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【中文标题】世界最著名照片背后的故事
【原文标题】The story behind the world's most famous photograph
【登载媒体】CNN
【原文作者】Jake Wallis Simons
【原文链接】http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/23/world/steve-mccurry-afghan-girl-photo/index.html
阿富汗少女——莎芭•古拉在巴基斯坦白沙瓦附近的Nasir Bagh难民营。
科威特——1991年海湾战争期间，骆驼走过燃烧的油田。
柬埔寨——吴哥窟圣剑寺的皮影戏。
埃塞俄比亚——奥莫溪谷苏里村一个男孩的肖像。
埃塞俄比亚——卡拉部落的孩子从纱窗向里望。
印度——一位来自拉贾斯坦邦拉巴里部落的老人。
越南——富寿省普通的场景。
南斯拉夫——1989年，黑山共和国。一位母亲和她的女儿站在窗户前，房子刷成南斯拉夫的国旗颜色。
埃塞俄比亚——来自哈默部落的男孩。
埃塞俄比亚——脸上涂有颜料、戴着面具的男孩。
埃塞俄比亚——两个女孩拿着一个破轮胎。
埃塞俄比亚——史蒂夫•麦柯里和苏尔玛部落成员。
三十年前，史蒂夫•麦柯里拍摄了有史以来无可争议的最具标志性的照片。
这么多年来，这位著名的摄影师在谈到“阿富汗少女”时依然充满激情。他回忆到：“我知道她有一种令人难以置信的外表，一种穿透性的目光。但是周围有很多人，尘土飞扬，那时候还没有数码相机，你不知道胶卷的效果如何。我拍摄这张照片时，知道它会是一个精品。我让国家地理的编辑看这张照片，他一下子跳起来，喊道：‘这就是我们下一个封面。’”
“阿富汗少女”不但成为了下一期的封面，而且成为这份杂志历史上最成功的照片。
12岁的莎芭•古拉是阿富汗和巴基斯坦边境白沙瓦难民营的一个普什图孤儿，这张著名的照片拍摄于1984年12月，在次年发表。这个女人目前40多岁，最近被发现生活在巴基斯坦。
这张照片流传开来之后，让麦柯里最兴奋的是它给全世界造成的影响。“因为这张照片，人们志愿来难民营工作。阿富汗非常引以为荣，因为这个女孩虽然贫穷，但展现出超群的自豪、刚毅和自尊。照片让人们关注他们的困境，激励了一大批人。”
它还让国家地理杂志建立了阿富汗儿童基金会，直到今天，麦柯里从未被心怀感激的阿富汗出租车司机收取过任何费用。
主题和联系
这张照片是麦柯里作品大型回顾展中的核心作品，展览在意大利蒙扎举办，一直持续到4月6日。这位64岁的老人在纽约接受CNN采访时说：“回顾自己的作品很令人兴奋，我可以看到这其中的主题的联系。但我从未萌生过退休的念头。”
老牌摄影师史蒂夫•麦柯里。
“有那么多新地方、新故事让我着迷。有一长串的地方等着我去：伊朗、马达加斯加、蒙古、俄罗斯。我相信，一旦你找到钟爱的事情，你会一生都去从事它。为什么要放弃自己喜爱的事情？人们不会那么做。”
这张著名的照片仅仅是麦柯里在40年职业生涯中数千张优秀作品其中之一，他获得过数十个奖项。回顾展中的一张照片是1991年拍摄于科威特第一次海湾战争期间。背景的大火和浓烟勾勒出三头骆驼的轮廓。他回忆到：“萨达姆•侯赛因炸毁了600口油井，那是环境的灾难，油污弥漫全国，渗入波斯湾。一半的油井着火燃烧，不时有石油从地表喷出，遮天蔽日。”
他发现了几头骆驼在油田边缘行走，于是乘坐吉普车跟着它们。但是它们已经被油污染黑，而且无法拍到黑云的背景。他说：“突然之间，它们走到了火焰的前面，被火光照亮。我按下快门，这时发现我已经进入了雷区。我不得不小心翼翼地退回，跟着进来时的车轮印，以免被炸飞。”
沉浸在故事中
多年来，像这样的战争前线摄影是麦柯里的招牌作品，他也因此而名声大噪。
麦柯里与1950年生育宾夕法尼亚州，5岁时从楼梯摔下，右手受到永久性损伤。他在宾夕法尼亚州立大学学习戏剧艺术。毕业两年后，他来到印度，寻找自由摄影记者的工作。职业上的突破出现在70年代末，他把自己伪装成阿富汗人，通过边境非法进入阿富汗，那是在苏联入侵之前。
在那里，他拍摄了一系列震撼的照片，人们正在遭受自己政府的攻击。他说：“刚一穿过边境，我就看到了被炸毁的40所房屋和几所学校，他们用直升飞机机关枪摧毁了整个村庄。这里的局势非常紧张，需要让所有的人知道。但是没有人可以接触到这些信息，因为这里太遥远了。我完全沉浸在故事里，那时候，我知道这就是我的工作，这就是我。”
冷战背景下，俄罗斯支持阿富汗军队，美国人支持穆斯林武装力量。西方媒体关注的焦点迅速转向这个地区，而麦柯里早已在那里扎根。
他的照片很快出现在《纽约时报》、《时代周刊》和《巴黎竞赛画报》上。麦柯里徒步穿过部落地区逃离阿富汗，把珍贵的胶卷缝在衣服里。
被杀害的恐惧
从此，开始了他自称为“艰苦”的战地摄影记者职业生涯。他报道过两伊战争、海湾战争和阿富汗的多次冲突，以及黎巴嫩、柬埔寨和菲律宾国内的情况。他说：“在战区工作，你时时刻刻会与试图杀死你的人相处。我可能会被枪击、炸死，甚至还担心被砍死。有几次我被枪指着头，我的相机和钱被抢走，我在酒店房间睡觉时有人破门而入。有很多次，我觉得自己把事情做的太绝了，不应该卷入这些冲突。还有很多次，我觉得自己不会有好的结果。但是我发现自己已经完全沉浸在故事中，沉浸在让全世界都知道的感觉当中。这无关乎激情，仅仅是故事和报道。”
前线报道工作越来越危险了吗？
他说：“危险总是存在，但这正是让你夺取头条的机会。你或许报道过绑架和枪击事件，但还没有报道过砍头事件，我并无意宣扬恶行。我们不能屈服，这些事情必须要被公之于众，作家和摄影师必须要继续报道。”
