Q & A with Steve McCurry | The long exposure
Internationally renowned Photographer Steve McCurry at Leica Store in Delhi on his enduring love affair with India and the new edition of his photobook Monsoon
Q. You have come to India time and again over the decades, producing some of your best-known work here. How do you see the country?
Q. You have come to India time and again over the decades, producing some of your best-known work here. How do you see the country?
Q. You have come to India time and again over the decades, producing some of your best-known work here. How do you see the country?
India is a place where you’re constantly learning. Every single day, you encounter things you’ve never seen before. The depth of culture is extraordinary. It expands your mind because you’re always discovering, wandering and exploring.
Q. India means different things to different people. Some are drawn to its chaos, others to its spirituality, its colours, or the emotions of its people. What is your personal India connect?
Many of the things you mentioned resonate with me—except perhaps colour. People often assume that because I photograph in colour, I’m constantly searching for it, but that’s actually not the case. What fascinates me much more is the visual structure of India, its extraordinary lanes. Instead of broad open spaces, you have compressed layers of life.
Q. You’ve documented India’s visual landscape so extensively. Looking back to the India you first encountered in 1978 and comparing it with the country today, what are the biggest transformations?
Some of the changes are obvious. The first thing that comes to mind is that everyone is looking at their phones. Beyond that, people dress differently now. There are vastly more scooters and vehicles. But perhaps the biggest change is what I’d call homogenisation. It’s something you see globally, not just in India.
Q. Is there anything in India that you still feel compelled to photograph?
The Northeast remains enormously interesting to me. I would love to photograph it. Currently, I am here to make some more images of the monsoon to add to a new edition of my book on the same subject.
