Steve McCurry's Blog, page 3

Stories Without Borders

After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. – Philip Pullman Great stories happen to those who can tell them. – Ira Glas The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. – Brandon Sanderson Storytelling is among the […]

Stories Without Words Part II

For me, photography is about wandering, observing, and telling stories. From my early days of photography, I’ve felt the influence of André Kertész, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and others whose work demonstrates that deeply profound and universally resonant truths can be conveyed through photographs. People are hungry for stories. It’s part of our very being. […]

A Magic Thing

A river seems like a magic thing. Magic, moving, living part of the earth itself. -Laura Gilpin A river is water in its loveliest form; rivers have life and sound and movement and infinity of variation; rivers are veins of the earth through which the lifeblood returns to the heart. – Roderick Haig-Brown No man […]

The Gift of Grandparents

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. -Alex Haley A grandparent is a best friend, teacher, cheerleader, and counselor. There is no grandfather who does not adore his grandchild. -Victor Hugo Our grandchildren accept us for ourselves, without rebuke or effort to […]

Portraits of Resilience

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places -Ernest Hemingway Resilience is the ability to overcome adversity, cope with setbacks, and persevere in the face of trauma and deprivation. Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and […]

A Year in the Rain: Chasing the Monsoon

During the year I spent following the monsoon in a dozen countries, I learned to see it as a critically important event, and not the disaster it had first seemed. Farmers experience the monsoon as an almost religious experience as they watch their fields come back to life after being parched for half the year. […]

The Need to Read

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life. -Joseph Addison We read to know we’re not alone. -C.S. Lewis When I get a little money I buy books, and if any is left, I buy food and clothes. -Erasmus Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, learned […]

Traveler’s Tales

Stories about travelers are as old as humankind.  One of the earliest travelers’ tales was Homer’s Odyssey,  from 800 B.C.E., it was the story of Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan Wars. He who does not travel does not know the value of men. – Moorish proverb “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a […]

The World in Your Cup

Tea and Coffee – What the World Drinks If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.– Japanese Proverb The earliest record of tea consumption were in China with records dating back to the 10th century B.C.E. We haven’t had any tea for a week. The bottom is out […]

From Grit to Glory: The Grind of Hard Work

Whether it is men fishing, nuns washing dishes, miners digging beneath the earth, or working in the heat of a steel mill, work is universal, yet intensely personal. Millions work in order to survive, and for them, there is no debate about how to achieve a life / work balance.   Labor disgraces no man;unfortunately, […]