Steve Mccurry: Afghan Girl

Description: Margaret Bourke-White. Louisville Flood Victims. 1937. Photograph.

For this essay the works of Robert Draper, author of “Why Photos Matter,” and Fred Ritchen, author of “Photography Changes the Way News is Reported,” will be analyzed. Though both deal with the topic of photography, their take on the matter is very different. While Ritchen is a photographer who writes on “what professional photographers will be doing in the future,” Draper is a writer for the National Geographic writing on how the photographers of the magazine share “a hunger for the unknown.” Both writers, however, write on the topic of photographers having a deeper understanding of their subjects, Ritchen due to research and practice, and Draper because the photographers “sit [with] their subjects, just listening to them.” In both essays the need for a deeper understanding of the

Among all of the great Hollywood portrait photographers, George Hurrell is arguably the most famous and is considered by collectors and historians to be the best in the business. It was his photos that actually inspired the term “glamour photography.” In 1936, Esquire magazine claimed, “A Hurrell portrait is to the ordinary publicity still what a Rolls Royce is to a roller skate.” George Hurrell said, “As long as I can remember I wanted to be an artist. As a boy, I was drawing all the time, in school and out.” As an art student in Chicago he started to work with a camera, as it was common for art students to photograph inspirational locations as well as their finished work. While at school he held a series of jobs, including acting as a colorist for Chicago portrait photographer Eugene Hutchinson who taught him valuable tricks of the trade, including negative retouching, darkroom developing and airbrushing. He moved to Laguna Beach, California where there was a thriving fine arts community. His many connections led him to meeting the famed photographer Edward Steichen, who saw in his work a natural talent for photography. Our childhood desire to create is nurtured into a talent by those who possess the gift. Following Steichen advice and encouraged by his friend and patron, aviatrix Pancho Barnes, Hurrell opened a photography studio in Laguna Beach. George’s first celebrity client came from Pancho’s referral of her best friend, silent film star Ramon Novarro. Ramon felt his Latin

For decades Maier captured interesting photographs of ordinary people, with a secret curiosity for culture.

Bruce Gilden was one of the excellent is a road picture taker. He is best known for his genuine close-up photographs of people in the city of New York City once expressed, "I cherish the general population I photo. That is to say, they're my companions. I've never met a large portion of them or I don't have any acquaintance with them by any means, yet through my pictures I live with them." I feel like John Szarkowski comprehended what Bruce implied while embodied the bona fide centrality of photography in his work keeps on managing new best in class picture takers the about the art of photography.

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” - Ansel Adams Ansel Adams was a great man. He was an Environmentalist, Lecturer, Conversationalist and most importantly a Photographer. He has inspired many with his beautiful pictures of nature. He has inspired many to look at nature in a whole new way.

John Szarkowski, a photographer and director of the Department of Photography of the Museum of Modern Art. Not only that, but based on the reading he’s also critic. Throughout the years Szarkowski had influence many American photographers, a forward thinker person who at that time had control of the art institution change photographer’s point of view. He taught American photographers how to look at photographs, from proving representations of the world, to making a story real, and to unique angles and perspective through photography.

Firstly,look carefully at the photo because Afghan Girl's eyes tell a lot of things.Her name is Sharbat Gula.The first time I saw this photo, I saw hope in her eyes.When the photograph has taken,Sharbat was in the refugee camp because there was a war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan in 1984.Sharbat Gula was a symbol of the Afghan war of the eighties and of the refugees spreading to the whole world with his sharp eyes and green eyes.You can see the hopes,loneliness and traces of the war in her eyes.For more than fifteen years,Gula's identity has remained unknown.This process lasted until the Taliban regime collapsed in 2001.During this time,Steve McCurry,who took the photo,made attempts to reach Gula.A National Geopraphic team went to

In this essay I am going to focus on how Alison Wright has photographed women affected by war and conflict and how she has approached, created the story and how she has achieved this. Wright is known internationally, from California, based in New York, a documentary photographer, author and public speaker who works for National Geographic and travels the world for the purpose of documenting endangered cultures, exile countries, people in poverty, and issues that concern the human condition. After she survived an accident in 2002 in a Jungle remote road in Laos where a bus she was on at the time was hit by a truck, Wright featured in ‘Outside magazine’, Yoga Journal’ and ‘National Geographic Adventure’ which showed her story of survival. Alison set up ‘Faces of Hope’ Fund what helps provide medical care and education for children in the world who are in crisis or poverty.

Smith’s work in photography began at age 14 photographing airplanes at the airport in Wichita. Photography soon became his main interest. At age 19 he began his studies at Notre Dame University on a special scholarship. After one semester Smith left school and moved to New York City and began working for Newsweek

Chase Jarvis is a famous modern photographer born in Seattle, Washington. His parents had no ties to photography, one being a Police officer and the other working in a biotech company. Chase had no early intentions of being a photographer. He got his degree in Physiology at the San Diego State University. He was admitted to the University under a soccer scholarship. Chase was one week away from graduation when his Grandfather passed away and left him all his photography gear, and when he took a trip to Europe his love for photography took off (“Biography”) .

The visual weight or the focus of the photograph “The Afghan Girl” are on the sparkling green eyes of the young girl, Sharbat Gul. It is indeed the most domineering feature of this photograph and where the vision of many fall when they first look at the image, not only because of the rare color of the eyes, but because the whites of Gul’s eyes are the sharpest highlight compared to the deep dark reds and greens in the photograph; hence they capture the viewer’s attention.

Sharbot Gula’s cold gaze into the camera lens pierced the hearts and souls of those who discovered the photograph. Through her eyes one can see her despair and suffering and feel her pain of living in the war torn country of Afghanistan her whole life. Though her exact age remains in question because of the lack of documentation of her birth, it is confirmed she was young and most likely in her teen years. The same time in a flourishing country the look of joy and innocence would be present on a child’s face hers mirrors the opposite. The haunting image sheds light onto the topic most people choose to ignore or belittle, the people living in the countries at war. She is uneducated,

Photographs can tell a story, for example the pictures Showkat Nanda shared that documented Kashmir’s War in India. His pictures caught my attention because they displayed the truth behind the untold stories of his homeland, Kashmir, was being fought over by Pakistan and India. Although I did not experience the horrendous situation Nanda did, I also have a passion for photography and believe a story is told more understandable with pictures. My interest in photography began when I was twelve-years-old when I received my first digital camera for my birthday. I enjoyed taking pictures of nature such as the sky, flowers, and animals. Before photography I did not appreciate nature as much as I do now. Whenever I see a beautiful sunset or flower

Every day we witness events and experience moments that are engraved in our memories for possibly our whole lives. Those significant events shouldn't be simply remembered by memory but with physical evidence from photographs. Garry Winogrand is an artist that takes photographs of a plethora of different life events. Those events span from major political movements to a simple family fun day; as a result, there really is no shortage in the diversity of Winogrand's photograph. His black and grey photographs seems to capture unique moments in everyday life in a casual way. Thee photographs do not look like they were captured in a professional studio with perfect lighting; however, his work encompasses the everyday life of people and the events