Steve McCurry

What first attracted you to photography?

I grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I lived there for most of my early life. My father was an electrical engineer, but he also had a very keen interest in photography. I had a camera when I was growing up, but I only really got involved in photography when I was in college.

I took a class in fine art photography, and I fell in love with the camera and the possibility of travelling the world and taking pictures. I decided this would be a great vehicle to help me travel, to explore and see the world that we live in.

You initially aimed to be a film-maker. How did you come to work with the still image instead?

While I was studying film-making, I started doing a lot of still photography and working for the school newspaper, and I drifted into doing stills for films. I started looking at a lot of photography books by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. Once I got out of school, I never was involved in film-making again.

Were there any photographers who inspired you when you were starting out?

One of the founders of Magnum Photos, Henri Cartier-Bresson, is one