The US photographer Steve McCurry made his name first as a photojournalist, shooting in Afghanistan, shortly before the Soviet invasion of 1979. He went on to shoot photo stories for the likes of National Geographic in exotic and extreme locations across the world from Iraq and Iran to the Lebanon, Cambodia and beond. Despite worldwide fame, to this day he continues his pioneering, story-based photojournalism with similarly harrowing, though effortlessly told, stories on the plight of disenfranchised communities around the world - from the tribes of the OMO Valley in Ethiopia to the abused female domestic workers in Hong Kong.
More recently still, he has tried a little fashion photography, producing photo stories for the likes of Etnia sunglasses, and even shooting the 2013 Pirelli calendar. Yet, just because he’s taken on a few clothing campaigns, it doesn’t mean he’s cut down on the air miles.
One of Steve McCurry's photographs for Valentino's Spring/Summer 2016 campaign. Courtesy of Valentino and Steve McCurry
Steve shot his latest series, for the Italian fashion house Valentino, at the Amboseli National Park, in Kenya. The label’s creative directors Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri, picked McCurry partly because their Spring/Summer 2016 collection was inspired by African culture. Yet they also chose the veteran photojournalist because, for them, “he’s not a fashion photographer; he’s a culture reporter.”
“Our emotions about African culture, the idea of beauty [achieved by] the interaction different cultures, the idea of tolerance, this is the message we wanted to deliver,” Piccioli told Women's Wear Daily. “That’s why we wanted to shoot in Africa with Steve McCurry. He’s not a fashion photographer; he’s a culture reporter. We wanted to shoot not a fashion vision [of Africa], but more of a cultural vision — and not in a studio with an elephant.”
http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/articles/2016/january/12/steve-mccurry-fashion-shoot-hit-by-dust-storm/
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