Steve McCurry, an award-winning photojournalist who brought the war in Afghanistan to the cover of National Geographic, was born on 23 April 1950. Yesterday was his seventy-third birthday.
While few people might know of the photographer, many millions of people around the world will know of his photograph: the Afghan girl with green eyes. It featured on the cover of National Geographic Magazine, and anyone who has seen it will remember it. It is one of Steve McCurry’s many photographs documenting the struggle between the people of Afghanistan and their Soviet invaders.
In order to reach the war zone, he crossed the border from Pakistan disguised in Afghan garb. When he eventually left the country, he smuggled out rolls of film in his turban and underwear. Whilst in Afghanistan, he spent time with groups of Mujahideen fighters. His photographs revealed a poorly equipped, rag-tag band of men and boys, nevertheless determined to repel the invaders.
In addition to his work in Afghanistan, Steve McCurry’s photographic exploits encompassed many of the countries of Southern Asia. His colour portraits emphasise the diversity of indigenous peoples and cultures to be found across the planet.
McCurry had travelled back to the United States from a trip to Tibet on 10 September 2001. The following day, 9/11, he was in New York City and a witness to the devastation wrought by the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. His photographs, taken during and in the aftermath of the catastrophe, are enduring reminders of this shocking episode in modern US history.
Steve McCurry in print
I borrowed a large-format book of McCurry’s photographs and accompanying commentary from my local library, which gives an excellent account of his work: Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs (Phaidon).
Steve McCurry is one of a rare group of photographers whose work has reached an international audience. It took courage, skill, and a desire to tell the story of people living very different lives from those of us in the West.
Are you an admirer of Steve McCurry’s work? Have you seen any exhibitions of his photographs? Let us know in the comments below.
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William,
I think we’ve reached the limit on embedded replies …
One can only wonder where literature would be if all we could discuss was what kind of quill Shakespeare used to write the sonnets. This being a roundabout way of thanking you for bringing us back to photography.
I also appreciate your lengthly reply on photography in Qatar. I knew nothing about any of this (well, a bit about images of the Prophet). And to be honest, I can’t imagine where I might have gone to hear any of this. As with your post on Tony O’Shea: there is a whole world, recreated for us. And again, what a loss if we couldn’t read about it.
When I was working, I was too absorbed in my work to attend any kind of photography meetings. Now that I’m retired, I can’t really afford the travel. MACFILOS is the only ‘society I know. It’s very much like when I was five or six; I would sit and listen to my parents talking to their friends.
It opened the world to me.
Best Regards,
Kathy
By the by .. you may have seen a spin-off discussion about ‘throw’, ‘zone’, etc. Very illuminating for a newbie like myself!
Thanks Kathy and Chef for your kind and pertinent comments. In trying to assess what Sharbat Gula wanted for herself as regards image, if indeed she wanted any, it is difficult to talk about this by observing through a ‘Western lens’. We are all formed by the cultures in which we grow up and live our lives. This image was created long before smartphones and social media and in a culture which it is difficult to discuss here in an environment where the main interest for many is what 5K (choose your currency) lens should I choose and will it make my photos as great as Steve McCurry’s?
The difficulty today is that digital tech has made everything seem accessible whereas there are still considerable cultural barriers across the globe, but a lot of people don’t wish to recognise them. I’ll finish by telling a little story about Arabic Eyes and technology. A young woman, who was in our IT support in Doha, would arrive to fix my computer issues wearing a hijab, which meant that the only parts of her face that I could see were her eyes. She was always most pleasant, friendly and efficient when doing her job, with communications being either verbal or ‘through the eyes’. I had been told by an Australian female colleague who had lunch with her that she was quite beautiful. Then one day I let slip that it was my 33rd Wedding Anniversary and next thing a 3 foot high flower display arrived as a gift from the office. It was so big that I told my secretary to leave it on her desk and I would pick it up on my way home. This attracted some attention around the office and next thing a beautiful young woman who I did not recognise came in to wish me a happy anniversary. My secretary, who was a tall Sudanese woman, leaned in and identified her as the young woman who had fixed my computer. I nearly said that I did not recognise her without her face covering, but, yes, the eyes were the same. And she was paying me respect, as a Western man, by removing her hijab in order to honour my anniversary. Culturally, family is always ‘safe ground’ in the Middle East.
