00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:24.680
(shouting, alarm blaring)

00:00:29.999 --> 00:00:33.040
- [Voiceover] Oh my God,
oh my God! (screams)

00:00:34.999 --> 00:00:38.080
Oh my God, oh my God!

00:00:44.040 --> 00:00:44.840
(relaxed piano tones)

00:00:55.040 --> 00:00:56.360
- My pictures from Nine-11,
I think the images that

00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:04.160
tell the story and convey
what it was like is

00:01:04.320 --> 00:01:09.160
my views that really
show the entire site.

00:01:10.880 --> 00:01:14.040
This enormous field of
destruction and these tiny

00:01:15.999 --> 00:01:20.880
little humans, these
little men, these firemen

00:01:20.999 --> 00:01:24.975
and relief workers
trying to find survivors,

00:01:24.999 --> 00:01:28.520
trying to do what
they were doing.

00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:31.160
And it was futile, it was this
task which was impossible.

00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:36.160
Looking at the
coverage of Nine-11,

00:01:36.520 --> 00:01:38.999
the video and the photography,
the still photography.

00:01:39.080 --> 00:01:42.640
I always think that
still photography

00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:45.600
tells the story so much better.

00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.040
There's that moment
frozen in time.

00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:51.200
You can look at it,
you can stay with it.

00:01:51.360 --> 00:01:54.640
You can come back to it again.

00:01:54.800 --> 00:01:56.760
It burns into your memory,

00:01:56.920 --> 00:01:59.640
it's something that
you can't forget.

00:01:59.800 --> 00:02:03.160
I think my pictures
tell that story of this

00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:07.720
epic destruction in
a place which was

00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:14.400
sort of my home,
my neighborhood.

00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:17.920
My name is Steve McCurry,
I'm a photographer.

00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:23.120
(upbeat piano music)

00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:40.920
(anxious piano tones)

00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.120
- [Voiceover] Defining Steve
McCurry is no easy task.

00:02:53.999 --> 00:02:56.600
He has documented the
most dramatic conflicts

00:02:56.760 --> 00:02:58.640
of the past 30 years
without ever wanting

00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.960
to depict himself as
a war photographer.

00:03:00.999 --> 00:03:04.240
His portraits have won
renown for the front pages

00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:07.920
of the world's most
important publications.

00:03:07.999 --> 00:03:11.640
His reassuring, intelligible
aesthetics and rich colors

00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:15.400
have made him one of
the general public's

00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:17.600
most acclaimed photographers.

00:03:17.999 --> 00:03:20.640
He is an incessant traveler,
but above all he is

00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.999
a true narrator who
through the intense gaze of

00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:28.840
his every subject,
delves into existences.

00:03:28.999 --> 00:03:32.240
Gleaning stories,
tragedies and dilemmas that

00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.200
touch the deepest reaches
of the human soul.

00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:39.960
- The world's changing
so rapidly right now

00:03:43.999 --> 00:03:47.840
and there's this rush
towards globalization.

00:03:47.999 --> 00:03:50.640
I really feel that somebody
needs to document the way

00:03:50.999 --> 00:03:55.640
we were, have some
record of the past.

00:03:57.999 --> 00:03:59.720
I think that what fascinates
me about photography

00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:06.400
is being able to show the
similarity, the commonality

00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.999
between people and that
at the end of the day,

00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:14.200
whether you're Chinese
or Russian or European

00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:18.600
or from Africa, we're
basically the same.

00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:23.120
- [Voiceover] A member of
Magnum Photos since 1985,

00:04:24.200 --> 00:04:27.760
Steve McCurry first came
into contact with reporters

00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:31.120
of the prestigious agency
through photography books

00:04:31.280 --> 00:04:34.440
during his studies.

00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:37.520
His dedication, his continuous
search for a story and a

00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.920
human dimension took him in
the early years of his career

00:04:40.999 --> 00:04:44.400
to lands torn by conflict where
he, by way of his pictures,

00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.360
attained the esteem of
international publications.

00:04:48.520 --> 00:04:52.000
It was his talent which
led him to a second contact

00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.120
with one of the founders
of Magnum when he

00:04:55.280 --> 00:04:58.999
received the Robert
Capa Gold Medal in 1980,

00:04:59.080 --> 00:05:03.280
awarded to him for his
exceptional courage
and initiative.