故事就写在他们的脸上
麦柯里作品的主题不仅仅是战争，他的足迹遍布全世界，从中非的丛林到西藏的高山，每次都可以捕捉到当地人们的内心。
他说：“当我拍摄一些恐怖的镜头时，我的相机就像一面盾牌。通过取景器看那些令人痛苦的场景，似乎更容易一些。如果不是在战区，相机帮助我与人沟通、互动、参与。为了拍摄一张好的照片，你需要与对方长时间接触，直到他们相信你，忘记了你要给他们拍照。在拍摄肖像照时，我会试着与对方的目光接触，这可以让你了解这个人，读懂写在他们脸上的故事。”
数码相机的出现让他的工作更加轻松。他说：“我并不是那种抱着老古董不放的摄影师，数码摄影从各个方面来说都要好过胶卷摄影。”
尽管每个人都在使用手机拍摄照片，但他说这仅仅是“噪音”，不会“冲淡”一个会永久流传和被人记忆的伟大照片的价值。“观看一个作品的时候，你必然会出现一些情绪化的因素。一旦你看到它，你就不会忘记，它所蕴含的强大力量让它成为文化传承的一部分。”
就像“阿富汗少女”？
他想了想。
“是的，就像‘阿富汗少女’。”
原文：
Three decades ago, Steve McCurry took arguably the most iconic picture of all time.
Yet even after all this time, the pre-eminent photographer brims with enthusiasm when he talks about "Afghan Girl."
"I knew she had an incredible look, a penetrating gaze," he recalls.
"But there was a crowd of people around us, the dust was swirling around, and it was before digital cameras and you never knew what would happen with the film.
"When I developed the picture, I knew it was special. I showed it to the editor of the National Geographic, and he leaped to his feet and shouted, 'that's our next cover'."
Not only did "Afghan Girl" become the magazine's next cover, but the most successful in its distinguished history.
The striking portrait of 12-year-old Sharbat Gula, a Pashtun orphan in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp on the Afghan-Pakistan border, was taken in December 1984 and published the following year.
The woman, now in her forties, has recently been found to be living in Pakistan.
When McCurry reflects upon its popularity, what excites him most is the impact that this single image has had on the real world.
"People volunteered to work in the refugee camps because of that photograph," he says. "Afghans are incredibly proud of it, as the girl is poor but shows great pride, fortitude and self-respect.
"It drew attention to their plight, and inspired a lot of people."
It also led the National Geographic to set up the Afghan Children's Fund -- and meant that to this day, McCurry is never charged a fare by appreciative Afghan taxi drivers.
Themes and connections
The portrait forms the centerpiece of a major retrospective exhibition of McCurry's work, which opened recently in Monza, Italy, and will run until 6 April.
"It's great to look back on my work and see how themes and connections have emerged. But I am never even remotely thinking of retiring," the 64-year-old tells CNN from his studio in New York.
