Artist (photographer) research: Steve McCurry

Through my research into masks and facial adornments, I came across a selection of photographs of people from various cultures with differing facial adornments or painting, taken by the photographer Steve McCurry.  I am glad I have re-discovered McCurry; I saw and admired his work a few years ago and since then had not seen any photographs of his.

Below are a couple of examples of his work, alongside the link to my Pinterest board that features more of his photos:

http://www.pinterest.com/hanamintz/facial-maskingadornment/

McCurry is possibly most famous for his 1984 photograph "Afghan Girl", a portrait of a young refugee in Afghanistan, which was used as the cover of a National Geographic magazine.  Below (left) is the famous portrait, with the same woman (right) 17 years later; McCurry spent much time attempting to find the girl, showing various locals his original photograph, before again finding the woman and taking an updated portrait.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text Here, National Geographic tells the story of the girl - her name (Sharbat Gula) only being discovered 17 years later.

I plan to draw the original portrait, perhaps drawing the eyes in colour in order to appear more striking, and to emphasise that although her head and neck are 'masked' with a headscarf, her eyes shine through with their colour and power.

Steve McCurry is probably my favourite portrait photographer; he manages to capture the personality of the subjects as well as showing depth and soul in their eyes, alongside vivid colours and atmosphere.