you'd probably recognise the face of the Afghan girl with piercing green eyes that once covered an issue of the National Georgraphic magazine, even if you didn't realise that the photographer who captured the face is Steve McCurry, one of the world's best photographers who tries to bring the connectedness of humans through his pictures. as least, that was the case for me... i'd seen the face on his collection of portraits published by Phaidon but i couldn't remember who the photographer was until i was reminded of his name at the "Face of Asia: Steve McCurry photographs" exhibited at Edinburgh's City Art Gallery.
it is a wonderful collection of portraits and scenes... and often the intensity of the facial expressions could really tell you so much of the person's life. what skill, sensitivity and patience it must require to attain the quality of expressivity in his subjects, whether descriptively or metaphorically... what i find so amazing about photographs is how much they tell you about the subject and the photographer and in some other ways, the audience. this inter-connected-ness renders a beautiful role for well-captured photographs.
as i wandered about the gallery filled with his signature pieces, i found myself wondering perhaps what makes Steve McCurry's photographs powerful is because they capture more than the person or the places in which they live or flee... they capture the ironies of life too and the formidable human strength to overcome some of life's harshest conditions... they are themselves, life stories. it is life stories that touch... and this is how his photographs have connected people and how people reached out to those they do not know, to help.
i found myself taken to a photograph of an indian man wading through the flood left by a monsoon, water to his chin, him carrying his livelihood, an old sewing machine slightly submerged, to higher grounds... on his face, a resilient but distant smile. when i finished reading the caption that accompanied it, i turned my head not knowing that another lady was also there... and we both just happened to look at each other at the same time.
"It's so amazing!" she exclaimed with a beautiful smile.
"i am so happy he got a new sewing machine!" i told her...
"Me too!"
that made my day. the happiness is quite indescribable...
Steve McCurry's work can also be viewed at the pdn gallery and is definitely worth catching if it comes to a place near you.
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