Steve McCurry
Afghan Girl
Background History
Afghan girl is a 1984 photographic portrait taken by Steve McCurry that appeared on the cover of National Geographic that was a spur of the moment picture. It has been called, "The Third World's Mona Lisa." The picture was of a women who was in a refugee camp in Pakistan during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The photo is said to be one of the most recognized photographs in the history of National Geographic and the cover is one of the most famous of the magazine's history. Gula, the woman in the picture, parents were killed during the Soviet Unions bombing at the age of six. McCurry made several attempts to find her before National Geographic found her and identified her as the woman in the picture for another photo.
What Can We Learn?
The photo shows an, "unusual combination of grittiness and glamour." Steve McCurry is primarily a journalists and takes the shot. I think we can learn from this photograph how to draw beauty out of hard times that are going on around the world. The Afghan girl portrait draws you in mostly from the girls eyes. It's good at making you wonder what's going on in the girl in photo's head. In the before and after picture above she looks like the same hardened girl who has went through a tough time in a war torn area. Steve McCurry can teach us how to make you wonder what's going on in a person's life through a picture and make you feel an emotion.
My Opinion
I like this portrait a lot. It immediately draws you in with her sea green eyes and she looks very intense. She's almost model like, but looks haunted. It makes you wonder what's going on in her head. This picture is unique to me because you can tell that she's young and she already looks so hardened and shy. I don't know much about the girl except that she was in a refugee camp, but I think he did capture beauty in a very difficult place to find something beautiful to take a picture of. I think he does a really good job of taking amazing pictures without having to have the people posed or used to taking pictures.