00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.080
- I've covered a lot of
conflicts in my career.

00:05:10.520 --> 00:05:13.400
But for me the story was
always the civilians,

00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:17.800
the people who were driven
out of their country

00:05:17.960 --> 00:05:20.999
or out of their villages.

00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.120
I was never a
combat photographer.

00:05:23.280 --> 00:05:25.520
I've been in combat
many times and to me,

00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:30.320
that's not where the story is.

00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:32.480
The combatants are
generally there willingly,

00:05:32.640 --> 00:05:36.000
they're often protected,
they have a weapon.

00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.520
They're fighting out of
their own free will but what

00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:42.920
happens invariably is that
you know, the civilians

00:05:42.999 --> 00:05:46.999
get caught in the conflict
or homes get blown up.

00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:51.320
People are at home
in their living room

00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:53.520
and a rocket comes
in the window.

00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:57.960
So to me that was what
I've spent my time on.

00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:02.960
I think the conflict which
made the biggest impression

00:06:05.440 --> 00:06:07.680
on me, which this sort of
monumental catastrophic

00:06:07.840 --> 00:06:11.840
environmental damage
was the Gulf War.

00:06:11.999 --> 00:06:14.760
The first one in the
early 90s where there

00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:17.840
were more than 600
oil wells on fire.

00:06:17.999 --> 00:06:20.800
There was destruction as
far as the eye could see.

00:06:20.960 --> 00:06:23.999
The Iraqi, before they
had left Kuwait burned,

00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:28.999
put all the oil wells on
fire, destroyed this city.

00:06:29.320 --> 00:06:33.120
It was complete and
utter devastation.

00:06:33.280 --> 00:06:37.080
And I would go into these
oil fields in the middle

00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:40.999
of the day and you couldn't,
you couldn't see the sky.

00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.920
It was like night and there
were these enormous lakes

00:06:43.999 --> 00:06:48.040
of oil everywhere, all
these poor animals were,

00:06:48.200 --> 00:06:51.520
you know horses and cows
were winding around, camels.

00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:55.320
It was like an
enormous movie set.

00:06:55.480 --> 00:07:00.160
It was like this surreal
world where everything

00:07:00.320 --> 00:07:04.040
was just destruction and chaos.

00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:07.760
It was dreadful, awful.

00:07:13.080 --> 00:07:13.720
(digital tones)

00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:24.480
(car horn honking)

00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:31.000
(siren blaring)

00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.720
- [Voiceover] The morning
of September 11th, 2001

00:07:37.880 --> 00:07:40.360
remains etched in the
memories of all those who

00:07:40.520 --> 00:07:42.720
turned on a TV that day
anywhere in the world.

00:07:42.880 --> 00:07:46.480
(radio chatter)

00:07:46.640 --> 00:07:50.999
The images flown by of
an attack which was at

00:07:51.080 --> 00:07:53.960
that time, unthinkable
and unfathomable.

00:07:53.999 --> 00:07:56.999
(siren blaring)

00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:58.880
That morning, Steve McCurry
was in New York looking

00:07:58.999 --> 00:08:02.000
out over the terrace of
his Washington Square home.

00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.800
With his camera, he unceasingly
documented the moments

00:08:06.960 --> 00:08:09.680
directly following the
attack on the Twin Towers.

00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.960
9:59 A.M. is the moment
the first tower crumbles

00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:19.520
before the incredulous
eyes of the entire city.

00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:24.240
10:28 A.M., the North
Tower also falls,

00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:28.840
sowing panic and terror.

00:08:29.999 --> 00:08:31.800
- I couldn't hear the
World Trade Center collapse

00:08:34.999 --> 00:08:38.120
but I could hear all these
screams from the park below

00:08:38.280 --> 00:08:42.120
and it was this surreal
kind of nightmarish

00:08:42.280 --> 00:08:46.840
memory I have of that morning.

00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:50.280
(somber piano tones)

00:08:57.760 --> 00:08:58.999
I got back on the night of
September the 10th from China.

