FIRST
IMPRESSION – WHAT STRIKES THE EYE
This is a very strong image, very challenging with
the subject looking directly at the lens.
I get the impression that this is a child/young woman from a very poor
background going by the clothes she is wearing.
Steve McCurry has travelled
the world making a living photographing the people he meets for the companies
he works for, lucky man. He is able to
see a situation quickly through his years of experience, taking pictures as the
scene changes and getting the strongest images.
THE
GENRE
The
genre would be either a simple portrait of the girl, whose name was Sharbat
Gula which Steve discovered 17 years
later when he returned to find her, or one with more of her living situation
which could be used in photo journalism or a documentary. This was part of a series of pictures
documenting the area where she lived and the families in her village.
See here for a comparison picture published in
the National Geographic magazine in 2002, website address:
THE
INTENDED USE
Steve McCurry takes pictures for a living as part
of a documentary of people’s lives where ever he is. He builds up a picture of the land and people
for each assignment and, if possible, returns years later to document the
changes that have happened to his previous stories.
IMMEDIATE
SITUATION FACING THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Steve would have been faced with a wall of human
misery and people begging for help as this picture was taken in a refugee camp
near Peshawar, in Pakistan. It must take
a very strong person to keep taking photographs in the midst of all that
misery.
UNPLANNED
OR PLANNED
Steve works in a planned but unconscious way having
made his living through photojournalism for many years. His natural instincts would have allowed him
to look around, talk to people and get the best of an unplanned situation.
TECHNICAL
DETAILS, IF IMPORTANT
The most important thing with Steve would be to get
the shot. His many years of experience after
graduating from a photography degree and working as a newspaper journalist in
his home state was his freelance work overseas.
Experience counts for a lot in documentary work and getting the right
settings for a decent image come as second nature after many years of
experience.
STYLE
OR MANNERISM
Researching Steve’s style of picture shows that he
prefers the straight face to the camera portraits, similar to that of the
Afghan girl that we’re discussing. When
I googled his name 1,400,000 images came up in 0.28 seconds so his name is well
recognized through the world. The
portraits on the first page all see to be in the same style that of facing
directly into the camera, well recognized as a very strong image in portrait
taking circles.
PHOTOGRAPHER’S
INTENT
Steve has spent his whole life documenting world
situations and sending back photographs to major publications and
agencies. The pictures he took of the
refugee camp on the borders of Pakistan would be to highlight the plight of the
people who had had to leave their homes and flee to a safer environment.
Refugees would have been subjected to harrowing journeys leaving most of their
belongings behind and having to stay in large, possibly barren areas with
little food. Photojournalists like Steve
would be sent to the camps to document the desperate situation that the
refugees found themselves in with the hope that the civilized world would send
aid to help them.
IS
THERE SUFFICIENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE?
I think there is sufficient information about Steve,
his picture and the general situation that he found himself in in 1985. Much has been published about the conditions
in the refugee camps over the following years for the general public to gain an
idea of how bad conditions would have been.
SUCCESS
This picture is instantly recognizable as Steve’s
work as it has been published around the world many times. The fact that it was the first image brought
up when I googled Steve’s name shows it is well recognized.
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