Steve McCurry is hailed as one of the greatest colour photographers of our time. For decades, he has travelled the globe, photographing people, places and the emotions that connect them. Epitomised by his 1984 photograph Afghan Girl, his work has long remained in many people’s memories, alive with intense colour and gaze.

Cameras, too, have evolved over the decades: from film cameras to digital cameras, and now to smartphone cameras that have become part of our daily lives. McCurry shares that while he has worked with a variety of tools, his perspective on photography has remained fundamentally unchanged.

This time, Steve McCurry’s way of seeing has been brought into Leica LUX through his Artist Look, developed in collaboration with Leica.

Development of the new Look began with McCurry and the Leica team looking through his photographs together. McCurry’s team provided the raw originals from the shoot along with the final, retouched photographs.

Leica’s imaging experts examined which colours he accentuates or subdues, how he balances warmth and contrast, and how these choices shape the overall mood of a photograph without overwhelming the subject.

It was a process of engineers interpreting McCurry’s in-the-moment intuitions to understand his language of colour and tone. Through that process, two teams that had viewed photography so differently gradually connected across a shared visual language.

The defining element of McCurry’s photography is, of course, colour: deep reds and blues, and the vivid contrast created by light and shadow. However, colour is not an embellishment simply to add spectacle to a photograph. McCurry is clear on this point: “You shouldn’t think that applying this Look will instantly make your photos look like mine. It’s simply a starting point. I just hope it gives you a good reason to get out there and start taking pictures.”

The most difficult challenge in developing the Look, he says, was not any particular colour or contrast, but conveying the feel and atmosphere he captures in his photographs. “Those things depend on the moment itself. And the light, the composition and the subject all come into play.”

This led McCurry and Leica to focus on the common characteristics running through the photographer‘s extensive portfolio. The aim was not to replicate his works, but to capture how he sees the world and bring that way of seeing into the app.

McCurry travelled to Kolkata, India, with Eolo Perfido and Stefania Matteo – accomplished photographers who are also artists signed with his studio. Together they walked the city, documenting its scenes with iPhone and Leica LUX.

Having worked with McCurry for years, both Perfido and Matteo have witnessed firsthand his method of discovering photographs on the street, pausing where the light is interesting and waiting for people and movement to find their way naturally into the frame. He doesn’t force scenes.

“We stopped wherever something caught our eyes,” says Perfido, “whether it was the colour of a facade, a gesture or the backlight coming in under an awning. And we would wait for the scene to play out on its own.”

The iPhone’s compact size opened new possibilities for this process. It meant they could move in closer in narrow alleys or on rainy streets, or shoot from a lower angle and immerse themselves more deeply into the scene.

McCurry added: “I think iPhone is a wonderful tool for documenting the moment as it unfolds before your eyes. You shouldn’t miss a great scene because you’re fiddling with focus or exposure. Nothing matters more than capturing that moment. The camera shouldn't be a tool that decides what you see, but one for expanding how you see.”

In the age of digital cameras and smartphones, we can take photographs with virtually no restrictions. No longer having to worry about the cost of even a single frame of film, the temptation grows to shoot everything first and think later.

But McCurry says this is precisely when we need to be deliberate about our gaze. ”To capture a story in a photograph, you need to be more disciplined and pay more attention.“ Setting constraints can help. ”Choose to use just one focal length for everything, and you can’t help but see things differently, because now you have to move in different ways to frame your subject the way you want. Constraints are what make photographers look at the subject with a deeper gaze.”

Even the first piece of advice McCurry offers beginners is a far cry from the technicalities of using a camera. “Spend as much time as you can just looking. Look at how people interact, at relationships, their frustrations and joys,” he says. “My philosophy has, if anything, only grown stronger over time. The essence of a good photograph is curiosity and the art of seeing.”

And after photos are taken, he suggests asking a few questions before editing anything: What is special in this photograph? What story does it tell? Does it hold a feeling?

The new Look in Leica LUX, born from McCurry and Leica’s collaboration, can bring new colour and mood to your photographs. But where you stand, what you look at and when you press the shutter are still down to you.

Now, grab your iPhone and head outside. The next great photograph is closer than you think.