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Portraits by Steve McCurry (1999-05-31) Paperback
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Product details
- ASIN : B01MXF0ZG2
- Best Sellers Rank: #8,516,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Steve McCurry has been one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than 30 years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name.
Born in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; McCurry studied film at Pennsylvania State University, before going on to work for a local newspaper. After several years of freelance work, McCurry made his first of what would become many trips to India. Traveling with little more than a bag of clothes and another of film, he made his way across the subcontinent, exploring the country with his camera.
It was after several months of travel that he found himself crossing the border into Pakistan. There, he met a group of refugees from Afghanistan, who smuggled him across the border into their country, just as the Russian Invasion was closing the country to all western journalists. Emerging in traditional dress, with full beard and weather-worn features after weeks embedded with the Mujahedeen, McCurry brought the world the first images of the conflict in Afghanistan, putting a human face to the issue on every masthead.
Since then, McCurry has gone on to create stunning images on all seven continents and countless countries. His work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture alike - yet always retains the human element that made his celebrated image of the Afghan Girl such a powerful image.
McCurry has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest. The Minister of French Culture has also appointed McCurry a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters and most recently, the Royal Photographic Society in London awarded McCurry the Centenary Medal for Lifetime Achievement.
McCurry has published books including The Imperial Way (1985), Monsoon (1988), Portraits (1999), South Southeast (2000), Sanctuary (2002), The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage (2003), Steve McCurry (2005), Looking East (2006), In the Shadow of Mountains (2007), The Unguarded Moment, (2009), The Iconic Photographs (2011), Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs (2013), From These Hands: A Journey Along the Coffee Trail (2015), India (2015), and On Reading (2016), Afghanistan (2017), A Life in Pictures (2018), Animals (2019), In Search of Elsewhere (Fall 2020).
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It is strictly a book of portraits. The only words are the geographic region and date of each photo which are printed on the page opposite the photo. Therefore, the photos are 'pure' w/ no writing on or around them.
My only complaint is that the book should be larger. Although each photo takes up a complete page, at 5x7 they could stand to be a little larger.
I would still highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in human faces. It is a fascinating study of humans and a real feast for the eyes.
Portraits is filled with other remarkable photos of people. Ordinary people from ordinary places. The color schemes and balance in the photographs are mesmerizing. As one pages through the book, the clear oneness of humankind shows through. Many of the photos of children defy description. McCurry says in the prologue that faces stare back at him from places he will never forget. The book's message to me is that there are people all over the world whom we should never forget.
It was delivered promptly and in perfect condition. I was very happy and am a satisfied customer. The book itself is simple, yet compelling. As seen in the cover shot, it is a series of photographs that make you look into the souls of its subjects. Beautiful and so interesting. As a photo enthusiast, I found inspiration for my own photography.
- There is no theme, no "thread" in this book; just a compilation of images. Surely each of them was chosen for a reason and - I assume - put in its place in the book for a reason as well. Sorry but the reasons were lost on me.
- The story behind the shot is completely missing.
- The size somehow did not work with me. The lack of a border or a frame, some breathing space around the image does not help either.
- Quality of print and reproduction is very bad; in some instances the need for re-touching and pre-press work is so obvious that it hurts.
- Body and binding quality is really inferior for a book like this.
- Finally, amazon delivered a copy in such poor shape that someone along the delivery chain should be ashamed (torn back, damaged covers at the corners etc etc).
Overall, a great concept that got lost in execution