STEVE McCURRY

Steve McCurry has been a one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than 30 years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name.

Born in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; McCurry studied film at Pennsylvania State University, before going on to work for a local newspaper. After several years of freelance work, McCurry made his first of what would become many trips to India. Traveling with little more than a bag of clothes and another of film, he made his way across the subcontinent, exploring the country with his camera.It was after several months of travel that he found himself crossing the border into Pakistan. There, he met a group of refugees from Afghanistan, who smuggled him across the border into their country, just as the Russian Invasion was closing the country to all western journalists. Emerging in traditional dress, with full beard and weather-worn features after weeks embedded with the Mujahideen, McCurry brought the world the first images of the conflict in Afghanistan, putting a human face to the issue on every masthead.

Since then, McCurry has gone on to create stunning images over six continents and countless countries. His work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture alike – yet always retains the human element that made his celebrated image of the Afghan Girl such a powerful image.

McCurry has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest, to name a few.

NATALIA TAFFAREL

My name is Natalia Taffarel, I’m from Argentina and my life is retouching. Becoming a Digital Artist was a natural progression for me. I have a background in Advertising and Graphic Design, and I was born in to a family of printers, therefore I grew up with a great understanding of color theory and I learnt every method of traditional printing in side out. I began learning Photoshop as a hobby, which quickly turned in to an obsession. My printing background proved useful, as many of the filters that are used in the Photoshop are based on the analogue methods which aided in my understanding. I have since become a Certified Adobe Expert, and built up a strong client base. I find the retouching process an inspired way to take a good image and develop it in to something perfect, or to make a perfect image amazing. I’m a neurotic, detail maniac, control freak who thinks beauty is shown solely through the details. Everything has a hidden beauty and it’s my job to unleash it. I believe hard and constructive criticism is the only way of achieving continued self-improvement. I strive to be the best. As you can see… I’m also modest!

DRAGOLJUB ZAMUROVIĆ

Dragoljub Zamurović was born in Niš (Serbia) in 1947. After graduating from the Faculty of Architecture at Belgrade University he went on to complete his postgraduate studies in photography at the Faculty of Applied Arts. He has won many awards for his photography both at home and abroad. He is the author of several photographic monographs published in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the United States, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Japan …

Since 1980 he has been a member of the Association of ULUPUDS (Association of Applied Artists and Designers of Serbia), which awarded him the title of Distinguished Artist in 1997. In 1988 he began cooperation with the French Gamma Agency under the pseudonym Art Zamur and his photographs have been published in many leading international magazines such as Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Stern, Paris-Match, Figaro Magazine, Geo, Europeo, National Geographic … The renowned magazine Life has twice published his photographs in its “Big Pictures” feature and once on the front cover.

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