Steve McCurry ‘An elderly man of the Rabari tribe’, Rajasthan, India, 2010Esteemed American photographer Steve McCurry, well-known for his gripping, colorful and evocative images of humanity around the world is among the finest documentary photographers in the world.

Born in Philadelphia, McCurry graduated from the College of Arts and Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University. McCurry worked for a newspaper for two years, before leaving for India to freelance. It was in India that McCurry learned — in his own words — to watch and wait on life.

“If you wait,” he realized, “people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view.”

150 of McCurry’s most astonishing photos of human diversity are on exibit at the Villa Reale di Monza in Italy. The exhibition, titled “Oltre lo Sguardo” will be on exhibit until April 6, 2015.

“For me a portrait is about connection, somehow you connect with a person, visually or emotionally,” explains McCurry to designboom. “I’ve often believed that a person’s life stories are kind of written on their face. It’s magical, it’s mystical the way you can connect to a person, it’s hard to describe. You know it when you see it.”

Jack McCurry ‘Portrait of a boy from the Suri tribe’, Omo valley, Ethiopia, 2013