Steve McCurry has been one of the most iconic figures in contemporary photography. His photos have been featured on covers of magazines and books. He published over a dozen books and exhibited all over the world.

McCurry was born in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He studied cinematography at Pennsylvania State University. After graduation, he worked for a newspaper. After years as a freelance artist, McCurry made his first trip to India backpacking. Travelling with little more than a bag of clothes and film, he made his way across the subcontinent, exploring the country with his camera. It was after several months of travel that he crossed the border into Pakistan where he met a group of refugees from Afghanistan. They smuggled him across the border into their country, just as the Russian invasion was closing the country to Western journalists.

He spent weeks embedded with the Mujahideen. McCurry's images were among the first to show the world the brutality of the Afghan war. Since then, McCurry has gone on to create unforgettable images in numerous countries. His body of work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary cultures alike. However, he has always retained the human element that made his celebrated photo of the Afghan Girl such a powerful image

McCurry has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest, amongst dozens of others. The Minister of Culture for France awarded him with the Order of Knight of Arts and Letters and recently received the Centenary Lifetime Achievement Award by the Royal Photographic Society