Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is an American photographer who was born in 1950. He was born in Philadelphia and went to Penn State and switched from cinematography to theatre. He became interested in photography after college when he was working for the Penn State newspaper company. McCurry focused a lot on traveling to different places and capturing people in their authentic cultures and also how war can affect humans. (Wikipedia)

The first photo I am choosing to talk about is this one. One thing I really love about this photo is the coloring. Not only does the blue pop because it is beside its complementary color (orange), but the red handprints also stand out in this photo. Another thing I really like about this photo is the framing of the child. With walls on either side, it forces our eyes to travel along them and toward the child quickly. The last thing I really like about this photo is the movement that the handprints on the wall create. Because they go backward into the distance, they also cause our eyes to move back to the child.


The second photo I am choosing to talk about is this one. I love the repetition of the pattern in the grass as it goes up the mountain. Aside from being technically correct, the repetition is nice to look at aesthetically speaking. Another thing I really like about this photo is the smooth transition from dark green to light green. Although the subject matter (the person walking) is small in composition, the leading lines of the hills and the rounding lines lead us towards the person.


Overall I think Steve McCurry is an excellent photographer. I really enjoy the compositional elements of his photographs and it is easy to tell that he doesn’t just click away or take random pictures, but instead, he really puts in thought and effort. I also like how he focuses on different cultures and tries to show them as authentically as he can.


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