Life through my lens: Steve McCurry's Iraq

I took this photograph on my first visit to Iraq, for National Geographic. I was supposed to do a story about the whole country, but when I got there I was allowed to shoot only Baghdad – and a truncated version of it at that.

It turned out to be the most difficult assignment in my life. Had I known what I was getting myself into, I would never have gone on the trip. We were there for six weeks during June and July, when it was brutally hot, with sandstorms sweeping in over the city. And I could photograph only when I was accompanied by somebody from the Ministry of Information. He’d usually come late and have lunch at our hotel, which we would pay for, then we’d go out and take pictures during the hottest, brightest part of the day.

In the end we got enough pictures for the story, but every day was a struggle. There was no cooperation, a bit of hostility, and lots of suspicion. Once, we were arrested for photographing a billboard showing Saddam Hussein. In the station there were pictures of him everywhere. In offices around the world you might see a picture of the president on the wall; in Iraq they’d have not just a picture but a Saddam calendar, a watch with his face on it, and something bearing his image on their desk.

Our minder was afraid of us photographing things that might get him into trouble – he freaked out when I took a picture of a donkey. But this monument, a memorial to Iraqis killed in the Iran-Iraq war, was one of the things they were happy to promote.

I only had about 30 minutes there, and then we were driven away, but the rewards were huge. Baghdad is flat, colourless and generally without interesting architecture, so it was like a vision to see this enormous turquoise sculpture appear, like a lotus flower opening up.