Steve McCurry : Renowned Documentary Photographer

It was announced on March 11, 2014 that Steve McCurry will be awarded the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA). McCurry is being honored with the Photography Appreciation Award by the Dubai organization that supports and encourages Dubai's participation in the arts.

McCurry is famous for the iconic image, Afghan Girl one of the most prevalent photos of our generation. The girl in the photo is Sharbat Gula, a refugee living in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Her portrait was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine. 17 years later, McCurry found Gula, now at the age of 30, living in a remote region of Afghanistan. This story is truly remarkable, but it's only part of McCurry's illustrious career.

Afghan Girl, Pakistan

McCurry was born in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Penn State University, studying film. After working for a local newspaper, he took up on his travels, starting in India. He then crossed into Pakistan during the Russian Invasion of Afghanistan, and was the first to show the world what was going on through images. Since then, McCurry has been all over the globe - South America, Cambodia, Yemen, and countless other countries. He's won the Robert Capa Gold Medal, the National Press Photographers Award, and the first prize award from the World Press Photo four times.

He recently spoke at Georgetown University as part of the Lecture Fund's Arts and Politics Lecture Series. He said, “One of the most important points that I should remind myself of when doing a story is to look for situations that I passionately care about. At the end of the day, the pictures that I care about and that are interesting are pictures of stories that I thought very deeply about" (quoted in The Hoya). Check out just a few of his amazing images:

Holi Festival, India

Holi Man, India

A Young Monk Runs Along the Wall Over His Peers, China

Boy in Mid-Flight, India

Father and Daughter Reading, Yemen

Girl Sitting on a Bench, Italy