Posts tagged ‘Steve McCurry’
Steve McCurry to Shoot Kodachrome—One Last Time
A sign of the times: Kodak announced today that it will no longer manufacture its legendary Kodachrome slide film. Hardly anyone is buying the stuff—everyone’s shooting digital these days.
What I didn’t know is that the world-famous photo of an Afghan girl by Steve McCurry ’74 was shot on Kodachrome. Fittingly, Kodak is asking McCurry to help mark the end of the Kodachrome era:
Photojournalist Steve McCurry’s widely recognized portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, shot on Kodachrome, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak’s request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, which honors the company’s founder, in Rochester.
Meanwhile, an exhibition of McCurry’s photography, including that famed image of the Afghan girl, opened at the Palmer Museum of Art yesterday.
Thanks to John Rafacz, a staffer over in the College of Arts and Architecture, for calling my attention to the Kodachrome story.
Tina Hay, editor
Steve McCurry at the Palmer Museum
In our May-June 2002 issue, McCurry talked about being reunited with his most famous subject.
Well, OK, Steve McCurry himself won’t be at the Palmer Museum of Art this summer. But a major exhibition of his photography, called Face of Asia, opens at the museum this coming Sunday, June 21, and continues through Aug. 16. It’s perfect for anyone who plans to be in State College for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts (scheduled for July 9-12).
McCurry ’74, who was named a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus a few years ago, is an internationally known photographer whose work has appeared in National Geographic and other publications. He’s best known for his haunting 1985 image of an Afghan girl (shown above in a 2002 spread from The Penn Stater).
I just learned from Dana Carlisle Kletchka, the Palmer Museum’s curator of education, that that famous photo has a name—”Haunted Eyes Tell of an Afghan Refugee’s Fears”—and that it will indeed be among the photos at the Palmer exhibition. Just seeing that photo blown up to 19″x31″ will be worth the trip up to the museum, as far as I’m concerned.
This 1995 image of fishermen along the Sri Lankan coast is also included in the exhibition at the Palmer. © Steve McCurry, courtesy George Eastman House
In conjunction with the McCurry exhibition, the Palmer Museum is also offering showings of a 2003 National Geographic documentary called The Search for the Afghan Girl, which chronicles the efforts to find the Afghan girl in that famous photo. It’s a 50-minute film and it can be seen at the Palmer any Sunday afternoon at 1:00, starting this Sunday and continuing through Aug. 16.
One more thing. I just discovered that Steve McCurry has an active blog. You can check it out here.
Tina Hay, editor
Coming in 2009: A Steve McCurry Exhibition
Rajasthani men participate in the the Hindu festival of Holi. 1996, Rajasthan, India; chromogenic development (Lambda) print; © Steve McCurry, courtesy George Eastman House
Just got a call from Joyce Robinson, curator of the Palmer Museum of Art, with whom we did a Q&A in our July-August 2008 issue. Among other things, she was calling to tell me that the museum has booked an exhibition of the photographs of Steve McCurry ’74 for next summer. Woo hoo! We love Steve McCurry. He’s a National Geographic photographer who is most famous for his image of the Afghan girl with the haunting green eyes, but who has many, many other wonderful photographs. We feature his images in the magazine every couple of years, usually in conjunction with a new book of his—or whatever excuse we can find. :-)
Anyway, the exhibition is called Face of Asia and will be at the Palmer next June 21–August 16. So if you’re coming to University Park for the Arts Festival, you should definitely plan on a stop at the Palmer.
Tina Hay, editor
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