00:09:02.920 --> 00:09:05.640
I'd been there for six weeks
doing a story on Buddhism.

00:09:05.800 --> 00:09:08.920
I was in a very sort of
mellow mood, I got back,

00:09:08.999 --> 00:09:12.999
woke up the next morning
on September the 11th.

00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.520
I got a call that the World
Trade Center was on fire.

00:09:16.680 --> 00:09:20.800
I looked out the window and I
saw both towers were on fire.

00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:25.440
So I raced up on the roof
to right where I'm standing

00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:29.760
right here and started
photographing it.

00:09:29.920 --> 00:09:33.520
I thought this can't be
happening, this is unreal.

00:09:36.760 --> 00:09:37.999
I kept photographing and
the second tower collapsed.

00:09:41.920 --> 00:09:45.600
And I remember right below
was Washington Square Park

00:09:45.760 --> 00:09:50.200
and as the tower was collapsing,
I couldn't hear anything

00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:54.975
from the World Trade Center
but I heard these screams.

00:09:54.999 --> 00:09:58.360
There must've been
about 200 people down at

00:09:58.520 --> 00:10:00.800
Washington Square Park
who were just screaming.

00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.560
And then I left
immediately for Ground Zero

00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:08.000
and I spent the
entire day there.

00:10:08.160 --> 00:10:10.680
In fact I went back again
the next morning but

00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:13.840
it was such a beautiful
morning that September 11th.

00:10:13.999 --> 00:10:16.680
The sun was shining, there
wasn't a cloud in the sky

00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:20.000
and suddenly
everything went dark

00:10:20.160 --> 00:10:24.480
and it was like our
worst nightmare.

00:10:24.760 --> 00:10:27.800
- [Voiceover] Steve McCurry
learned straight off to handle

00:10:29.920 --> 00:10:31.999
danger by tackling head on
the risks of the profession.

00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.920
In 1979 he miraculously
brought home

00:10:35.999 --> 00:10:38.999
the reportage that would
make him world famous,

00:10:39.040 --> 00:10:42.400
and more importantly
would bond him permanently

00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:45.520
to the Afghan people who, even
before the Soviet invasion,

00:10:45.680 --> 00:10:49.000
had been left to
fight their own wars.

00:10:50.920 --> 00:10:52.480
- I was in this very cheap
two-dollar-a-night hotel

00:10:55.999 --> 00:11:00.320
in Chitral and the people
standing in the next room

00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.999
to me were some refugees,
some Afghan refugees.

00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:07.440
One night we were having
some kebabs and they said

00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:11.000
"You know, you're
a photographer.

00:11:11.160 --> 00:11:13.480
"Nobody knows this story,
nobody's paying attention

00:11:13.640 --> 00:11:17.999
"to the fact that our villages
in this part of Afghanistan

00:11:18.040 --> 00:11:20.999
"are being destroyed by
helicopter gunships."

00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:24.960
I agreed readily.

00:11:24.999 --> 00:11:28.160
I said "This is an important
story, I wanna go."

00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.480
So we decided two days
later I was gonna accompany

00:11:31.640 --> 00:11:35.080
some of these guerilla
fighters, these Mujahadeen.

00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:39.320
So the morning they came
to get me I was like

00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:45.600
you know, this is crazy.

00:11:45.760 --> 00:11:50.040
But I went.

00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:52.960
We walked for four days
but as we got closer

00:11:53.160 --> 00:11:57.960
and closer to the fighting,

00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:01.999
I got more and more involved,

00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:05.120
more personally
kind of connected to

00:12:05.280 --> 00:12:08.080
these people and to the story.

00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:11.480
I ended up spending a month.

00:12:11.640 --> 00:12:13.920
I ended up going right
to the front line

00:12:13.999 --> 00:12:17.120
and seeing the fighting,
people were dying.

00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:22.120
Relatives were grieving,
there were funerals.

00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:26.999
And suddenly this
really became the story

00:12:28.999 --> 00:12:32.840
I got very passionate about.

