Sebastião Salgado's Genesis - How did he do it?

Vilk · Jul 3, 2013

Hmmm... I saw the Genesis prints in Toronto last May--the new, big ones were obviously digital and rather poor at that; the older ones I wasn't sure, but if they were wet, they were crappy, too. The gallery owner assured me they were made "under Salgado's supervision by his lab in Paris."

If you like sniffing prints (like I do ) I'm afraid you'll have to look up older material. There's relatively little of quality left to the wet process these days--and "quality" does not necessarily mean "lush texture" or "rich midtones"--unless you coat your own...

Vilk · Jul 3, 2013

philosli said:
...and get one of his earlier books.

I agree that Genesis is a printing disaster of planetary proportions, both bookcase and wall... Not that one should expect fireworks from Taschen.

EDIT: There was a line here praising the print quality of Sahel. Alas, going by memory. Went to the shelf, picked it up... Nah, won't recommend. Africa's not bad, actually.

clayne · Jul 3, 2013

Craziest thing is if Salgado would have just continued doing what worked (film + silver gelatin prints) he'd probably still be wowing people. Now due to the technology switch and all the indirect crap that happens as a result everything is now a cerebrally driven mess of mediocrity.

I guess shooting digital, making internegs on Tri-X, and wet or dry printing somehow make sense? Maybe he's forgetting that its the original light hitting the film that actually matters.

Ghostman · Jul 5, 2013

Here is a wonderful and touching talk by Salgado on TED.

[video]http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastiao_salgado_the_silent_drama_of_photography. html[/video]

Russ - SVP · Jul 18, 2019

His early work was shot with Leica SLR’s and rangefinders. He used Tri-X and T-Max 3200 films. He now shoots with a Canon DSLR and mimics the look of Tri-X.

Peter Schrager · Jul 18, 2019

Does anyone here realize salgado is a humanitarian
He's helped to plant many many trees in Brazil
I may not have been overwhelmed by genesis but the man is a hero in my book
As an aside not all work from an artist Is great
And that goes for all the greats!
I've seen shit weston's Adams and on and on
Hell not even all my work is amazing!

Theo Sulphate · Jul 18, 2019

Peter Schrager said:
Does anyone here realize salgado is a humanitarian
He's helped to plant many many trees in Brazil...

Nice! A good man to do this valuable thing.

jjphoto · Jul 18, 2019

Damn, i only bought Leica R gear because Salgado was using it, what am i to do now?

Russ - SVP · Jul 18, 2019

Peter Schrager said:
Does anyone here realize salgado is a humanitarian
He's helped to plant many many trees in Brazil
I may not have been overwhelmed by genesis but the man is a hero in my book
As an aside not all work from an artist Is great
And that goes for all the greats!
I've seen shit weston's Adams and on and on
Hell not even all my work is amazing!

Weston and Adams were great. But yes, Salgado used his work to better our environment and mankind. He is my favorite shooter. I can only aspire to accomplish what he has.

tomkatf · Jul 19, 2019

jjphoto said:
Damn, i only bought Leica R gear because Salgado was using it, what am i to do now?

Plant some trees?

Peter Schrager · Jul 19, 2019

tomkatf said:
Plant some trees?

Buy a leica and plant some trees!

Bob Carnie · Jul 19, 2019

Planting trees is hard work .. need to be young..

jvo · Jul 19, 2019

there's a video on amazon about salgado... about an hour long.

i have an accomplished photographer friend who does only digital, (it's only one, and i don't tell anyone about her, so keep the secret please). she spent a week at the paul caponigro workshop learning/doing digital printing. each photographer at their own computer/printer with access to unlimited ilford digital papers and little camera use. the purpose to experience the range of digital prints and "dial-in" to maximize the capabilities of the paper, hardware and software under the guidance of caponigro - 8 people.

the resultant prints were stunning! a huge investment was required. the time, money, hardware, software and expertise convinced me (again) that going digital was not for me.

removed account4 · Jul 19, 2019

From what I remember Natalie L. did some of his printing for him
I'm not sure if it was for this project or others, she is / was in Paris.

jtk · Jul 23, 2019

jvo said:
there's a video on amazon about salgado... about an hour long.

i have an accomplished photographer friend who does only digital, (it's only one, and i don't tell anyone about her, so keep the secret please). she spent a week at the paul caponigro workshop learning/doing digital printing. each photographer at their own computer/printer with access to unlimited ilford digital papers and little camera use. the purpose to experience the range of digital prints and "dial-in" to maximize the capabilities of the paper, hardware and software under the guidance of caponigro - 8 people.

the resultant prints were stunning! a huge investment was required. the time, money, hardware, software and expertise convinced me (again) that going digital was not for me.

