Photographer – Steve McCurry ✔Certified
Afghan Girl (1984) Impact🟪+ Skill Mastery🟨: 95%
Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl is a portrait photograph of Sharbat Gula, a 12-year-old Afghan refugee, taken at Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, in December 1984. McCurry was on assignment for National Geographic, documenting refugee camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border during the Soviet-Afghan War. Shot on Kodachrome 64 film with a Nikon FM2 camera and 105mm lens, the photograph shows Gula with piercing green eyes staring directly into the camera, a red scarf draped loosely over her head. McCurry found her in a makeshift school tent. He recalls: “She was very shy. After a few moments she got up and walked away. But for a brief instant, everything was right.” The portrait appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic and became what the magazine called “the most recognized photograph” in its history. In 2002, National Geographic tracked her down using iris recognition technology. She had returned to Afghanistan in 1992. She now resides in Italy after fleeing Afghanistan in 2021.
Here’s how this rating breaks down using photography-specific criteria:
Technical Skill and Execution (25% of total score): 9/10 = 2.25 points Exceptional technical mastery with natural light in challenging refugee camp conditions creating perfect exposure and focus.
Composition and Framing (25% of total score): 9/10 = 2.25 points Powerful compositional simplicity with subject centered, red scarf framing face, green eyes commanding attention through direct gaze.
Subject and Timing (20% of total score): 10/10 = 2.00 points Unprecedented historical documentation capturing decisive moment in brief encounter, photographing anonymous refugee who became face of conflict.
Visual Impact and Clarity (15% of total score): 10/10 = 1.50 points Maximum visual impact becoming most recognized photograph in National Geographic history, projected worldwide, symbol of refugee crisis.
Emotional Impact and Expression (15% of total score): 10/10 = 1.50 points Extraordinary emotional power with penetrating gaze conveying strength, vulnerability, and humanity, transcending individual to represent millions.
Total: 95%
