"Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person's face."

This human spirit, has, over the years, become Steve McCurry's focus as he photographed the ravages of war on the human face. More so than the economic and geographical effects of war, he says, is the effect of war on people. This courageous, award-winning and utterly humble photojournalist is a man with keen eyes and an uncanny knack of capturing both the beauty and tragedy of life in one single picture.

It is this knack that has resulted in 76 beautiful and impactful photographs which words simply cannot do justice, and has to be seen to truly be appreciated.

In his largest ever solo exhibition in Asia, McCurry's exhibition 'A Common Faith: Travels through the Muslim World' is a showcase of his finest (and favourite) works revolving around the Islamic regions of the world.

The exhibition is incidentally, the first he has ever done in the Islamic theme, and is housed at the Islamic Arts Museum, Kuala Lumpur, which is a location most apt for an exhibition through the Islamic countries - so often misunderstood, yet possessing much human and elemental beauty.

Brought to Malaysian eyes by Epson, McCurry had personally chosen Epson to put his portraits to print - it was the Epson Stylus Pro 9900 that printed every picture in the exhibition.

At the launch of the opening of his exhibition, McCurry spoke easily and with quiet sincerity on his pictures, sharing the story behind the ones he loved most, and the ones which moved him most.

One of them, of course, is the picture that made him iconic - the Afghan Girl. When she first appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985, her eyes captured the empathy of the world - the grey in them clouded with haunting pain and a tinge of suspicion.

And if pictures paint the thousands of words people say they do, it would mean McCurry has spoken millions with his photography - which he says, is a passion born from a trip he took to India years and years ago.

"I started travelling when I was just 19, mostly to the European countries. I returned home to the States after a year, and studied photography in the Pennsylvania State University. After graduation, I went to work at a newspaper before I travelled to India - a trip which, in many ways, shaped my career today."

And what a career.

McCurry first made a name for himself by bravely going into war-torn Afghanistan, disguised in native clothes. He photographed the realities there - among the first to do so - and did so by sewing the rolls of films he had taken inside his clothes.

For that, he won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting Abroad and subsequently, a record-setting four first prizes in the World Press Photo Contest. His career has taken him to countries peaceful and tumultuous and through worlds, people and languages so completely alien to his own, and yet, he has managed to somehow cross barriers both geographical and cultural to take just a little piece of the human spirit and turn it into a picture.

Steve McCurry's 'A Common Faith: Travels through the Muslim World' exhibition costs RM12 for adults and RM6 for university students, and will be open for public viewing until April 2010 at the Islamic Arts Museum, Kuala Lumpur..

Check out more of Steve McCurry's beautiful photographs (which are on display at the exhibition) next week