As I said earlier about Sharbat Gula, it was not the camera or the film (although the colours are lovely), but the eyes which make this image and will do so for a long time. I am sure that most here are aware that the dress worn by women in Afghanistan today does not even allow their eyes to be seen.
William
An interersting facet of McCurrys work is that he had the honour to shoot the last roll of Kodachrome ever to be processed in the last remainung lab in the US back in 2009. There is an interesting (low res) video on this project by National Geographic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUL6MBVKVLI. Amazing which effort was taken for this one, over the top for my taste and example of a special kind hagiography – but still worth seeing.
I don’t want to extend the discussion above, but in a way this also was the Age of Innocence in photography that came to an end. Photojournalists had to submit their original slides to many newsroom making it relatively easy and safe to check authenticity. Now, slide photography in a steep decline (I touched subject in this Macfilos article).
JP
” . . . he had the honour to shoot the last roll of Kodachrome ever to be processed in the last remainung lab in the US back in 2009.”
Quite an honor, I’d say. Now who will get the honor for last E-6 roll?
What make the Afghan Girl image are the eyes of the girl. It is a fine portrait otherwise, but the gaze is what makes it. We can all speculate as to what caused this and this is one of the great fascinations in the image.
Kathy is right to talk about the culture in that part of the world and we in the West can only barely comprehend the layers that exist. Debating about Leica or Nikon lenses seems almost trite by comparison to that. Both companies made fine lenses more than capable of capturing an image like this and that should be the end of the matter. Back then the sensor was a piece of film such as Kodachrome.
We have recently been working with a young Afghan photographer here in Dublin. His family is partly in Doha, where I once worked, and also in Afghanistan, living under the rule of Taliban. We have given him some space in our gallery to display his work. Some of his work from before he left Afghanistan includes some attempted ‘Afghan Girl’ type images, in a way paying homage to McCurry, but we have also been encouraging him to find his own view from behind the lens and his own perspective on the world. Some other young Afghan men and women attended the opening of his exhibition. The young men were more inclined to wear their traditional dress than the young women, but they have all adapted well to living and working here. One of the projects the young Afghan photographer has undertaken involves capturing his compatriots in their new environment here in Dublin and he is doing a fine job of that.
I mentioned earlier that I had worked in Doha in Qatar. There it is a mixture of modernism and Arabic and Islamic tradition. For example, my wife captured a lovely image of young girls learning the Quran, but it would have been ‘haram’ if I had attempted to capture the image. This might sound terrible, but while you are in that culture a lot about it seems natural. There is nothing there that approaches the type of things that are happening under the Taliban, but the Taliban were there too as that is where they have their communications with the rest of the world including the US and Europe. One night we went to particular hotel and ordered drinks before dinner. We are told that the hotel served no alcohol. It was only afterwards that we discovered that was where the Taliban also had their dinner!
For people living in Afghanistan life is a lot more complicated and dangerous. The last thing on their mind would ne what lens a photographer was using. A I recall, the film made about McCurry’s search for the Afghan Girl in later life was interesting, but was largely seen through a ‘Western lens’.
William
“For people living in Afghanistan life is a lot more complicated and dangerous. The last thing on their mind would be what lens a photographer was using.”
True, but this blog is about photography!
If the blog/article is really about photography we would be discussing the photographs and the circumstances in which they were taken and not just about lenses. If you check, you will see that I have written about 50 articles on this blog and many of them are about lenses and cameras. There is a time and place for everything.
William
I think it’s absolutely wonderful that the gallery found space for this young photographer — and that his community supported him. I was also happy to hear that you are mentoring him! I hope the other westerners are as sensitive to this as you (though I imagine there must be very few who have your background).
There was a suggestion online that the portrait of Gula was like a traditional westerner ‘beauty’ portrait. I don’t have the knowledge or experience to comment on that, but it did lead me to wonder how your young Afghan photographer might begin to frame these kinds of photographs — following your suggestion that he find his own style.
I taught for decades in Texas, which has excellent petroleum engineering programs. Naturally, the best and the brightest from Saudi Arabia, etc, studied in Texas (and no surprise that my annual list of top ten students contained plenty of ‘Muhammed, Maryam, etc).
It was an interesting cultural exchange; when I complemented a student on their exam, I often heard ‘al-Ḥamdu lillāh’ — which I suspect you’re better qualified to translate than I. Still — these were young people; several often just need to talk to an adult, not expecting answers, just needing someone to listen: should they observe the fast during Ramadan, even with a heavy schedule of exams? Is this American style blouse cut too low for proper modesty?
