article_snippet: (CNN)Three decades ago, Steve McCurry's took arguably the most iconic picture of all time.
article_snippet: I showed the film to the editor of the National Geographic, and Steve McCurry's leaped to Steve McCurry's feet and shouted, 'that's our next cover'.
article_snippet: When McCurry reflects upon its popularity, what excites McCurry most is the impact that this single image has had on the real world.
article_snippet: The famous photograph is just one of thousands of extraordinary pictures that McCurry has taken over a 40-year career, during which McCurry has won dozens of awards.
article_snippet: For many years, frontline war photography like this was McCurry's stock in trade.
article_snippet: Born in Pennsylvania in 1950, McCurry whose right hand was permanently damaged when McCurry fell down some stairs at the age of five -- studied theater arts at Penn State University.
article_snippet: Two years after graduating, McCurry moved to India in search of a freelance photography career.
article_snippet: McCurry big break came in the late 1970s, when McCurry disguised McCurry in Afghan clothes and crossed illegally into Afghanistan, just before the Soviet invasion.
article_snippet: There McCurry took a set of searing photographs of people who were being attacked by their own government.
article_snippet: The lens of the Western media quickly swung towards the region, and McCurry happened to be already embedded.
article_snippet: McCurry pictures were soon appearing in The New York Times, TIME and Paris Match -- but not before McCurry had escaped from Afghanistan by crossing the tribal areas on foot, with McCurry precious film sewn into McCurry clothing.
article_snippet: This was the beginning of many years of war photography, which McCurry now describes as "the gritty period" of McCurry career.
article_snippet: McCurry's portfolio is far broader than McCurry war photography, however.
article_snippet: McCurry has worked all over the world, from the jungles of central Africa to the mountains of Tibet, each time seeming to capture the soul of the people McCurry photographs.