Veteran photographer, Steve McCurry
"There are so many new places and stories that fascinate me. I have a long list of places to visit: Iran, Madagascar, Mongolia, Russia.
"I believe that when you find something you love, you should do it your whole life. Why would you retire from doing what you love? It's just not what we do."
The famous photograph is just one of thousands of extraordinary pictures that McCurry has taken over a 40-year career, during which he has won dozens of awards.
One which is displayed prominently in his retrospective exhibition was taken in Kuwait in 1991, during the first Gulf War. It shows three camels silhouetted against an explosion of fire and smoke.
"Saddam Hussein had blown up 600 oil wells," he recalls. "It was an environmental catastrophe. Lakes of oil were leaking all over the country, and seeping into the Gulf.
"Half of it was on fire. There were geysers of oil spurting out of the earth, making it like midnight during the day."
He spotted the camels running along the edge of an oilfield, and followed them in his jeep. But they had been blackened by the oil, and there was no way to capture a picture of them against the black cloud behind.
"Suddenly they ran in front of a burning area, and they were illuminated by fire," he says. "I took the shot, and then realized I had driven into a minefield.
"I had to carefully back out, following the tire tracks I had made on the way in to avoid getting blown up."
Getting caught up in the story
For many years, frontline war photography like this was McCurry's stock in trade. Indeed, it enabled him to make his name.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1950, McCurry -- whose right hand was permanently damaged when he fell down some stairs at the age of five -- studied theater arts at Penn State University.
Two years after graduating, he moved to India in search of a freelance photography career. His big break came in the late 1970s, when he disguised himself in Afghan clothes and crossed illegally into Afghanistan, just before the Soviet invasion.
There he took a set of searing photographs of people who were being attacked by their own government.
"As soon as I crossed the border, I came across about 40 houses and a few schools that were just bombed out," he says. "They were literally destroying whole villages with helicopter gunships.
"This was a profound situation that really needed to be told, and few people could get access to it because it was too remote.
"I got completely caught up in the story. That's when I knew that this was what I did -- this was me."
Against a background of the Cold War, the Russians backed the Afghan army and Americans supported the Mujahideen. The lens of the Western media quickly swung towards the region, and McCurry happened to be already embedded.
His pictures were soon appearing in The New York Times, TIME and Paris Match -- but not before McCurry had escaped from Afghanistan by crossing the tribal areas on foot, with his precious film sewn into his clothing.
Fear you could cut with a knife
This was the beginning of many years of war photography, which he now describes as "the gritty period" of his career.
He covered the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf wars and several conflicts in Afghanistan, as well as those further afield in Lebanon, Cambodia and the Philippines.
"When you're working in a war zone, you're living moment to moment with people trying to kill you," he says. "There are so many ways I could have been killed, with guns, bombs and shrapnel. You live with fear you could cut with a knife.
"Several times I was held up at gunpoint. My camera and money have been robbed, people have broken into my hotel room while I was sleeping.
"Many times I thought that I had pushed things too far, that it was not a good idea to enter this skirmish or battle. Many times I have thought that this isn't going to end well.
"But I have found that I get completely consumed by the importance of the story I am telling, the feeling that the world has got to know. It's never about the adrenaline. It's about the story."
Has frontline reporting become more dangerous?
"It has always been dangerous, but now there is the added dimension of trying to grab headlines," he says.
"You might have got kidnapped or shot in the past, but not beheaded. There was no wish to create a heinous piece of theater.
"But we can't give in. These stories have to be reported, and writers and photographers have to continue telling them."
A story written on their face
McCurry's portfolio is far broader than his war photography, however. He has worked all over the world, from the jungles of central Africa to the mountains of Tibet, each time seeming to capture the soul of the people he photographs.
"My camera acts as a shield when I'm photographing something horrific, as it's easier to look at distressing sights through a viewfinder," he says.
"But when I'm not in a war zone, having a camera helps me talk to people, interact, and get involved.
"To take a good picture, you need to spend time with people until they trust you and forget that you're there to photograph them.
"I try to make eye contact when I take a portrait, as it seems to allow you to understand the person, to see their story written on their face."
The advent of the digital camera, he says, has made his job easier.
"I'm not one of those photographers that hankers after the good old days," he says. "Digital photography is better than film ever was."
Although everybody is taking pictures with camera phones, he says, this is "just noise", and doesn't "dilute the value" of a truly great photograph that will endure and be memorable."
"There has to be an emotional component to the picture that you connect with on a profound level," he says. "Once you see it, you can't forget it, and it is so compelling and powerful that it becomes part of the cultural landscape."
Like "Afghan Girl"?
He pauses.
"Yes, like that."
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