In an interview, photographer Steve McCurry talks about his most dangerous journeys, the omnipresent express tourism and his new exhibition in the Ernst Leitz Museum in Wetzlar
Mr. McCurry, you are considered one of the best photographers in the world and you are also very well known in this country for your breathtaking travel reports. Have you ever taken photos in Germany, or is that simply too boring?
In fact, I only took photos once in Germany, that was in 1989. The topic was the comparison of two families from East and West and how they lived. But no, Germany wasn’t too boring for me. It was more because I felt more drawn to other places, to areas in Asia and Africa that had a completely different culture, with different religions, customs or even food. Of course, I was also very often in places that looked like how I grew up. Europe and the USA are visually very similar in many ways. But that had far less charm and fascination for me.
At the moment you have to stay at home in Philadelphia and you cannot come to the opening of your new exhibition in Wetzlar, as planned. As a world traveler, how did you spend the past year under pandemic conditions?
It was actually quite positive. I usually travel a lot, so it’s good to see life from a different perspective. Usually I don’t have time for things like a walk in the park. To go out into nature, even without a camera, that’s really great. We have to make the best of it and be happy about all the things we have.
You must be terribly missing travel!
I’m really fine right now. This rest time has been a blessing and a benefit to me, personally and professionally. My daughter is four years old and I now have time to spend with her. But I’m already looking forward to traveling again, there are still so many places I want to visit. I now have my first corona vaccination, but many parts of the world are not yet open again.
Do you have a region that you particularly love?
If I could only visit two or three places in my life, I would probably choose Tibet and Ladakh and maybe Italy for other reasons. It’s so magical and interesting. There are also parts of Myanmar that I really like. And I love Kyoto with its monastery gardens. Oh, more and more comes to mind …
Could you imagine leaving the camera at home?
Traveling without a camera? It’s a good way of judging a place. You should go there when you are fascinated, when you want to meet people, with or without a camera. I wasn’t everywhere, but in all the countries I wanted to go.
A country that you have been to countless times will probably no longer be a destination: the US wants to withdraw from Afghanistan.
I was there again in 2016, but only in Kabul. It’s a dangerous place, but I love the country very much. But I probably won’t go back for the time being, maybe when it becomes a more peaceful place one day.
Is fear your constant companion when you are out and about?
Often, actually always! There are so many different ways things can go wrong. There is always a risk of being kidnapped. Hostage-taking, car bombs, so much can happen. But I’ve always been careful and always hope for the best.
What else do you remember particularly negatively on your travels?
The hardest work in Iraq was in the time of Saddam Hussein in 1986. It was unbearable, the heat was grueling, and we were constantly being followed and guarded. That was probably the worst situation I’ve ever been in. But it wasn’t really risky, just impossible to work. Afghanistan or Lebanon, on the other hand, were extremely dangerous because you could be shot at at any time.
To person
Steve McCurry, born in 1950, is one of today’s most famous photographers. The American, who was born in Philadelphia and now lives there again, has published numerous photo reports over the past 40 years. In it he impressively shows war and destruction, but also the beauty of the world.
The portrait of “Afghan Girls with the Green Eyes” in a Pakistani refugee camp in 1984 brought him great attention. The “Press Photo of the Year” was actually a chance picture that was taken on the fringes of McCurry’s visit to a makeshift tent school. In 2002, McCurry and his sister went to look for the now grown woman, found her and portrayed her again.
The Ernst Leitz Museum in Wetzlar is currently showing a selection of outstanding travel images that the photographer himself has put together from tens of thousands of photographs over the past 40 years. The exhibition can be seen until October 10th.
Steve McCurry also selected the pictures for this interview especially for publication in the FR. aph
For your current exhibition in the Ernst Leitz Museum in Wetzlar, you have selected your favorite pictures from 40 years of careers. Does this also give you a little thought?
Photography and traveling, that was what I wanted. I never looked back and regretted something. I always wanted to be self-employed as a photographer. It’s a risky, insecure way of existence. But that was much better for me than a life as an employee of a magazine. Others had a house and a garden and played tennis on weekends. But I wanted adventure.
How do you become a travel photographer – it takes more than just craft?
You need a certain courage and have the attitude that you really want to do it, even if it kills you. When others started families, I was gone and photographed the world. But that gave me a lot of pleasure, I have to say that. Everyone has an attitude towards life, I think there is no right or wrong thing to do.
You have traveled further than most other people. When did you start?
I went abroad for the first time when I was a child, when we flew to England and then traveled through Europe, we were in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Italy. Later I drove across southeast Europe with a couple of friends and a rented car: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Istanbul. When I came to Yugoslavia, I saw the big difference. And Istanbul! Everything was dramatically different there. Then I was in Israel for a month and in Africa the following year. That blew me away. That was a transformation. The next year I hitchhiked to Latin America. That’s when I decided that traveling should be a part of my life.
In these decades, travel has changed incredibly, and so has photography. Are you bothered by the mass shooting that we are constantly exposed to?
It’s good that everyone now has a camera in their cell phone and can take pictures wherever they want. With George Floyd, for example, it was good to have someone standing by, otherwise we wouldn’t know the truth at all. We owe that to the person who filmed it. I think people learn to deal with it better and better. Today everyone can compose messages on their mobile phones, write poems or music, publish books themselves, anytime and anywhere in the world. But that doesn’t make it an art or interesting or good at all.
When you’re out and about today, you’re rarely alone – unless it’s a pandemic right now.
Travel is very different today, in many ways. The world is changing at a rapid pace, just clothing. Internet, mass communication, taste in music. Venice is such a fine example. The city is overrun with the crowds, and it is no different in many parts of the world. So a lot of charm is lost. In China, most of the historical architecture has now been torn down and replaced by skyscrapers. But these are just facts, it cannot be stopped. I guess that’s progress.
But that sounds pessimistic.
I try not to keep thinking that there are tourists everywhere now. It tires you. You get off the bus for 20 minutes and walk around a bit. No culture can be discovered in such a short time. Then maybe you can say: I was in Venice, even if you were only there for five minutes. But the wealth, the beauty, the art! It just ends in noise. But that’s just the world we live in. And maybe it’s better to be in Venice for five minutes than never.
But now I have to ask again about your most famous picture, the photograph of a young Afghan girl with green eyes. Does it annoy you that this one image comes to the fore so much?
You have to be grateful when people admire your work. If you want to know more about it. You have to respect that and answer their questions. Even if it’s the millionth time. Although I have to admit that in interviews I sometimes wonder why the interviewer didn’t take a few minutes and googled the story about the picture beforehand.
Your work is much more extensive, as the current exhibition in Wetzlar shows. At the end of our conversation, I still have to confess to you: I grew up with your great photos in the magazines. How do you succeed in such masterful pictures?
Photography is a lot of things that mean something different to many people. It is the same with you when you write. Whether it’s a feat or a poem or journalistic work, it’s all made up of words.
Interview: Andreas Hartmann