Camponigro is a marketeer...trading on his family name. His business relies on people who are fearful of Photoshop yet hope it will elevate their work.

jtk · Jul 23, 2019

tomkatf said:
Plant some trees?

That is precisely Salgado's life mission. Have you seen the documentary?

justlexi · Jul 30, 2019

His works are amazing, it is unique and every photo tells a story.

jtk · Jul 31, 2019

jtk said:
Camponigro is a marketeer...trading on his family name. His business relies on people who are fearful of Photoshop yet hope it will elevate their work.

I WAS NEEDLESSLY NEGATIVE about Caponigro. He has one hell of a business that's based on name recognition and I don't think that's a bad thing, tho it makes me uncomfortable. Similar to Brett Weston in that respect.

It's certainly not necessary to invest vast sums to learn Photoshop ... most fine photographers simply invest time in a learning curve that's no longer than that spent by fine silver photographers who struggle to emulate various masters. My experience and impression is that it takes about a year on that learning curve...but I was an accomplished color negative printer before that, so I began PS with a huge advantage. I do think most of the blather about PS requirement for technology beyond a good printer (ideally Canon, IMO) and Photoshop CC is uninformed.

Russ - SVP · Jul 31, 2019

jtk said:
I WAS NEEDLESSLY NEGATIVE about Caponigro. He has one hell of a business that's based on name recognition and I don't think that's a bad thing, tho it makes me uncomfortable. Similar to Brett Weston in that respect.

It's certainly not necessary to invest vast sums to learn Photoshop ... most fine photographers simply invest time in a learning curve that's no longer than that spent by fine silver photographers who struggle to emulate various masters. My experience and impression is that it takes about a year on that learning curve...but I was an accomplished color negative printer before that, so I began PS with a huge advantage. I do think most of the blather about PS requirement for technology beyond a good printer (ideally Canon, IMO) and Photoshop CC is uninformed.

Yes, Brett benefitted from his fathers name. But he was a decent photographer too.

RalphLambrecht · Jul 31, 2019

Ghostman said:
I was in London this weekend and I went to see the Salgado Genesis exhibition at the Natural History Museum. It's an astounding and fantastic show that left me awestruck, overwhelmed and inspired.

What I would have liked to learn however was which cameras, film and printing techniques he used.

I recently went to see the Ansel Adams show at the maritime museum and this kind of information was given. All prints were made by Adams himself, unless otherwise stated.

Some of the Salgado images seem optically impossible and to produce such an extensive corpus of work in a darkroom would be a feat all of its own. I would be very interested to know:

Which cameras does Salgado use?
What film does he use?
What paper are they printed on and are they darkroom prints?
Are these images digital and have they been developed and manipulated in Photoshop?

Whatever the answers are, the show is amazing and the images are mind-blowing. I can only recommend a visit to see these works which were obviously taken and made my a master.

If anyone has any information on his techniques, I would greatly appreciate answers or links to more information about his process.

EDIT: I just found this article which lists his equipment. It appears he uses digital technology. A Canon 1DS Mk III.

EDIT: I found Dead Link Removed which explains a little more

EDIT: I found this on the Ilford site:

EDIT: More on his digital process. I guess I've answered all of my questions here.

what he used can't be bought: pure talent and dedication.

halfaman · Aug 1, 2019

I saw Genesis at NYC some years ago and I agree it is not Salgado at his best. The hand program said he used mainly digital photography but also some film, noting a Mamiya 7 as the chosen camera. I recall the following to be one of them.

jtk · Oct 21, 2022

Salgado may or may not currently shoot film. Certainly he's shooting digital in his important video. In any case, he does (or did) employ his own printer, just as many of the best have done (e.g. HCB, Avedon).

sfphoto · Dec 17, 2022

One my faves-

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 18, 2022

Bob Carnie said:
I believe Salgado Jumped the Shark with his inkjet show. Some may be enamoured with his prints, I thought they were medicore to say the least, I am being really kind here.

The original silver gelatin, and LVt silver prints were up to standard but the bulk of this project is really dissapointing to me. I have followed his work for years,and
this new work is a major let down.

He has released, silver from enlarger, silver from LVT , pt pd from digital negatives , and inkjets.
This is very confusing and some of us are seeing the good work, some are seeing the bad..

I think I would call his new work... The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

viewer beware.

So Bob, is the problem that he shot digitally, or that the prints were made differently?

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 18, 2022

Bob Carnie said:
It seems that in the private galleries he is showing silver gelatin from LVT negatives from digital capture.
They are quite nice .
There are a few ways to do this, Ilford digital silver paper on a Lambda direct from digital file then processed wet , Digital silver negative from a Lambda and contacted on paper of choice , LVT negative from digital file then put in an enlarger and printed on paper of choice.
He has put out a lot of different processes with Genesis.

Which method looks the best?

Sebastião Salgado's Genesis - How did he do it?

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