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Steve McCurry has a very particular way of working…

Steve McCurry takes very few candids. Working with an interpreter, his portraits are made with the subject’s permission and from close distance. Making the most of whatever time he has is critical to capturing that moment of intimacy that characterises his portraiture. How much time do you spend with your subjects if someone has caught your eye?

That depends on how much time they’re willing to give me. There are times when you get a few seconds, there are other times where you might get a few minutes, maybe longer. You are at the mercy of how much time these people are willing to give you. If you’re walking on the street, sometimes you literally have only a moment or two. How close do you like to get to your subject? Are there times where you prefer to step back to show more of the surroundings?

Well, you need to work with the lens so that it doesn’t draw too much attention to itself. If you get in tight with a wide-angle it’s going to look distorted. Some people like that, but I prefer to work with something that’s more true to reality. want the picture to be about colour, I want the picture to be about a particular story, about the personality, it’s got to be about the person and not the fact they’re wearing a bright red shirt with a red ribbon in their hair. That’s just me. Maybe someone else would see it completely different, but it’s more important to me to show the humanity of the person. Is it possible to make a great portrait with colour? Yes, of course it is. I’m just saying that by and large I’m not so interested in making something really colourful for it’s own sake. Early in your career, Henri CartierBresson was a hero and inspiration. What is it about his work that you admire? He was perhaps the most accomplished