Steve McCurry has traveled to many places in the world, but mostly focusing on Asia and 3rd world countries. He photographs all sorts of tings like animals, fires, and even death. All of his photos tell their own story. One of his photos that is most known is the Afghan girl. McCurry found her at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan. When he saw her he just had to take the photo. Now it is one of the most known photos in the world. 17 years after the photo was taken Sharbat Gula was finally found. Many people were looking for her, but she was never found. National Geographic went back to her camp, Nasir Bagh where she was not there. They asked many contacts if they knew this girl. The team went through villages and villages until someone recognized her. The team was taken to the girls’ brother who had the same eyes as the Afghan girl. "The second I saw the color of her brother's eyes, I knew we had the right family," (Matson) The brother showed the team where she lived but because Sharbat Gula lives a traditional Muslim life behind the veil, she was not allowed to meet men outside her family, but the Geographic team was given permission to send a female associate producer to meet Sharbat and photograph her face. To make sure this was the same girl who was photographed 17 years earlier the team obtained verification through iris-scanning technology and face-recognition techniques used by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The family gave permission for Steve McCurry to meet Sharbat Gula once again. When Sharbat agreed to have her picture taken for the second time in her life, she came out from the secrecy of her veil to tell her story. She wanted the people around the world who knew her face to know that she survived the refugee camp in Pakistan. She married and had four daughters, one of whom died in infancy. She lives in obscurity, according to the customs and traditions of her culture and religion. A member of the Pashtun ethnic group in Afghanistan, Sharbat said she fared relatively well under Taliban rule, which, she feels, provided a measure of stability after the chaos and terror of the Soviet war. She will not give another media interview and she wishes not to be contacted. Her family has relocated to a different village in a remote part of Afghanistan, where she will continue to live her life in purdah.
When I look at the photo of the Afghan girl I am astonished. This is a very beautiful girl living in a not so beautiful country. To be born with those green eyes is just luck. Her eyes are 1 in a million. This makes you think if more people around the world just like Sharbat are as beautiful as her. When you really stare into her eyes you feel scared yet happy. The eyes show terror within them but also show happiness. I think it has become one of the 100 most influential photos because it influences people to travel. It influences people to get out of their daily lives and go find someone like this, to travel and witness things that will blow your mind. It might influence people to help people in Afghanistan or just visit and help kids at refugee camps. This picture is one of the greatest photos ever taken and it will last for centuries.
No comments:
Post a Comment