Sharbat Gula, "Afghan Girl", at Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, 1984. [Photo provided to China Daily Asia/Courtesy of Steve McCurry]

The first time I went there, I was going to shoot a monsoon. I went back again four years later to do a story on Shanghai for Life magazine, I think in 1989. Now, it's like no other place in the world – it has just exploded. Most people rode their bicycles then; there weren't so many cars. Everything was very simple. But it changed so fast. The change was so unbelievable and astonishing. It has transformed overnight. It's just amazing – and maybe it's just the beginning. I wish I had worked more there, because it was so fascinating. It's so different from the way it is now.

Travel plays a very important part in your life. You've been to many places and have taken countless calculated risks. But unexpected situations do arise – all the time. Have you ever been especially nervous about any of your trips?

Mostly in places like Afghanistan… some parts of India and Iraq. But the main one I always worried about was Afghanistan. Every day there were some problems – security problems. People were being kidnapped, killed. It was a constant worry.

Have you ever considered going back?

I was there in March. I'm doing a book about Afghanistan: culture, landscapes, portraits – my impressions of Afghanistan. So I might go back there and add some more pictures.

I heard that in Kuwait, you almost lost your life.

Actually, I think the time I was most scared was in Slovenia. I was doing aerial photography in a plane and the pilot crashed into the lake – he made a mistake and flew the plane too close to the water. I survived, but it was scary being upside down, underwater. I was pretty lucky.