Steve McCurry was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is currently 69 years old and has received various awards such as the Magazine Photographer of the Year, two first places in the World Press Photo contest, and even a Medal of Honor for providing coverage of the 1986 Phillipine Revolution. He has received a large number of Awards of Excellence for a great number of his photographs and many of his pictures were often featured on different news outlets and National Geographic. 
 

Initially, McCurry planned to major in cinematography and filmmaking, but later decided to get a degree in theater arts. After graduation, he worked on photography in The Daily Collegian, a student newspaper for Pennsylvania State University. After a year or so, he traveled to Northern Pakistan in which he was informed about the ongoing war in Afghanistan. He disguised himself and traveled through rebel-controlled areas in Afghanistan, taking pictures of the lives of others who had been affected by the war. McCurry states that he wants to portray the effects war has, not only on the landscape and cities, but on the people who are unfortunately caught within the conflict. He has a firm belief that everybody has something in common, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, sex, and so on. Wanting to document further conflicts, he proceeded to take photographs in various wars such as the Iran-Iraq war, Cambodian Civil War, Lebanon Civil War, Gulf War, and the Afghan Civil War. 
    

Many of McCurry’s photographs consist of people of various cultures and ethnicities. Each and every person featured are extremely different than the next, in terms of appearance and clothing. There was no emphasis on certain cultures or race; the only focus was on being abroad. Ultimately, as stated earlier, the whole idea between all these photos of various people with different cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds, is to portray how despite all these differences, all humans are essentially the same. 
    

Steve McCurry’s photographs support our vision because they depict a various range of emotions ranging from somber to joy. There are no boundaries in which who is shown because anybody, despite their upbringing, conflicts, and culture, is able to portray the same emotion as somebody on the opposite spectrum of them. Many of McCurry’s photographs shown have various shades of blue that are emphasized, whether on the outfits or the background, while others have a warmer feeling to them. It also seems as if McCurry took these photos to portray the essence of humanity, putting much more focus on the people and their emotions rather than what surrounds them. 
    

Steve McCurry has done a great deal of accomplishments throughout his life, providing multitudes of coverage from events and moments in life he deemed important to share. He’s risked his life and travelled to different corners of the world in order to deliver his message: that each and every human being are common in at least one aspect.

Theme Essay Statement: Steve McCurry is an American photographer and photojournalist whose works consist of numerous people from a multitude of cultures. He focuses on the emotions that are exhibited, and many of his photographs have an emphasis on bright warm colors or various shades of blue.