Steve McCurry: Biography

Steve McCurry began working in Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion in 1979. His most famous photograph, a portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, appeared on a 1984 cover of National Geographic, to which he is a frequent contributor.

A member of Magnum Photos since 1986, McCurry has covered many areas of international and civil conflict, including the Iran-Iraq war, the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, conflicts in Beirut, Cambodia, and the Philippines, and the Gulf War.

McCurry is the recipient of many awards, including numerous Picture of the Year awards, American Photo Magazine's Photographer of the Year Award, the National Press Photographers Association's Magazine Photographer of the Year award, and the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award. He has published five books: The Imperial Way (1985), Monsoon (1988), Portraits (1999), South Southeast (2000), Sanctuary (2002), and The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage (2003).