00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:38.200
(Arabic guitar tones)

00:12:42.760 --> 00:12:46.360
- [Voiceover] Just as the
Mona Lisa is a universal icon

00:12:46.520 --> 00:12:48.999
of the style of Leonardo Da
Vinci, so too will Steve McCurry

00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:52.999
be forever linked to the
photo of the Afghan girl

00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:56.760
who for years was held
to be the absolute

00:12:56.920 --> 00:12:58.999
symbol of her
people's suffering.

00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:02.680
A face, an icon and
once again a story

00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:05.960
that affects the world deeply.

00:13:05.999 --> 00:13:07.920
But especially one which pushes
him almost 20 years later

00:13:07.999 --> 00:13:11.400
to set off in search of
her to portray her as mired

00:13:11.560 --> 00:13:15.000
even more deeply by the
asperity of her life.

00:13:15.160 --> 00:13:19.280
- Somehow people connect
with that picture.

00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:23.960
Often without knowing she's
a refugee, without knowing

00:13:23.999 --> 00:13:26.280
she's an orphan, without
knowing she's an Afghan.

00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:31.280
There's just something
about that look

00:13:31.520 --> 00:13:33.720
and that expression
which captivates people.

00:13:34.160 --> 00:13:37.960
And I think part of the reason
is that there's a combination

00:13:40.760 --> 00:13:44.160
of ingredients here, the
different components.

00:13:45.920 --> 00:13:50.680
She's very pretty, a very
attractive little girl.

00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:54.999
She has these attractive,
very striking eyes.

00:13:58.040 --> 00:13:59.999
But there's this ambiguity
to her expression.

00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.320
She's not smiling,
she's not frowning,

00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:09.240
she has this sort
of neutral thing.

00:14:09.400 --> 00:14:11.999
Despite she's very
pretty, she also clearly,

00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:16.160
her face is a bit dirty,
her shawl is ripped.

00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.840
But she has this penetrating,
this unyielding gaze.

00:14:20.999 --> 00:14:25.840
This sense of kind of
fortitude and perseverance

00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:30.600
and this self respect and
the reason we went back

00:14:30.760 --> 00:14:35.240
to try and find her after
17 years was because

00:14:35.400 --> 00:14:39.240
we had gotten
thousands of letters.

00:14:39.400 --> 00:14:41.999
Everybody was curious,
I was curious.

00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:45.720
Where is she, who was
she, is she still alive?

00:14:45.880 --> 00:14:50.040
So we wanted to go back.

00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:51.680
After some days we had
a big break in the story

00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:56.000
because we found the
teacher who had been in

00:14:56.160 --> 00:15:00.800
the classroom that morning
when I photographed her,

00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:04.680
and through her were
able to eventually find

00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:09.600
Sharbat Gula's brother
and of course through him

00:15:09.760 --> 00:15:14.080
we were able to find
her and it was amazing.

00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:18.840
We were so thrilled
that she was alive,

00:15:18.999 --> 00:15:21.520
she had a family,
she was married.

00:15:21.680 --> 00:15:23.560
She lived in the village,
her kids were healthy.

00:15:23.720 --> 00:15:27.999
So we were completely
thrilled that

00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.960
we were able to locate her.

00:15:39.999 --> 00:15:40.440
(chattering)

00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.880
(upbeat piano tones, drumbeat)

00:15:50.800 --> 00:15:55.080
The World Trade Center
for several decades

00:15:55.960 --> 00:16:00.760
was one of the iconic
symbols of New York,

00:16:00.920 --> 00:16:03.760
it was one of the landmarks.

00:16:03.920 --> 00:16:05.360
When you came into the city
almost from any direction,

00:16:05.520 --> 00:16:08.000
that was one of the
first things you saw.

00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:10.560
Suddenly this iconic
piece of architecture

00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.600
was ruined and it collapsed.

00:16:18.640 --> 00:16:19.999
After Nine-11, some months
after Nine-11 I actually

00:16:23.999 --> 00:16:28.640
moved my studio very close
to the World Trade Center.

00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:33.999
Just about two blocks and
every day that I walked

00:16:34.760 --> 00:16:38.999
to work, it was a reminder
of that terrible day.

00:16:41.999 --> 00:16:43.999
I packed up and moved to
another area of the city.

