Steve McCurry

I was recently advised by my tutor to have a look at Steve McCurry's images.  And of course as soon as I accessed his website, www.stevemccurry.com, I immediately recognised some of his shots from National Geographic magazine.  The Afghan Girl shot in Pakistan is probably the most famous (this has also featured in Photography Monthly), together with the one showing her many years later after she was tracked down as an adult, but I found an image of the Camels and Oil Fire shot in the Ahmadi Oil Fields in Kuwait in 1991 very evocative.  The colour and clarity is stunning; the horizontal composition is simple (rule of thirds) but effective, with central positioning of the camels, and the image is truly powerful bringing home the drama of war and its impact on life, and the fact that life survives.

To see the image in question, go to:

http://stevemccurry.com/galleries/war or

http://stevemccurry.photoshelter.com/image/I0000rV_5qZCjYH8

Ahmadi Oil Fields Kuwait (c) Steve McCurry