Portraits

I first saw the picture of the mysterious (but now located) "Afgan girl" on a calender 20 years ago. I stopped, stared, walked past, returned and stared some more. I did not see the holes in her shawl or the dirt on her face until the second look. Only then did I realize that this was not the photograph of a model. The eyes are hypnotic.

Portraits is filled with other remarkable photos of people. Ordinary people from ordinary places. The color schemes and balance in the photographs are mesmerizing. As one pages through the book, the clear oneness of humankind shows through. Many of the photos of children defy description. McCurry says in the prologue that faces stare back at him from places he will never forget. The book's message to me is that there are people all over the world whom we should never forget.

There are a lot to be said about this little handbook. For reason being there is nothing written on the pages except photographs. I don't want to use that line but, truly, a picture is worth a thousand words. One's own imagination is more intimate with one's self while looking at those miraculous photographs, than would when restricted with the words and passion of another. I also enjoyed the size of this little marvel; each picture is the size of a snap shot photo and delivers equal proportional faces that seems like, with the turning of each page, a remembrance of adventures thru out the world and me with my little photo hanger book.

While surfing the web, I was fortunate to find a supplementary companion for Steve McCurry’s book of Portraits; it is a well-made web site that provides a sample of 48 imagines taken from the book. Along with a short bio of the author, video clip of varies shooting locations and year and location of which each photo presented was taken.

Beauty is a huge thing, far too large to fit on any one face. It takes hundreds to capture even part of it - maybe as many as six billion.

This is a sample of our faces. There are no words in this book, just a face on the right-hand page and a place and year on the left. There doesn't seem to be any special order by place, time, or theme. Any order present is probably in the reader's mind only - not a bad thing, I think.

Young, old, man, woman, and some I'm just not sure about. The most varied in dress and adornment may be the many photos from India. The most varied in the people themselves may be Mali. As a group, the most beautiful may be the faces of Niger. The most startling, by far, are the Afghanis - so familiar in their features, but so very far from from my own world. If you don't like my answers, ask again. I'll probably have a different impression each time I look through this wondeful book.

And of course, there is "Pakistan 1985," the cover model. That may be the most famous, certainly the most arresting portrait of the modern era. The face is warm and somber, but the eyes look back out of the page, and into the viewer. I wonder whether they see more than my eyes can.

//wiredweird

This is a collection of some of the most beautiful and masterfully composed portraits I've seen. McCurry is a National Geographic photographer and almost every page in the book could be a cover photo. Many photos of interesting faces from India, Chad, Nepal, Afghanistan, Philippines, China, Mali, Tibet, and (a few of the most interesting) Los Angeles. Small format photos (about 5x7). Photos are printed full page (to each edge of the page) on the right-hand side, and opposite each photo is printed the city, country and year the photo was taken. Photos lack commentary or descriptions and are not categorized, but I found this rather nice. Page turns are often new locations, and the lack of commentary leaves interpretation to the imagination. Just look into the eyes of the subjects and you'll start to feel their story. Great book -- too bad it's so small. It's got a spot on the coffee table nonetheless.

Steve McCurry truly has a gift to capture the very heart and soul of the people he shows us with his photographs. I came away feeling like I somehow 'knew' each one, and after looking at them, just wanted to weep with the emotions that stirred within me. Essence lifts from his pictures, and I am impressed to display all of them, as they have certainly made indelible footprints on my very own heart and soul.