Steve McCurry Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs

I missed "Steve McCurry Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs" coming out earlier this month. I haven't got it yet but I can guess its a must for any fan of his work!

McCurry is a well known American photographer. a frequent photographer for National Geographic and has been a member of Magnum since 1986. His most recognized photograph is the portrait, "Afghan Girl", taken in a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. The image itself was named as "the most recognized photograph" in the history of the National Geographic magazine and her face became famous as the cover photograph on the June 1985 issue. He returned in 2002 found her and photographed her again. Among many of his awards include Leica Hall of Fame Award, Hasselblad Master. In 2010 he shot the very last roll of Kodachrome transparency. You can watch a documentary on that here.

Steve McCurry Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs takes an unprecedented look at the work of Steve McCurry, one of today’s finest and most daring imagemakers. This is the first book to fully explore how the world-renowned photographer finds, takes and develops his uniquely iconic photographs. Presenting a personal archive of material, Steve McCurry Untold features the very best of McCurry’s most beautiful and powerful photo stories, taken from around the world over the last thirty years. Each story is illustrated with never-before-seen notes, images and ephemera – saved by McCurry from his extensive travels – and over 100 lavish, full-colour photo plates of McCurry’s most significant work. Brought to life by newly commissioned essays, the stories offer a critical narrative and give new insight and ideas into the background, experience and ideas behind McCurry’s unparalleled photography. Together, these fascinating documents reveal a new and exciting view of the story behind the story. 

Tracing the narrative behind 14 of McCurry’s most important assignments, each story provides a behind-the-scenes look at McCurry’s adventures, from first publication to their afterlife in the world, creating a documentary record of his remarkable career. The featured work covers his entire oeuvre and focuses on a broad range of themes, such as rail travel in India (1983), the plight of the Tibetan people (2000–6), the effects of the Monsoon (1984) and the events of September 11th (2001), alongside his lesser-known bodies of work on the Hazara Tribe in Afghanistan (2007), Yemen (1999), and the environmental fallout from the Gulf War in Kuwait (1991). Richly illustrated and explained, this book provides an inside perspective on Steve McCurry, creating a living biography and archive of one of photography’s greatest legends.

Publisher: Phaidon | Size: 345 x 245 mm | 264 pages, 500 colour illustrations
Buy it here on Book Depository