STEVE MCCURRY'S PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHED IN PAKISTAN & KASHMIR

[...A WORLD LOST FOR TOMORROW / I THINK IT’S AN INCREDIBLE THING TO BE ABLE TO GO THROUGH OLD PHOTOS & EXPERIENCE THEM ANEW. IN A WAY, IT’S LIKE READING A DIARY. EVEN IF THE IMAGES THEMSELVES ARE NOT TECHNICALLY GREAT PICTURES, OLD PHOTOS CAN BE LIKE A VISUAL NOTEBOOK & A UNIQUE WAY OF REFLECTING ON THE PAST.
IN AFGHANISTAN, BECAUSE OF THE WAR, THE CULTURE THERE HAS BEEN SERIOUSLY TRANSFORMED, OR LOST ENTIRELY. THE RUSSIAN INVASION, FOLLOWED BY THE REIGN OF MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISM, THE RISE OF THE TALIBAN, & THEN THE INCURSION OF FOREIGN FORCES, HAVE ALL BUT OBLITERATED THE WONDERFULLY UNIQUE & VARIED CULTURES THAT ONCE FLOURISHED IN THE COUNTRY. THEY HAVE NOW BEEN REPLACED BY A CULTURE OF MILITARISM, FUNDAMENTALISM, & A HARD-WROUGHT SHEER WILL TO SURVIVE.
THE KALASH PEOPLE FROM NORTHERN PAKISTAN WERE ANOTHER CULTURE I PHOTOGRAPHED. THIS UNIQUE TRIBE WORSHIPPED SPIRITS & A GOD NAMED DEZÁW. THIS IS PERHAPS THE LAST REMAINING TRIBE THAT PREDATES ISLAM, BUT HAS BEEN OVERWHELMED BY THE MODERN, MUSLIM POPULATION OF PAKISTAN, & THIS ENDANGERED WAY OF LIFE IS ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION. MY PHILOSOPHY REGARDING TRAVEL IS IN LINE WITH A QUOTE BY THE PHILOSOPHER LAO TZU, WHO SAID ‘A GOOD TRAVELLER HAS NO FIXED PLANS & IS NOT INTENT ON ARRIVING’. & ‘NOT ALL THOSE WHO WANDER ARE LOST’ / J. R. R. TOLKIEN...]

/ EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE MCCURRY

STEVE MCCURRY'S PORTRAITS OF MEN PHOTOGRAPHED IN AFGHANISTAN, KASHMIR, INDIA, BALUCHISTAN, & PAKISTAN IS ONE OF 2 EXTENSIVE FEATURES ON HIS WORK IN SOME/THINGS MAGAZINE CHAPTER005. PREVIEWS OF BOTH ARTICLES ARE ONLINE