Still lives

As his largest exhibition to date is held in the region, he talks to Women's Editor Sarah Foster about his work.

THE question may seem rather strange, but I'm bound to ask it: "So are you going to North Korea?" Steve McCurry simply laughs, then answers slowly in an American drawl. "I would if I could but unfortunately it's a little tricky. I actually had dinner tonight with a colleague who had been to North Korea in 1972 and even then it was practically impossible to get in - of course, he's Korean so it was a bit easier for him. I would like to but I just don't think they're giving visas to photographers, especially American photographers."

Why I ask if Steve has plans in this regard is partly due to where he is - he's on the phone to me from Seoul - but more importantly, because I know about his photographic tastes: he simply thrives on scenes of conflict. Now a mellow 56, and with a world-class reputation for his work, Steve shot to fame for what remains his best known image - the portrait of an Afghan girl. Divorced from her surroundings, she draws you in with the power of her eyes alone. What lies behind that fierce gaze is just how much the girl had suffered - she had lost her family and her home had been destroyed. The simple beauty of the picture comes from the complex nature of that look. Though Steve works in conflict zones, he is subtle when it comes to expressing it on film.

"There's sort of a drama between the local people or the villagers, or there's a certain section of the population who are in a death struggle with the central government, and people fight for their way of life or their village, and this happens all over the world," he says. "People fight for their ideology or their beliefs and that was what was going on in Afghanistan. There's certain situations or places that I respond to that fascinate me and that I want to learn more about - situations that maybe seem important - and I decide that that would be an interesting place to travel to and explore. I think it's that simple."

Born in Philadelphia, it was as a student that Steve first started taking pictures. He was surprised by just how natural it seemed. "I took a photography class when I was at university and I just quickly got a passion for it," he says. "I was studying film making but I decided that this suited me more. I've always loved to travel and see the world and it was an opportunity to do this." Yet things did not quite go his way. Steve started working for a newspaper, which didn't satisfy his needs, so at the end of two long years, he gave it up. He wanted to be a freelance, but found it hard to make his name.

"It was difficult," he concedes. "It required a lot of persistence and perseverance but I was tenacious and I was kind of obsessed enough with making it happen to just keep going until I succeeded."

At last, in 1979 came Steve's big break. In native garb, with rolls of film sewn into his clothes, he crossed the Pakistani border with Afghanistan. Amid the turmoil going on, with civil war rampaging through the Afghan state, he captured scenes that would secure him instant fame. As Steve recalls, his pictures took the world by storm.

"I won an award for Time Magazine and The New York Times used quite a few of my pictures - and some of the European magazines as well."

His reputation was confirmed when six years on, his Afghan girl was first released to wide acclaim. It caused a stir that seems to linger to this day. "I don't think there's any way of knowing which pictures are going to be successful and which pictures people are going to respond to," Steve muses. "I think it's hard to predict that but she had such an amazing expression, an amazing face; such a striking pair of eyes that I couldn't help but see something very special."

While Steve knew nothing of the girl, after 9/11 he tried to trace her for a documentary. His search succeeded, and he describes their second meeting as "profound". "I knew instantly it was her," he says, though he admits that she had changed. "She was 30 instead of being 12 and living life in Afghanistan is hard - everything about it is difficult - but we were all very grateful that she was alive and relatively fine and that we were able to do some nice things for her and make her life better."

At the centre of Steve's work is his great love for human life. His compositions show an artist's expertise. "I think when you're exploring a subject or situation and you do it day in and day out over months and years, like somebody who plays the piano or the violin or a ballet dancer, you kind of hone your skills to a fine point," he says. "Perhaps you also develop sensitivity or something so I think a lot of it is like that. People always talk about my colour but that's not really my first interest. I think somehow bad colour or colour that's not been considered can be very distracting but it's not that I'm looking for great colour pictures - I'm looking for pictures that I think tell a story or have some humanity in them."

People are what fascinates Steve most, and he doesn't feel he always needs to get to know them. "I don't think you can generalise and say you need a certain amount of time to establish a rapport," he says. "Every person, every encounter is sort of unique. I think if I was on a train and I was sitting opposite a beautiful young woman I wouldn't have to even know her or have some deep and meaningful conversation or whatever to appreciate her look or her face. It's not about getting to know people, it's just about being touched by that special thing in a person."

In this respect, Steve's pictures amplify what he himself has felt. "Photography is my way of dealing with things, whereas you may be just as sensitive but not be a photographer," he reasons. "Somehow I celebrate the moment in a photograph - it's just what I do."

It may come naturally to Steve but taking pictures has ensured his fame for life. His current book, called Looking East, provides a showcase for his work and there's another on the way. I can't help thinking he is blessed in what he does. "It's really quite bizarre," he says of how he spends his days. "I travel more than most everybody I know but it's what I like to do." So I presume he won't retire for quite some time? "This is an easy life and I'm having too much fun to put my cameras away," he says languidly. "You don't retire from this, you kind of keel over. It's not really a job, it's more a way of life."

* An exhibition of 100 of Steve's pictures, called Face of Asia, is on at Hartlepool Art Gallery (01429-869706, www.destinationhartlepool.com) until Sunday. Entrance is free.