[WEEK1] Steve McCurry

This tears me out.

Photo shoot by Steve McCurry, an American photojournalist most well know for his photography work "Afghan Girl".

But besides "Afghan Girl", there are more of his works that I greatly appreciate and  love.

With just the photo, without any flavour texts or I dare say a title, I could see a story.

The feelings of the culture, the hardships of life. Just by looking at the photo, I could feel everything.

I like the way Steve McCurry takes his photos. Its not just a face. Its a truthful portrait of humanity.

"The first thing you need to do when you approach people is to see them and relate to them as real people, not somehow quaint or foreign," 

- Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry has always emphasised that we should relate more to people and always building up rapport with them. Having different colour skin or speaking different languages doesn't make us different, we are all still humans.

In the three photos above, it gives the sense of comfort. Although the three photos above depicts a different religion, but all of them have a common feel to it, peacefulness and serenity. From these photos, I can feel that the places are surrounded by belief, safety and compassion. Furthermore, Steve McCurry has a very good sense of the surroundings and lightings, tweaking it for every shot of his. Always able to capture the sense and feel of the photo.

              From Steve McCurry's works, I realised that a photo is not just photo. Just like the saying "A picture speaks a thousand word". Just a simple photo can tell a whole story.

On the technical side of things, having good control of aperture, shutter speed and I.S.O helps in being able to bring out the story the photographer would like to portray.

Resources : http://stevemccurry.com/