00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:50.640
(anxious tone)

00:16:59.160 --> 00:16:59.920
(electronic tones)

00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:15.000
I have maybe 800,000 slides
of Kodachrome here in my

00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:23.880
archive and it was the film I
used for 25 years, 30 years.

00:17:29.600 --> 00:17:30.960
And it was a way of life
and when I heard they were

00:17:34.760 --> 00:17:37.000
gonna discontinue and
Kodachrome was coming to

00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:39.999
an end I was like this
can't be happening.

00:17:40.080 --> 00:17:42.600
But I thought it'd be great
fun to get the last roll

00:17:42.760 --> 00:17:47.120
of film and to do some
really interesting project.

00:17:47.280 --> 00:17:51.560
So I talked to Kodak, they
agreed, got the last roll.

00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:56.120
And I thought well now
what am I gonna do?

00:17:56.600 --> 00:17:59.560
So I thought I need to
photograph something iconic.

00:18:01.760 --> 00:18:05.999
You know Kodachrome was probably
the best film ever made.

00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:09.600
I wanna, it was an iconic
film, I wanna do something

00:18:09.760 --> 00:18:12.720
to honor the memory
of Kodak so I thought

00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.720
I wanna shoot something
in New York, I wanna go

00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:18.640
to someplace in the world
that I'm familiar with.

00:18:18.800 --> 00:18:21.320
So I actually started with,
I thought who's iconic

00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.080
in New York, who is a
quintessential New Yorker?

00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:28.120
And I thought Robert De
Niro, he's an obvious choice.

00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.040
And then I thought
you know I've worked

00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:39.680
so much of my career on India.

00:18:39.840 --> 00:18:41.960
Let me go back and do a little
bit of the roll in India.

00:18:44.999 --> 00:18:46.960
(loudspeaker chatter)

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.999
So I found a tribe
which was disappearing

00:18:53.080 --> 00:18:54.999
and I thought this
would be a perfect,

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:57.400
you know a disappearing
film, a disappearing tribe,

00:18:57.560 --> 00:19:00.640
this way of life is
coming to an end.

00:19:00.800 --> 00:19:03.440
(electronic tones)

00:19:09.520 --> 00:19:10.600
My preparation before
I go out and shoot

00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:17.960
is very minimal, very simple.

00:19:18.320 --> 00:19:21.320
(high-pitched electronic tones)

00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.320
It's unscripted, it's
unplanned to some extent.

00:19:30.999 --> 00:19:33.975
Often I will just walk
out of my hotel room,

00:19:33.999 --> 00:19:37.960
out of the place I'm staying
at and just start looking,

00:19:37.999 --> 00:19:41.320
start to get into a
particular frame of mind.

00:19:44.760 --> 00:19:45.999
Start enjoying the day,
start engaging with people

00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.240
that I meet and let it slowly
get into a particular zone.

00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:58.240
(high pitched electronic tones)

00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:06.200
Almost a meditation I would say.

00:20:06.999 --> 00:20:09.240
But my preparation is, I
have one camera, one lens.

00:20:09.520 --> 00:20:14.240
I don't have any extra
equipment with me, I don't have,

00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:19.360
usually as I said
just that one lens.

00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:23.999
It's a very simple approach.

00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:32.160
I do everything with
that one camera.

00:20:42.520 --> 00:20:43.960
I think one of the abilities
that we need as photographers

00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:51.000
is to be able to engage
people, to meet people.

00:20:56.360 --> 00:20:57.400
You have to go up
and talk to people.

00:21:01.520 --> 00:21:04.160
Explain who you are,
then have them want to

00:21:04.320 --> 00:21:07.000
actually partake and to
participate in this thing.

00:21:07.999 --> 00:21:11.400
I think Nine-11 changed New York

00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:16.480
in the months following, perhaps
for the next year or two.

00:21:19.360 --> 00:21:23.680
I think at this point it's
not something that we think

00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:25.999
about, I mean life is
uncertain and there's an

00:21:26.080 --> 00:21:29.960
impermanence to life
anyway and at any moment,

00:21:29.999 --> 00:21:32.760
anywhere we could be
snuffed out so I think

00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.800
people just go along their
business at this point.

