Rabari tribal elder —
What is it about Steve McCurry's portraits that instantly draws you into the raw gaze of his subjects?From McCurry's famous "Afghan Girl" image, to the one above of a brilliantly decorated tribal elder in Rajasthan, the legendary American photographer has gained a reputation for bewitching portraiture in some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth.
Now McCurry's new book, "India," showcases three decades of his spectacular photographs from this vast country.
Flick through the gallery to see images from the book.
Train of thought —
The gleaming white marble of the Taj Mahal is vividly contrasted against the dirty black steam of a passing train, in this 1983 photograph. Scottish historian and writer of numerous books on India, William Dalrymple, sees McCurry as a master at capturing India's "extraordinary contradictions."
"Perhaps most stark among the extremes McCurry illustrates are those between India's rich and poor," says Dalrymple in his written introduction to "India."
"We see the landowner with his hunting trophies pinned to the wall, and we see the beggar children dying beside the railway tracks, invisible to the passengers on the train; we see the soaked beggar children fingering desperately at the windows of the taxi; and we see the Bombay elite, coiffed and laundered, with their fleets of vintage cars and uniformed chauffeurs..."
The girl in red —
McCurry's most famous image is undoubtedly his portrait of an "Afghan Girl" which graced the cover of National Geographic in 1985.It's not so dissimilar to this striking portrait of a "Girl in Red," taken in Jaipur, Rajasthan, in 1983.
Camel convoy —
Here, India's Camel Corps patrol desert near the Pakistan border, in 1996."McCurry's India is, above all, a world of paradox," explains Dalrymple.
"It is where border guards ride camels through the timeless deserts of the Thar, carrying the latest in modern M-16 high-velocity assault rifles."
Catch a ride —
McCurry's remarkable photojournalism career began more than three decades ago, when he crossed the Pakistan border into Afghanistan disguised in native clothes.He returned with rolls of film sewn onto the inside of his garb, and later won the prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal for his work.
This image shows bicylcles hanging from the side of a passing train in West Bengal, 1983.
Elephant in the room —
The Magnum photographer has a special talent for capturing people's everyday lives with great compassion. Here, Mahouts -- people who ride elephants professionally -- are depicted sleeping beside their giant, brightly painted animal.
Mumbai —
This image depicts a devotee carrying a statue of Lord Ganesh into the waters of the Arabian Sea, during the immersion ritual off Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai, 1993"For all the silliness and vulgarity that McCurry photographs in modern urban India, he never forgets that India is still a profoundly sacred land," says Dalrymple.
"It is, after all, a country with 2.5 million places of worship, but only 1.5 million schools and barely 75,000 hospitals. Pilgrimages account for more than half of all package tours, and the bigger pilgrimage sites vie with the Taj Mahal in popularity: 17.25 million trekked to the shrine of Vaishno Devi."
Holi Festival —
"McCurry has made many of these holy treks himself, and the rich tapestry of India's different faiths is one of the enduring themes of his work," continues Dalrymple."There are beautiful images of devotees immersing statues of Ganesh in the sea at Mumbai, or playing Holi, the festival of colors, in Rajasthan, or visiting astrologers on the ghats of Varanasi."
This luminously-colored photograph shows the crowd carrying a man during the Holi Festival in Rajasthan, in 1996.
The unguarded moment —
There is both the sense of a photographer's wry smile and tenderness in this image of a smartly dressed couple wading through monsoon waters in Porbandar, Gujarat, in 1983.
Animal kingdom —
The water-soaked couple couldn't be more removed from this other-worldly 1996 image of Harshvardhan Singh, son of the Maharawal of Dungarpur, relaxing at home surrounded by a vast array of exotic taxidermy animals."McCurry's work represents a genuine panorama of the country, from the Rajasthan desert dust storms to monsoon-flooded Bengali villages, from Kashmir to Kerala," says Dalrymple.
"His is a world of limpid light, burning colors and darkest shadow, in mood both melancholy and festive. From the massed crowds of Kumbh to a lone woodsman in the Himalayan forest, all Indian humanity is here."
