-day spiritual existence of the Tibetans. He photographed monks, pilgrims and children. In 1999, he shot pictures for a black and white work entitled The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage, which was published in 2003.

He was also in Tibet a few weeks before Sept 11, 2001.

"I was working on a further Tibetan story," he says. "And when I came back to New York, I was in a mellow, contemplative mood."

At this point, McCurry showed me a picture he had taken from the roof of his apartment. Just one image of his painful reportage that showed the incredible devastation at Ground Zero.

"You have to be attuned to what's happening," he says.

He reflected on the fact that on his travels he has had the good fortune to meet decent, compassionate people.

"And the kindest were often those who lived in the harshest of conditions. Sometimes I have been in places of overriding beauty, sometimes in places I'd like to forget. But nothing has dented my faith in the human spirit or in unexpected human kindness."

For China Daily

McCurry's documentary impulse is rooted in his curiosity about places, people and human behavior. From the top are photos taken in central China, Ethiopia and Tibet. Provided to China Daily

A Tibetan woman and a Mali child. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/22/2013 page28)