Over the course of Steve McCurry's career, he has worked four decades being a photojournalist. Within photojournalism, you are not able to change the picture from the original depicted photo taken.
Then, McCurry got caught for manipulating the photos he has been taking for photojournalism. This scandal in 2016 blew up; it created talk everywhere whether or not he is wrong to be changing these photos. I believe that McCurry is wrong for changing these photos because he was still publishing for National Geographic magazine which is considered mostly a primed toward a photojournalist magazine. So, when McCurry was accused for editing his photos then claiming that he is a "visual storyteller" I believe that was wrong for him to say. He always claimed that he was a photojournalist but never said he was a visual storyteller he just said that when he got caught so he wouldn't get the effects of editing his photos while being a photojournalist. As Time magazine says "National Geographic does not “condone photo manipulation for editorial photography,” Leen adds, highlighting the magazine’s stringent photographic practices. “We receive all the raw files for every assignment, our photo editors look at every single frame and we do all of our own color production in house." As Leen says National Geographic was specifically clear with their photographers and the photographers should know to not hide and try to find loopholes to edit the photos when they were told specially and the magazine does their own color editing on their own. As the website petapixel says McCurry also visited India frequently, some even called it his home of work. But that was not the issue, it was that McCurry also used the people of India for his photos and depicted them as poor lower class people that the west believes they are. The article says McCurry used the country and walked about showing off his “slumdog millionaire-ish” style. I think if McCurry wanted to show the world the real India he would ask them how they want to be seen and picture them with their prized possessions or involved in the activities they love instead of trying to act higher than them and editing the photos for the original value while being called a photojournalist. I believe overall if Steve McCurry wanted to edit the photos he should have let National Geographic know that the photos he was turning in were enhanced and then National Geographic could do several things if McCurry told the magazine straight up they can determine whether or not they wanted to use those specific photos, ask him to send in the original, start photographing without edits from then on, or even publish with another source. Overall, I believe McCurry was wrong for not telling people he edited his photos just a bit. McCurry should have let the magazine and his followers know he enhanced his photos and did not consider himself a photojournalist to help his reputation, be respected for honestly and to get in as much trouble as he did.
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