All photos copyrighted by Sebastião Salgado.
I recently saw Sebastião Salgado’s “Genesis†exhibition in Toronto about a year ago, and was blown away by the body of work. It was the most ambitious project I had ever seen– essentially Salgado aimed to photograph the entire world. He photographed people, landscapes, and nature– and did so over 8 years and all around the globe.
When I was in Mumbai (about 3–4 years ago) with my buddy Kaushal Parikh, I stumbled upon his book: “Workers†and was absolutely blown away by the power of the images, the socio-economic/political undertones, as well as the stark black and whites.
I think Sebastião Salgado is one of the most fascinating photographers out there. He started off as an economist, and then turned to photography when he realized that photography had more power than papers to inform people about the world, its issues, and to inspire people to make a difference.
In this article I want to share a little bit of the background and work of Salgado, and share some points of inspiration he has given me (and can also offer you).