CCC Forum

Steve McCurry – Just watched the interview on CNN this evening related to his new book – Afghanistan.
https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05326/facts.steve_mccurry_afghanistan.htm

McCurry is famous for his iconic image of Afghan girl shot in 1985 who he traced and photographed again 17 years later in 2002.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2002/04/afghan-girl-revealed/

There is some controversy about some of his images being staged but also for using PhotoShop.
See “Eyes of the Afghan Girl: A Critical Take on the ‘Steve McCurry Scandal”
https://petapixel.com/2016/06/07/eyes-afghan-girl-critical-take-steve-mccurry-scandal/

We all do it, don't we?

Iggy wrote:There is some controversy about some of his images being staged but also for using PhotoShop.

The issue arose as for many years Steve McCurry described himself as a photojournalist, where altering images is a definite no-no. The viewer has to be able to trust what they are shown since it has to depict the reality of the situation. Even a small amount of retouching is an issue, since it then becomes impossible to have confidence in an image's credibility. That said, many photojournalists appear to adopt the practice despite the risk to reputation and the possibility of dismissal. In a recent Sony Photo Awards contest, it was said that around 20% of the images had been manipulated in some way. One award winner was even allowed to keep his prize, despite one of the images not being taken where he said it was.

I understand that Steve McCurry now describes himself as a "storyteller". Due to his reputation he appears to have survived the scandal relatively unscathed but someone less well known might not have been so fortunate.