Meeting Steve McCurry.. Again!!

I was browsing through a forum last night and suddenly spotted McCurry's name. Last time when he did a presentation at the Annex Gallery, I was lucky to get a seat. This time it seemed I was too late. He's having another talk as well as a 3 hour long "masterclass"!!!

Alas!! The deadline for registration was Dec 30, 2009. I got really depressed. As a last resort, I decided to write a mail to the organizers informing that I was coming from Bangladesh and as an international participant they should reconsider my case.

Waking up, the first thing I did was to call them up over phone and tell the same thing. It partly worked, there's still some space for the talk but they couldn't promise anything for the "Masterclass". I was almost 2pm and the venue is not near. Getting prepared in 2 minutes I rushed with my little green car.

The venue was Islamic Arts Museum, Malaysia. (Funny Ah!!?) The last time, it was crowded like hell. Luckily Thursday is a working day and the auditorium is quite big. I was early and successfully managed myself a front row seat.

The talk was supposed to start at 3pm. But as usual there's no sign of the guest around 3! Suddenly I old fellow in a white shirt sat next to me. O! It's McCurry himself!!



I kinda had some idea about the talk so it was not that exciting. I enjoyed the Q&A session more. I asked him what's the difference in shooting people in developing countries and developed countries. I had the idea that it's a bit easier in the developing countries. McCurry echoed that. He said people are kinda neurotic about getting photographed in developed countries whereas taking a photo of a person in Bangladesh actually makes him/her happy.



I was waiting for the program to end. I brought a 8RW print of a photo taken at Bangladesh last year. The moment his got back to his chair, I held the print and a signature pen in front of the man. He smiled and quickly put an autograph.. YES!!! I was happy like a kid! But then it came to me that I was missing the masterclass :(
But luck was with me the whole day. When I got back home, I got a invitation for the Masterclass in the afternoon!!! YES!!!

Here are some shots and a video of today's session for you guys to enjoy..


Q&A Video (Very Interesting)




The photo used in the billboard above was taken in Bangladesh!

Ref:
www.stevemccurry.com