Steve McCurry recalls the stories behind his best shots

Ever since Steve McCurry gave up his job as a local newspaper photographer in Philadelphia to leave for Asia with a rucksack and a Nikon camera in 1978, he has lived nomadically. Along the way he's captured images of war and peace from across Asia and the Middle East, taking in the Iran-Iraq war and conflicts from Beirut to Cambodia.

His ambition, as an idealistic 28-year-old, was to leave behind industrial civilisation and capture the world's brutality and humanity on film. His visions have, over the course of a 30-year career, ranged from dramatic reminders of the destruction of war to shots of a remarkable range of beauty across civilisations.

Travelling across Asia – often disguised in native dress – he crossed into rebel-controlled Afghanistan in 1979, just before the Soviet invasion. There, he began documenting the ravaged, landscape as well as the individual faces of the thousands of displaced people lost within it.

It was one of those "faces" that made McCurry's name a byword in international photo-journalism. The portrait of a young Pashtun girl who McCurry met in 1984 at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in the North West Frontier of Pakistan, pictured staring with a naked, green-eyed intensity directly into his lens, was among the first few images that brought the human side of war home to the West when it appeared on the cover of the National Geographic Magazine.

It was a key image that won McCurry the Robert Capa gold medal, and has since been named as "the most recognised photograph" in the history of National Geographic. It was also widely used by Amnesty International.

Describing the assignment that led to his meeting with the Afghan girl, McCurry says: "The girl looked unusual and quite dramatic. I had a good sense that this would make a powerful, emotionally-charged portrait. She was 12."

In 2002, McCurry tracked down Sharbat Gula, the unnamed orphan, to find that she was a mother of three. He photographed her now weathered, world-weary features. "We had had a thousand inquiries asking what had happened to that girl so we thought, let's see if we can find her."

1983: Dust Storm, Rajasthan, India

"I was doing a story on the monsoon and was trying to find a place that was the hottest, most parched. I was driving through a desert dust storm, in which the sky goes dark and it is accompanied by a deafening sound. You can't see for the dust and it's very disorienting. I saw women who worked on the nearby farm, huddled together for protection. They had started singing, which was a way of praying for rain. When I saw the women, I knew I had to take this picture. They are dressed in textiles that are no longer produced. I thought they looked quite beautiful. You can't get hung up on what you think your "real" destination is. The journey is just as important."

1992: Bombed Townscape, Herat, Afghanistan

It looked like Dresden after the Second World War. But the war with the Soviet Union had ended, and families returned to rebuild their homes. "I was on a hill, before me a city the Russians had bombed for 10 years; devastation as far as the eye could see. I was there when the first few came back. Since then, it's completely filled. You can't recognise it. I photographed this over five or six days, at different times of day." from 'Steve McCurry' by Anthony Bannon

1992: Schoolgirl, Herat, Afghanistan

The girl was spotted by McCurry carrying her schoolbooks, and she "bloomed like a flower in the desert," he remembers. At the time he met her, she and the people of Herat had suffered a searing hot wind for three months. "The girl was such a contrast to that harsh environment. She was a returning refugee who had grown up in Iran. I went to a school in Herat and I found out the stories of the children there. She was very sweet. She was on her way home but was temporarily living in this classroom." from 'Looking East'

1994: Monks prAying at Golden Rock, Kyaikto, Burma

The Golden Rock is an important Buddhist site. McCurry spent days there determining the best vantage point and time. The picture was taken about 10 minutes after sunset. "The lights which illuminate the rock at night have just been turned on and provide an accent light and shadow on the right." from 'Steve McCurry' by Anthony Bannon

1992: Shoe store, Kabul, Afghanistan

These burqa-clad women shopping for modern sneakers from the West were an extraordinary sight, McCurry said. "It is the juxtaposition... that evokes strong emotions. There's a seeming incongruity when you see an image like this. Taking the picture, you're not thinking about this but you're reacting much more from a gut feeling." from 'The Unguarded Moment'

1980: Shipbreaking yard, Karachi, Pakistan

"This was part of a 'National Geographic' assignment in Baluchistan. They were bringing these ships on to the beach in Karachi so they could cut them apart for scrap metal. They were these huge, looming ships on the beach. It looked surreal, ships resting on the beach in this way." from 'The Unguarded Moment'

Steve McCurry's 'The Unguarded Moment' is published by Phaidon and on sale for £30 from 20 April. For more information, go to www.phaidon.com.