I have not traveled to Muslim countries. Though invited, I wondered: what would I wear? Then I remembered: in my Catholic childhood, women were required to wear head-scarves to church. Not so very different!
There are a series of expressions all based on Good’s name ‘Allah’. The spellings vary, but I will try to do it phonetically for you. The best known is ‘Insh’allah’ which means ‘If Allah wills it’ which often sits approximately where ‘Manana’ sits in Spanish. I always joke that in Ireland we have no word which conveys the same sense of urgency as either of those words.
The next one up is ‘Hem’ di ‘allah’ which means ‘Thanks be to Allah’.
‘Ma’shallah’ means ‘As Allah has willed it’ which is a mixture of the two previous words.
Finally on the Allah theme there is ‘Wallah’ which means ‘I swear by Allah’ which some people regard as a curse word.
There are undoubtedly many other variations on this, but these were the main ones used in Qatar where I lived.
The lives of people are very much guided by God (Allah) and their religion. They may seem very fatalistic, but they live firmly in the present. There is no point in talking to people about a thing that may happen just a few weeks into the future. You always need to remind people maybe a day or two in advance. Some of this relates to their religion. The beginning of Ramadan or Eid is determined by a body called the ‘Moon Sighting Committee’ who must see the sliver of the new moon in order to declare ‘the off’. Can you imagine the chaos in our countries if you said that Christmas Day may be next Wednesday, but equally it might be on Thursday? This might begin to give you a flavour of what it is like to live in an Islamic country in the Middle East. None of this is regarded as oppressive, people just accept it as part of their faith.
William
I had heard of “Insh’allah”, partly in the context of a book about a Western couple hoping to rebuild an old Moroccan home. The workers had the habit of replying Insh’allah when asked whether a window or some tile would be installed that week. The other three I’d never experienced.
My students told me al-Ḥamdu lillāh meant something like ‘all good things come from Allah’, but I suspect that translation is more a result of my faulty memory.
I wonder, if you don’t mind: when you were abroad, were you in contact with local photographers? If so, did they seem to have different attitudes than Westerners?
Lunar calendars: before good communication over large empires, the moon provided a reference time everyone can see, no matter where in the empire.
Within a day or two, Insh’allah.
Countries like Qatar are a veritable international society with the Qataris themselves being in a very small minority. My staff there came from 6 different continents. It was the same with photographers. Some of the wealthier Qataris took photos, particularly of their own desert culture which has Bedouin origins. Some of them used Leicas and there was a special edition Leica M6 named after a Qatari sheikh who had, to say the least, an ‘interesting’ life, both at home and in Britain. He passed away at a relatively young age.
Apart from the desert and local culture, the things I associate most with photography in Qatar were the multitude of international sports events which took place there, long before the recent World Cup. They had Moto GP ( motorbikes), international power boat racing (2,000 bhp F1 boats), horse racing and show jumping, football (apart from the locals the England, Brazil and Manchester Utd teams trained and played there) and international athletics – I saw Justin Gatlin of the US break the world 100m record in Doha in 2006, but he soon lost it because of drug issues.
All of this is by way of introduction to a Chinese photographer, who called himself Chan, and who turned up at every sports which I attended. Although he was not a professional photographer he managed to get a professional vest for most events which gave him full access. He had a friend, also Chinese, from Kuwait who flew to Doha for the big sports events and a certain time in any event he would call his friend down to where he was and would swap the vest with him. I got to know the two of them quite well over the years that I was in Doha.
Yes, the lunar cycles play a strong part in the lives of the people as do sunrise and sunset. Coming out of the souq at sunset and hearing singing from maybe 10 different mosques in the vicinity was an unforgettable experience and never failed to raise the hairs on the back of neck, particularly when they all started at different times and were just slightly out of sync. I recall phoning my older daughter just so that she could hear this.
The other thing from the people’s culture and religion is their attitude to facial imagery. There are no images of Allah and, probably more significantly, the Prophet Muhammad (there are many spellings of that name). This translates into many attitudes towards facial images in photography. Long before digital photography, photographs of male faces were ‘beautified’ with paint brushes. Photographs of female faces were rare and, to this day, a lot of Arab females will not have their faces on their social media avatars. This is way too detailed a subject to go into here, but if the ‘Afghan Girl’ had been maybe a year older McCurry would have not been able to capture her remarkable eyes. All of this is a lot more interesting than what camera/lens he used, but I will leave it at that.
