LiberPress Award 2011

Steve McCurry (Philadelphia, USA) is a photojournalist. He began studying the history of cinematography at the University of Pennsylvania and earned a degree in performing arts, graduating cum laude. He became interested in photography when he was working for The Daily Collegian newspaper in Pennsylvania. His career as a photographer began in India and, as a war photographer, with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, where he dressed like an Afghan and took his films out of the country by sewing them into his clothes. He was thus able to get the first pictures of the conflict, work that won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal for the best photographic report from abroad.

He has covered many international conflicts, such as the war between Iraq and Iran, wars in Lebanon, Cambodia and the Philippines, and the Gulf War, winning four first prize awards in the World Press Photo contest. His work has been published all over the world. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic and has been a member of the Magnum agency since 1986, winning the most important photography awards in the world. One of his most famous photos is The Afghan Girl, Sharbat Gula, which has become National Geographic’s most widely recognised image. In 2002 he managed to find her and photograph her again, as a woman.

Currently, Steve McCurry lives in New York.