I’d like my girl to be proud of her Scots roots. I am
Camera in hand, Steve McCurry has travelled the world but it is Scotland that holds a special place in his heart.
He told The Sunday Post: “My family came to America in the 18th Century from near Aberdeen. They were farmers and wanted a better life.”
He said they were given a grant for land and settled in South Carolina. “My greatgrandfather Angus McCurry was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, the war of independence.”
While some of the family stayed in South Carolina, others moved on. McCurry’s grandparents and parents based themselves in Philadelphia. He said: “I am very proud of my Scottish heritage. The Scots are industrious people. I first came to Scotland when I was 22.
“I was with a friend and we went to Cyprus. He stayed there but I went to Cairo and East Africa, then flew to London and hitchhiked to Glasgow.”
It was the first of many visits. He has photographed the Buddhist monastery at Eskdale Muir in Dumfries & Galloway, and has made several trips to Scotland on assignment for distillers Macallan. Most recently, in September, he was in the Highlands for luxury car maker BMW, taking in locations such as the Alladale Wilderness Reserve, Ardgay, and Dalmally.
He said: “I feel a connection with the land. It is always fun to image what life must have been like for your ancestors. And it’s fun to go the villages, some are beautiful and picturesque.”
He would like to one day bring an exhibition of his photographs to Scotland and to better explore his Aberdeenshire origins.
Will he bring his wife Andie and daughter Lucia, four, along? “Well sure, absolutely. We just have to find the right situation,” he said. “I would like Lucia to know about her heritage, both in Scotland and here in America. Her mother is Hopi, a Native American.”