William
The question of how the image of Gula is perceived might be best answered by the person herself and how she would like to be perceived. It’s easy for us to overlay our prejudices without necessarily seeing them as so. It’s similar to asking an artist or playwright what their idea is about vs asking a critic. There’s never a simple answer.
But kudos to you William and the gallery for creating space for this young man to express himself freely.
The famous photo of Sharbat Gula (Afghan Girl) illustrates all kinds of issues in photojournalism. I had an initial, uninformed opinion: you have a western man photographing a very reluctant 12 year old girl and becoming famous partly because of that photo, while the girl languished in a refugee camp.
Like most things, it’s much more complex than that. McCurry was on assignment to show the western worrld the plight of refugees from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. That worked out very well; the picture brought awareness and money to refugee children causes. For Gula, it was more a mixed bag: she was deported from Pakistan back to Afghanistan for falsifying papers. Once there, though, she was welcomed by President Karzai, given a home and a pension. But, on the collapse of the western sponsored regime, Gula was in danger from the Taliban. With some help from Mccurry’s sister she received asylum in Italy.
McCurry described the 12 year old Gula as shy. She initially refused to have her picture taken, but McCurry persevered. Others have interpreted the situation differently; males not of the family should not see the uncovered face of family women. It strikes me that from a photographers standpoint, taking the uncovered face was the right decision. Morally, it strikes me as more complex. It is said that Gula initially was angry that her photo had been published without her permission; upon learning how much good had come from it, she was more at peace.
This kind of thing is an issue for some western women. The model Emily Ratajkowski’s book My Body shows a young woman very conflicted about ownership of and profit from her body. My sense is that there’s much to be said on both sides of the issue (I’ve had my photo used in ways I never expected, with all kinds of consequences equally unexpected).
Finally, I feel obligated to make some sort of Leica connection. Leica digital cameras from the M240 on can use lenses like McCurry’s Nikon Nikkor Ai-S 105mm f2.5. They’re dirt cheap these days, and I couldn’t help myself. I found it to be a very nice lens. Because I have an Elmarit 90mm f2.8, I didn’t keep the Nikon, though I do use a 50mm f1.4 version, which is also quite nice.
Kathy, thank you for giving us “the rest of the story”.
Regarding your “Leica connection”, you are right, there are so many excellent AI and AiS Nikkors for sale now really cheap, it is a boon to Nikon F-mount photographers like me. Moreover, likewise is true for the AF and AF-D Nikkors, if autofocus is needed. For most of these, the build quality is far and away better than the crop of lenses “G” Nikon has sold in the recent past. Especially the all-metal and glass AI and AiS Nikkors. So I am glad to hear Leica users can use them!
Martin,
I can’t lay claim to ‘the rest of the story’! You’ll notice how many hedge words I used — it is said, it strikes me, oters have interpreted …
It’s so long ago, I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly what happened!
The Nikkor lenses — I had a silly desire for an 50mm f1.4. The Leica version being somewhat beyond my means (that is to say: way over what I would pay) I was happy to find a mint Nikkor for US$140. Sharp as all-get-out, interesting rendition. The only downside is — the M240 is already a heavy camera; adding the well-built Nikkor makes for quite a handful 🙂
That Nikkor 105mm f2.5 lens was made in Leica fit for many, many years (..in the late screw-fit and then M-fit years..) ..in fact I really like it for its extra ‘reach’ beyond 90mm.
But it has a -l-o-n-g- twist from near to far focus, so takes longer to bring into perfect focus – when wide open, anyway – than Leica-made lenses ..but, because of its very fine focus adjustment it can be really very accurately focused; often more accurately, with just the plain glass finder on a traditional ‘M’, than Leica’s own ‘coarser pitch’ lenses.
..Swings and roundabouts.
Thanks for this. It has always puzzled me when reviewers praise the short throw of a lens. For me, with tired eye and hand, such lenses are hard to use.
I wonder if a short throw is preferable for somrging like street? Where timing is more important?
Long-time Nikon users know that many AiS lenses have a shorter focus throws than their AI counterparts. And of course the styling is different, in addition to the diaphragms. The used AI versions are usually cheaper. You pays your money and you takes your choice.
“..I wonder if a short throw is preferable..”
