He originally planned to study cinematography and filmmaking, but instead gained a degree in theater arts and graduated in 1974.

He became interested in photography when he started taking pictures for the Penn State newspaper The Daily Collegian.

[3] After a year working in India, McCurry traveled to northern Pakistan where he met two Afghans who told him about the war across the border in Afghanistan.

[4] McCurry's career was launched when, disguised in Afghani garb, he crossed the Pakistan border into rebel-controlled areas of Afghanistan just before the Soviet invasion.

McCurry has had his work featured in magazines worldwide and he is a frequent contributor to National Geographic.

[4] McCurry also states, "I have found that I get completely consumed by the importance of the story I am telling, the feeling that the world has got to know.

McCurry left later that night and went back early on September 12, he didn't have any press credentials and had to sneak past security.

[10] McCurry switched from shooting color slide film to digital capture in 2005 for the convenience of editing in the field and transmitting images to photo editors.

[15] It portrays an approximately 12-year-old Pashtun orphan in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan.

The identity of the "Afghan Girl" remained unknown for over 17 years until McCurry and a National Geographic team located the woman, Sharbat Gula, in 2002.

[21] In 2016 McCurry was accused of extensively manipulating his images with Photoshop and by other means, removing individuals and other elements.

[22][23] In a May 2016 interview with PetaPixel, McCurry did not specifically deny making major changes, indicating that he now defines his work as "visual storytelling" and as "art".

However, he subsequently added that others print and ship his images while he is travelling, implying that they were responsible for the significant manipulation.

[24] When discussing the issue with a writer for Time's Lightbox website, McCurry provided similar comments about being a "visual storyteller", though without suggesting that the manipulation was done by others without his knowledge.

In fact, the Time writer made the following statement, "Faced with mounting evidence of his own manipulations, McCurry has been forced to address his position in photography."

"[25] McCurry also offered the following conclusion to Time Lightbox, "Reflecting on the situation ... even though I felt that I could do what I wanted to my own pictures in an aesthetic and compositional sense, I now understand how confusing it must be for people who think I'm still a photojournalist."