A celebration of the timeless act of reading – as seen through the lens of one of the world’s most beloved photographers

Young or old, rich or poor, engaged in the sacred or the secular, people everywhere read. This homage to the beauty and seductiveness of reading brings together a collection of photographs taken by Steve McCurry over his nearly four decades of travel and is introduced by award-winning writer, Paul Theroux. McCurry’s mesmerizing images of the universal human act of reading are an acknowledgement of – and a tribute to – the overwhelming power of the written word.

About the Author: Steve McCurry has been one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than thirty years.

Booktopia (n.d) 'Steve McCury - On Reading' URL

Once you've annotated an image, you can turn this information in to a paragraph. The reason we do this is that sometimes annotations help us to be more descriptive and think more visually but when Photography is shared in Art galleries, blogs and books, images are frequently accompanied by statements. It also helps you to structure your thoughts in an ordered way so that others can understand your understanding.

In McCurry’s photograph taken in Umbria, the central subject is a woman seated casually on a chair, completely absorbed in reading a magazine. She is positioned next to a pair of enormous skeleton feet from the Calamita Cosmica sculpture, which dominate nearly half the visual space. The scene is set within a quiet, brick-walled museum interior featuring a large green door that adds depth and contrast to the composition. The old, textured walls and towering door evoke a sense of age and tradition, even though the photo was taken in a modern context. The warm, natural lighting softly illuminates both the woman and the sculpture, creating a peaceful, contemplative atmosphere.

McCurry likely used a high aperture setting to ensure sharp detail across the entire image, capturing the rich textures of the brickwork, sculpture, and museum space. The photo also appears to use a fast shutter speed, freezing the stillness of the scene without any motion blur. Compositional tools such as the rule of thirds and leading lines are employed to guide the viewer’s eye from the skeleton’s feet toward the woman, who sits in the bottom-right third of the image. Despite occupying less visual space, she becomes the focal point due to her placement and stillness. The camera is positioned at a slightly high or eye-level angle to establish depth and perspective, allowing the full scale of the skeleton and the intimacy of the moment to coexist.

When viewing this image, the audience might feel curious, calm, or even amused at the surreal contrast between the oversized skeleton and the woman’s peaceful focus on her magazine. The photograph explores themes of focus, distraction, and the power of reading to transport us beyond our surroundings. By showing the woman unbothered by her strange environment, McCurry encourages audiences to reflect on the inner world created through reading. As part of a narrative series, this image is effective because it presents a memorable and unexpected visual moment while capturing a universal experience, being lost in a book.