I chose the image of the
‘Afghan Girl’ by Steve McCurry, as this is an image I have seen as part of an
exhibition of his work from Muslim countries at the Islamic Arts Museum in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a few years ago. The image was printed in a large
format as you walked into the exhibition, and made you stop and look more
closely. I also bought a set of Steve McCurry postcards many years ago, and put
this one on my wall at boarding school. I also remember seeing the National
Geographic documentary about them trying to find her again.
The first impressions of
this photo are that I am drawn to her piercing green eyes, and the rich colours
of her clothing and the background. The non-descript look on her face both
hides and shows emotion. The colours under her ripped scarf are the same as the
background, making her fit well into the environment.
Steve McCurry was on a photo
shoot for National Geographic, documenting the lives of orphaned refugees from Afghanistan who had crossed in to Pakistan Afghanistan ,
and her parents were killed in the fighting, prompting her grandparents to take
her and her brother to Pakistan
The shoot was planned in
that he was on assignment, but on this kind of assignment I am not sure how
much you can predict the images you will capture. To take the shot, he used a
Nikon FM2 with a 105mm f2.5 lens. He used Kodachrome colour slide film. It was
taken in December 1984, at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan
The photo is well and evenly
lit, there seem to be no shadows on the face. The colours are rich and clear.
The photographers intent was to capture the lives of refugees from Afghanistan
There is a lot of
information about this image and the story of the girl’s plight. There is also a
lot of information about how the image was taken, and there was a documentary
about how National Geographic found her in 2002.
The image was successful,
one report says that the editor developed the film and then contacted Steve
McCurry to report that they had a good photo. The image then made the cover in
June 1985, then later the cover of National Geographic’s 100 Best Pictures. The
image has also been used by Amnesty International to symbolise the refugee
problem. When the team returned to find the girl in 2002,
she was given funding so that her children could go to school, which is
something she desperately wanted for them.
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