'Steve McCurry UNTOLD' - stories behind his photographs

'The Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man', with His Larger Than Life Art:
Steve McCurry sharing the story of finding 'The Afghan Girl' again,
and revealing her identity, 17years after taking the iconic NatGeo Cover Photo

 Steve McCurry shares the story of his most famous portrait, of The Afghan Girl, that became 'the most recognisable photo in the history of National Geographic magazine', and finding out her identity years later.
During 'Steve McCurry UNTOLD' event at The Southbank Centre, London, sharing the stories behind his photographs :

"..And there we found her, 17years later..near Peshawar.. After 9/11, with renewed interest in her to help her, when Afghanistan was in the news again. That anonymous, orphaned "Afghan Girl" with haunting eyes, seen for a fleeting few minutes in 1984 in that old tent- a makeshift classroom for girls in a refugee camp, near Peshawar. After 2 weeks search in 2002, with many claiming to be her in that famous June 1985 cover photo and claiming to be familiar with me as that photographer, We finally found her, through her brother- who has similar eyes, and found out that her name is Sharbat Gula- here with her 1yr-old daughter..
 Her big dream was to perform the Haj..to take her husband and brother on the pilgrimage to Mecca. National Geographic arranged for that. She then wanted to take 5 of her dear friends with her too!. Well, we were also thrilled for her.. to fulfil that dream of hers.. She has only been photographed twice in her life, both times by me..We actually keep in touch with her to this day.. By this time we had raised lot of money, more than $1m, to help build schools for young girls in Afghanistan, thanks to generous people who felt moved by her story.."

Sharing other experiences of his photographic assignments, he also paid rich tribute to his many helpers and fixers on the streets, including a taxi driver from Mumbai, whom he found so helpful and resourceful in fixing issues and finding connections, getting out of 'situations' etc, to make his photo-stories happen, that he ended up taking that taxi driver as helper/fixer in many countries in Asia!

[ Also see: Aug 2013 interview with Newsweek- PORTRAIT OF THE PHOTOJOURNALIST  ]

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Personal recordings of this Talk in London: First 20min of his 40min talk he was sharing only the experience of India, where he said he started NatGeo asignments.. and went back 19 times.."where you can travel endlessly, without ever getting tired of the place.."


+ Part2 last 3min (which is the last part about Sharbat Gula) of talk + Q&A: + 

'Finding The Afghan Girl', [4min] clip @NatGeo:

'National Geographic Search for the Afghan Girl' [30min feature]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uw0JukBGmk

 + Steve McCurry shares the story behind his iconic photograph: 'Widow, Vrindavan, India (1995)'

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Sharbat Gula has been staring at me from above the fireplace in my room for some years now.. It was a birthday gift, 'Portraits', by Steve McCurry: 

TRACKS by Robyn Davidson - One woman's solo trek across the Australian Outback

Image from #TRACKS movie poster

Inspired by #RobynDavidson's story, this write-up came out of watching the movie and listening to the making of it during Q&A with the director. The story also reminded of couple of other such strong-willed real-life characters I read about/watched in movie in recent years, who were quite radical in their thinking and with their life, and travelled in/for solitude in the wilderness. I was joking to my amma that I might do it one day as well:) Travelling in solitude is not new to me, but haven't tried that in the wilderness yet ;)

 Impressive real-life story of a woman, TRACKS was screened at the FilmFest 
[trailer ]. 

Unusual, inspirational, gritty yet vulnerable Robyn Davidson – and her will to face the desert wilderness of Australian Outback in solitude, with raw, deep connection with the desolately beautiful, haunting, stirring, meditative landscape that probes and pushes to reach for one’s depths, to go on without breaking- 2700km solo trek on foot, for more than 9months!.. Captured with captivating cinematography. Slightly slow progress, showing her sense of loneliness and bonding with the 4 camels and her dog.. and also with native people she meets (& on and off bonding with the NatGeo photographer who visited her at 3 places during the trek, mostly keeping a distance). Featuring the landscape as a major part(“one main character”, as the director put it) of the ‘visual narrative’. The cinematography, for me, demystified a lot more of what the Outback looks/feels like.. I’d asked about it to a few people who's been there, but couldn’t quite get much idea. Some Ozzie movies and documentaries& a movie of Aboriginal people had helped, but not to this extent, or artistic skill!

It was good to watch a movie made with respect (the director explained that) for the original author’s real feelings and experiences and being sensitive and true to the original story, without manipulating too much or over-dramatizing for cinematic effect or to suit a commercial agenda.

(Reading more about Robyn Davidson, found that she also travelled with Nomads in India, 1990-92, from which she wrote ‘#DesertPlaces : Pastoral Nomads in India.’ So that’s 2 books added to my 2Read list. Apparently, TRACKS was written as a book only due to popular demand after her Outback experience was published in NatGeo magazine in return for their sponsorship. To prepare for writing her book, Robyn came to London to live with an English writer- who later won Nobel prize)


Also, in parts, the movie/the character of Robyn reminds me of couple of other such strong-willed real-life characters I read about in recent years, who were quite radical in their thinking and life, and travelled in/for solitude in the wilderness:

• 1) Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904)- Her diary was published as #TheNomad after her death aged 27 (chanced on that book in the library). Her diary notes were found after flash floods in the desert in which she died(1904) while living in Algeria and North Africa in general, exploring the Sahara on horseback, often dressing as a man, speaking Arabic, pretending to be a young Tunisian scholar!, living sensual and adventurous life on her own terms.. after deaths in the family and disturbed relationships. From her diary: “For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all.”

• 2) Adrian Boshier (1939-78), known through the biography I recently read- #LightningBird by Lyall Watson. 16year old English boy Boshier inspired by 19^th century explorers walks into the South African bush with a knife and a pack of salt, walking everywhere learning to live off the land, sleeping with snakes curled around, stealing the kill from lions and leopards.. and bonds with and learns about African culture, helping anthropologist Raymond Dart along the way."As Boshier learned the short incantation and bgean to build up a stock of similar psychic weapons, he made an old and wonderful discovery. RITUAL, he found provided very potent relief from anxiety. It resolved tension by focusing attention on some positive and trusted action."

• 3) Chris McCandless (1968-92), who eventually walked into the wilderness of Alaska, after donating the $24k he had (given to him to do a law degree) for charity, to Oxfam. Watched the 2007 movie about him, #IntoTheWild directed by Sean Penn, based on a popular biography (1996) by the same name. During 4 months of living foraging in the wild of Alaska as a hunter gatherer, he is said to have died after eating some poisonous seeds which had neurotoxins that slowly made him unable to move, go for hunting/foraging, starving to death.. From his recovered journal: “It is true that I miss intelligent companionship, but there are so few with whom I can share the things that mean so much to me that I have learned to contain myself. It is enough that I am surrounded with beauty...” (Apparently McCandless was influenced Henry David Thoreau- “He envisioned separating from organized society for a Thoreauvian period of solitary contemplation”. [Thoreau is one of my fav – along with Ralph Waldo Emerson- transcendentalist author , known for his meditative writings on Nature; Thoreau was influenced by Vedic philosophy as well]

#LFF, #LFF2013