It depends how you’re using it and what you’re shooting. If you’re using a lens ‘stopped down’ (at a small aperture) then you generally have a fair amount of ‘depth of field’ ..meaning that everything may be in sharp focus, with a 50mm lens, for example, between about 8 feet and 15 feet if you use the tiny aperture of f11.
In that case, focusing for each shot is hardly needed. That’s often – or generally – how people shoot ‘in the street’, so to speak. [But I’m trying hard not to say “I usually don’t take those kinds of photos”.]
Similarly for ‘landscape’ photos, for which you may want everything in sharp focus from foreground to distant background; just shoot at f11. So the ‘throw’ (..the amount by which you’d need to twist the lens for sharpest focus..) hardly matters: you could just leave the lens set at f11.
For portraits – for which you may want the background blurred away – and at closer than, say, 8 feet, you probably want to get best focus on the person’s eyes and ..depending on how far away they are, and whether their face is ‘flat onto’ you, or is turned slightly sideways, you may have to fiddle with the focus and the aperture to get exactly what you want.
In that case, a ‘long throw’ (..lots of twisting back and forth..) lens may be a bit annoying compared with a ‘short throw’ lens ..and a ‘high magnification’ viewfinder – or a life-size finder – may be much easier to use than a ‘low-mag’ finder. So an old Leica M3 with a 90% life-size finder will be MUCH easier to use than a modern Leica with only a 70%-lifesize finder, in which everything appears to be smaller and further away. Or use a clip-on electronic finder, if your camera can use that.
I generally prefer a ‘short throw’ lens ..far less fiddly. But that Nikkor 105mm f2.5 lens IS a ‘long throw’ lens (..and is really great!..) so one just learns to put up with it!
[The – sadly discontinued – new-ish line of small ‘Summarit-M’ lenses have – for me – the perfect throw ..especially the marvellous – and slightly less than 90º throw – compact 75mm Summarit. Sharp, contrasty, short throw, fast to focus, f2.5 max aperture. Perfect!]
Thank you for these comments. Some of this I knew ‘abstractly’, but you’ve taken it out of the abstract and put it into concrete situations for me. It would have taken me quite some time to learn this on my own! Now, time to take the camera for a walk around the lake 🙂
I also appreciated your take on the Summarit 75. I’ve always wondered why I’d need one when I had an Elmarit 90. Now I know! It’s a bit pricier than the Nikon Nikkors, but still quite accessible.
Best,
Kathy
The Elmarit-M 90mm is a great lens!
The – darn these silly names! – ‘Summarit-M’ 75mm is a little smaller, a little lighter (345 grams – though mine somehow weighs 324g – instead of 410 grams), focuses slightly closer and has a very slightly wider aperture (for low light) ..the looks of photos taken with the two lenses are almost the same; if you move back half a step with the 90mm you’ll get what you get with the 75mm ..and vice versa.
If you use the 90mm, then you’re seeing what you’d get with the 75mm if you’d taken half a step forward. The 75mm is like having just a slightly smaller, slightly lighter and more compact 90mm Elmarit. With a nice rubber grip! ..It’s just very slightly longer than, and the same diameter as, the 50mm Apo f2.
I’m trying very hard to not convince you to buy one if you’ve already got the Elmarit 90mm. (The Summarits were introduced as a cheaper line to counter the competing small Zeiss lenses for the then-new Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera. The camera didn’t sell well, but M owners started gobbling up the Zeiss lenses, which were cheaper than Leica’s own and performed just as well. Except for the nasty ‘Classic’ 50mm ..which was, in my estimation, horrible ..but Mike [Ed] wanted one, so I sold him mine ..we-ell, almost gave it away!)
If you DON’T have a 90mm Elmarit-M do get the 75mm Summarit! ..But if you DO have a 90mm Elmarit-M, keep it, use it, and be happy with it; great lens! ..Just step back a bit when you use it!
Best news yet, Tony O’Shea book now shipping, can’t wait for my copy.
I’m wondering about that too. It’s not as though there is any shortage of great photos taken with Leica cameras. It’s an amazing photo but since Steve is still an active photographer and now using the brand’s products, why not put up one of his photos taken on a Leica? i totally associate that photo with Nikon.
Besides all the controversy as to whether or not Steve McCurry is staging and photoshopping his “Iconic” photographs, being a topic on it’s own, I’m just wondering how a photo taken with Nikon equipment can end up in a Leica Headquarter exhibition. To the best of my knowledge, “The Afghan Girl” was photographed on Kodachrome, Nikon FE with Nikkor 105 mm.
