When I was a kid I was fascinated by a 3-D photo viewer called the View-Master. Last night as I lay in bed with my ThinkPad having finished off my latest post on the Wedding Photography Blog, I followed Design | asides from my blogroll there to the Magnum Photos site and experienced the same magic I got from squinting into that toy.
You won’t be surprised to read that I detest “look at the exotic ethnic people” photography, and I am sure there are people who see his work as something to go on the coffee table to signal to guests how “sensitive” they are to other cultures, but Steve McCurry is a truly great photographer. He lives with his subjects, rather than just gawps at them. You can gasp at his work and find out much more about him from the lovely Flash-powered mini-documentary I watched in the small hours.
Amazingly, McCurry returned from south Asia to his apartment near the World Trade Center on September 10, 2001, so, as well as taking some of the most famous photographs of Afghanistan, he also took some of the most famous photographs of the destruction of the Twin Towers, some from the roof of his apartment block.
4 Comments
Viewmaster ! I had a Viewmaster when I was little, I think it for Christmas when I was about 11.
It was brilliant, I had disks with pictures of the Alps and another with Disney characters, I used to spend hours looking at the 3d pictures. I wonder if it is still at my Dad’s house somewhere?
This Steve McCurry picture taken in Mazar i Sharif seems to have a Viewmaster salesman in it.
Outstanding! Thank you.
I knew that all along of course
Steve McCurry’s portraits are indeed magnificent.
This picture of an Afghan girl demonstrates the remarkable ethnic mix in Central Asia, and compliments wonderfully everything I have read about Afghanistan.