Suspend Your Disbelief

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The Universal Activity


photo credit: Steve McCurry

photo credit: Steve McCurry

You may not know photographer Steve McCurry by name, but you probably know his famous photo “Afghan Girl.” (In fact, McCurry is so respected in the photography world that he was given the very last roll of Kodachrome ever produced.)

On his blog, McCurry offers a photo essay of readers from around the world, from shoe sellers to Buddhist monks:

Everywhere I go in the world, I see young and old, rich and poor, reading books. Whether readers are engaged in the sacred or the secular, they are, for a time, transported to another world.

It’s not clear from the blog, but I like to think these are shots McCurry took over time, en route to photographing other things—a sign that reading really is universal.

View the whole photo essay, as well as McCurry’s reflections on reading, here.


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