The Photographer as Activist: Conversation with Sebastião Salgado

As part of our research course, we need to write an essay on a photographer that appeals to us.  The photographer that I am writing about is Sebastião Salgado.

He was born in 1944 in Brazil and became a photographer in 1973.  He has published a number of books, all of which as shot in Black and White film and not digitally. His projects can rang from 15 months to a number of years to completed.  He is a photographer that ensures that he gets integrated in the projects that he is undertaking, and makes sure that the people that he is taking photographs of, are comfortable with him as a photographer. He integrates himself into their environment, and becomes one of them.

For his work he wants to provoke discussions about the subject that he is photographing. He is not concerned with the light or tones of the photographs, but more with the story that he is telling.

From looking at the work that he has completed, I have found his work to be compelling and fascinating.

Below is a video of a conversation with Sebastião that was presented by the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkley in October 2004.  From watching the video below, he is very passionate about the projects that he undertakes.  He sees the projects that he undertakes as part of his lift, he is happy to be there undertaking the projects, and he respects the projects that he is undertaking.