00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:44.999
(deep violin tones)

00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:52.880
- [Voiceover] Steve's
journey through the world

00:21:52.999 --> 00:21:54.400
follows rules and ideals
but it has no borders.

00:21:54.560 --> 00:21:57.280
And yet there is one land
which more than all others

00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:00.200
has influenced his work
and especially his style.

00:22:01.280 --> 00:22:04.280
The vibrant colors
of Asia taught him to
capture the deepest

00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:09.320
light, to find the balance
between ethics and aesthetics,

00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:13.680
and to touch a lyricism
which enthralls at

00:22:13.840 --> 00:22:16.440
the sight of his every photo.

00:22:16.760 --> 00:22:19.040
(fast guitar tones)

00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:25.040
- I think the most ancient
part of this world that we

00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.160
live in when it comes
to culture and religion,

00:22:28.320 --> 00:22:31.960
architecture is definitely Asia.

00:22:31.999 --> 00:22:34.560
I mean they were, had
incredible civilizations when

00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:37.880
Europe was still, we were
living in caves and tents.

00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:42.880
So there's this real sense
of the past in color.

00:22:45.520 --> 00:22:48.480
For me it's much more logical
to photograph in color

00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:53.160
than black and white,
the world's in color.

00:22:56.920 --> 00:22:58.080
In color photography I think
muted, soft, low contrast

00:23:02.040 --> 00:23:06.920
light works best for
color photography.

00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:10.040
Even light, a cloudy
day, for me and my work

00:23:10.760 --> 00:23:15.040
is the best result,
low contrast.

00:23:18.999 --> 00:23:20.760
I think photographing people
certainly in these sort of

00:23:24.040 --> 00:23:27.880
dark, moody situations has
much more emotion to it.

00:23:29.999 --> 00:23:32.880
I never use flash when
I'm walking around,

00:23:34.999 --> 00:23:39.320
I rarely use a tripod.

00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:42.560
I like these dark, muted
situations so I kinda

00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.400
gravitate towards
cloudy days or times.

00:23:46.560 --> 00:23:51.400
I love Asia during the
months for instance when

00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:54.200
everything's this kind of
even, soft, muted light.

00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:03.480
And I want that either
the picture lives or dies

00:24:07.320 --> 00:24:11.520
on the story, on the
emotional component.

00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.200
I don't want it to be about some

00:24:14.360 --> 00:24:17.120
filter or lens or technique.

00:24:19.800 --> 00:24:20.880
(relaxed piano tones)

00:24:28.999 --> 00:24:30.320
One of my pictures which I
think tells an important story

00:24:34.080 --> 00:24:37.975
was made in Bombay of a
mother and child who came up

00:24:37.999 --> 00:24:41.999
to my car window, I
was at a stoplight.

00:24:42.120 --> 00:24:45.200
They came up, she was
begging and it was raining,

00:24:45.360 --> 00:24:49.999
there was rain on the windows.

00:24:50.080 --> 00:24:53.080
She came up to my window
looking for some money

00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:55.975
and it was just two figures
and I just instinctively

00:24:55.999 --> 00:24:59.560
raised my camera and
just made two exposures.

00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:04.560
And it's this very soulful
picture of this mother and child

00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:10.360
peering into this
air-conditioned car, they're out

00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:14.080
in the heavy rain and I'm in
my air-conditioned bubble.

00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:18.400
And it's just this sort
of meeting of two worlds

00:25:18.560 --> 00:25:22.120
and I've always thought it was
very poignant, that moment.

00:25:24.999 --> 00:25:26.160
- [Voiceover] The photograph
taken on September 11th

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.400
which emerged on the cover
of the Times has crystallized

00:25:32.560 --> 00:25:35.520
an instant of terror for the
entire world over the years.

00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:39.520
New York will continue to be
a refuge for Steve McCurry,

00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:43.080
a place to concentrate his
unceasing work in pauses

00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:46.680
between his aesthetic
and extensional journeys

00:25:46.840 --> 00:25:49.360
in search of the lands
and gazes which in his

00:25:49.520 --> 00:25:52.280
photos compose the
human universe.

00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:03.999
(relaxed piano, guitar music)

00:26:38.320 --> 00:26:39.440
(relaxed piano, guitar
music, steady drumbeat)