In terms of curating exhibitions, the brand of camera used is irrelevant, even for a brand owned gallery. You can even win the Oskar Barnack prize without using a Leica. When it comes to creating images the only thing that should count is eye of the photographer and what she/he has captured. Cameras and lenses are but tools in this context. I have often seen images taken with non-Leica equipment in Leica galleries, although a lot of the exhibitions feature photographers who are Leica users. The same applies to the Leitz Photographic Auction where images taken on a variety of cameras appear and the camera brand and lens used are never mentioned.
In my article on the opening of the Ernst Leitz Museum which appeared on Macfilos on 11th October 2021 I showed an image of a photographer in Afghanistan which was from the Steve McCurry exhibition which was then taking place at the gallery within the museum. I showed this article after publication to many of the people involved in the Museum in Wetzlar, including Karin Kaufmann who directs the Leica Galleries. They were all delighted with the article and nobody mentioned the McCurry image. I have also written an article about the Leitz Photo Auction, but I do have permission from the auction house to use images of both cameras and photographs and they supply me with high quality images to use. They know that I am not doing this for profit and they have also learned to trust me by now.
In the case of Steve McCurry I doubt if he would object to something which introduces his work to a wider audience on a non profit basis, but it is always better to have some line of communication with a publisher or exhibitor. I recently showed work here by the Irish photographer Tony O’Shea. He is a person that I have known for over 30 years and his work was recently the subject of a major exhibition in Photo Museum Ireland, which I chair. We have taken Tony’s work into our National Photography Collection, but the copyright to the images remains with him. He was delighted to see the Macfilos article and also the printed version in The Leica Society magazine. I took home an extra copy of the magazine from the recent TLS Conference to give to him.
I’m not sure where the copyright to McCurry’s work sits at the moment or what the nature of his contracts with Leica or Phaidon are, but I am sure that some control and rights still remain with him. Usually a publisher or an auction house or a gallerist gets some defined rights to use an artist’s images to promote the book, auction or exhibition, whatever the case may be, as ultimately this should benefit the artist.
I will leave it at that, as this is usually case specific.
William
Thank you very much for a most comprehensive answer, clarifying any doubts of mine (and others, perhaps) regarding which photos by which photographic equipment that are exhibited within the Leica Gallery. And, BTW, I’m a big admirer of McCurry and I can stare for hours on the “Afghan Girl” !
Got no use for him, have seen his exhibitions, but before his photoshop debacle. Blamed it on his team, you hired them you are responsible!
Hi John, I was surprised his controversial aspects were not mentioned including getting people to pose for images that he claimed were grab shots. I personally lost respect for him years ago due to his lack of honesty, integrity, and so on. He did damage to faith in journalistic photography. However, these days there seems to be no shame in journalism in general.
Clear breech of copyright, really should take this post down unless Mc Curry himself gives permission.
I will discuss this with the author, Keith and we will take whatever action is necessary.
I don’t see any photos in the article, so what is all this about?
I also have that big book, and McCurry is one of my – rather few – favourite tavel photographers.
The photos were removed after the copyright comments were posted but before you read the article.
Sorry about the delay on sorting this out, but I think it is now all ok. It was complicated by the fact that your editor is on a short cruise, so out of contact and unable to change the post. However, the author, Keith James and Joerg-Peter Rau stepped into the breach in my absence and I think the post is now acceptable. Sorry to all readers for the inconvenience.
Mike
I am no copyright lawyer, but doesn’t “fair use” permit using copyrighted material “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.” (From the Copyright Alliance web page). Surely this article was posted for one or more of those reasons?
After all, Keith stated the images were taken from a book by McCurry that was bought and paid for. Keith (presumably only used a few select images, not pirating the whole book!
Hmmm wonder what copyright laws say about these photos because I don’t see a clear difference between the original and the ones here. I may be wrong but is it okay to photograph a photograph and use it on a public forum without breaking copyright laws (unless of course you have permission to do so)?
I recall he returned to Afghanistan decades later and found the woman the “Afghan girl” had become, and photographed her again. For National Geographic.
Beautiful, soulful work that came despite the significant personal risks in capturing them. It makes you realize that while we faff about worrying about whether our current camera kit is good enough for a Sunday afternoon walk, people like McCurry are just getting on with it to capture memorable shots.
Thanks for sharing!