30 years, 20 passports — the story of Steve McCurry

"One flew over lake bled in Slovenia in February 1989, I noticed that the pilot flew too close to the surface of the water. Wheel struck the water, we went down, and the propeller began to tremble, as he hit the water. The plane banked, and the fuselage began to descend into an icy lake. My belt was fastened, but included a self-preservation instinct, and I was able to free himself. We pilot swam under the plane and got out. My camera and bag, must still be lying there under water at a depth of 19 meters."

So begins a new book by well-known photographer "Untold stories of Steve McCurry: the Stories behind the photos". The book is dedicated 30 years of his career McCurry and includes incredible images of his travels: the diaries, photographs, and more than 20 of passports, which had over the years. The collapse in Slovenia was not the only danger escaped the legendary photographer, but his photographs we see is not a horror or suffering, but rather, a miracles. He manages to make the world a vast and at the same time, little, exotic and somehow familiar.

Women harvested the garlic, near Shibam, Yemen, 1999.

"When I first arrived in Shibam, I was amazed – it was something. This is the perfect place demonstrates how unique Yemen in terms of architecture, environment and nature. The building of the XVI century, similar to the skyscrapers rising from the desert plains. The city is surrounded by mountains on the horizon is one of the most unusual and interesting landscapes in the world." (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

The boys in the trunk of a taxi in Kabul, Afghanistan, 1992.

Disturbed by the troubles of ethnic Hazaras in Afghanistan, McCurry helped to establish a nonprofit organization "ImagineAsia".

"They are trying to collect warm clothes, books, pencils and notebooks in the region of Bamiyan earlier inhabited by Hazaras. But most importantly, we helped to organize classes for children and their mothers in Kabul. In addition, "ImagineAsia" helped the girl of this nation to study in the United States." (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Station, old Delhi, India, 1983.

"The station is a theatre and the stage anything can happen. Trains seen everything." (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Prayer in the Hazratbal mosque, Srinagar, Kashmir, 1998.

"It is so important to work with the appropriate assistant or guide. After all, your very life in his hands, and it can make your story a success or even ruin it."

When you work on your project in Kashmir, McCurry worked with his friend and journalist Surinder Singh Oberoi, who works under the name "Cutie".

"Cute is a great big man-Sikh and the main person who helped me in this project. I sat with him almost every night, developing new opportunities for the project, writing notes and lists of potential places and objects for pictures". (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Mother asleep with the baby in their houseboat on the Tonle SAP lake, near Angkor, Cambodia, 1998.

"You must be patient and wait until people relax in your presence and stop paying attention to you. 80 percent of your time may not yield any results, but if a couple of times in a day, you'll be able to wait for a good moment to take a picture, it's just fine." (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Workers make sugar paste into hard candy, Kabul, Afghanistan, 2007.

"I wanted to realize this project because the Hazaras are the people who are experiencing persecution, although not deserve it. Sunnis consider them heretics, and their social status is similar to the "untouchable" caste in India. (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

A man reads the Quran in Sana'a, Yemen, 1997.

"With all its biblical, Oriental atmosphere, markets and ancient walls of Yemen include exotic, but it's much more of this concept". (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Welder in the cemetery of the courts in Bombay, India, 1994.

"The ships are just huge, and these people are like termites, slowly scurrying between them. After 3-4 months from the courts remains a scrap or nothing at all." (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

A mother and a child look out the taxi window, Bombay, India, 1993.

"I was sitting in a taxi at a traffic light during a downpour, and a woman brought her child to the window. I picked up the camera, made two frames, the light changed, and off we went – it all happened for 7-8 seconds. After a month I came across these two frames when I processed the photos are already in new York. I was glad that the photo turned out exactly like this. As if it symbolizes the border between my and the world – I've been in this bubble is air-conditioned, and she's there, in the heat and rain. For a moment these two worlds met." (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

The monks rise to the mingun pagoda, cracked during an earthquake in 1839, in Mandalay, Burma, 1994.

"There is something incredibly fascinating in Buddhist countries. I am constantly struck by the way the monks live as a Buddhist philosophy emphasizes compassion. Ethics and aesthetics of Buddhism in a unique way merge". (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Station Agra Fort, Agra, India, 1983.

"Every time the train came, I wanted to capture an incredible whirlwind of life, constantly bumping into passengers and wading through mountains of Luggage. Stations of India – this is a separate microcosm within the country. Before you unfolds the whole life. It's all about the people here eat, sleep, wash, care for children of working. Trays sell tea, cows and monkeys looking for food, people almost fighting for tickets – crowd noise similar to the noise of war. Someone who mends shoes, someone cuts or shaves the other. Moreover, many hairdressers with only a chair and a plate of water." (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Silhouettes of camels on the background of fire in the old field in Kuwait, 1991.

"Darkness from the smoke during a fire in oil wells was like a moonless night. This photo does not convey the feeling of the oil mist that hung in the air and lay on my camera, or stun roar from the burning wells. Here also are seen Nesterovich bombs and mines, covering the entire desert. I'll never forget how I got out of the car to stretch my legs and saw similar to a flying saucer mine is right behind our car that we just got passed!" (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Slides McCurry of Angkor, Cambodia. (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Pages from the diary McCurry during a trip to Kashmir. (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Letter from Eli Rogers, editor of the illustrations in the National Geographic magazine, December 17, 1983. (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Pages from the diary McCurry, 1983. (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Notes of the photographer. (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

A diary during the trip during the monsoon. (Steve McCurry—Magnum)

Left: a page from a passport photo McCurry from 1996 to 2006. Right: visa to Cambodia, 2003 (Steve McCurry—Magnum)