Steve McCurry: Iconic Photographs

OK... I am blessed! This past weekend, my wonderful wife had the wonderful idea of booking tickets for a lecture by Steve McCurry at the National Portrait Gallery. The event was organized by Phaidon for the official launch of his new limited edition book: Iconic Photographs.

In front of a few happy ones, and during a little more than an hour, Steve went through a portfolio of about a hundred amazing vivid and speechless pictures, that he shot over the last 30 years, in Tibet, Afghanistan, India, Kashmir, Niger, and even New York.

One of the fundamentals of the Magnum Agency, is that photographs must speak by themselves. The ones we saw definitely did. Steve was sharing anecdotes, and short stories rather than defining each photograph in details. He gave us the opportunity to get our own interpretation of each picture. In the end, Steve was kind enough to go through a quick Q&A, and a book signing session. With all that said, this was indeed a privileged experience!

For those of you who would not know who Steve McCurry is, here is a short summary of his acclaimed career, which I got from the National Portrait Gallery's website: A member of Magnum photos since 1986, Steve McCurry launched his career as a photojournalist when, disguised in native garb, he crossed the Pakistan border into Afghanistan over twenty years ago. His remarkable coverage won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal, which is presented to photographers who exhibit exceptional courage and enterprise. His awards also include the National Press Photographer's Association's Magazine Photographer of the Year, the Olivier Rebbot Memorial Award (awarded twice) and won four first prizes in the same year at the World Press Photo Contest.