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

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

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.
 
His works are amazing, it is unique and every photo tells a story.
 
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.
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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.
 
what he used can't be bought: pure talent and dedication.
 
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
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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).
 

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

Which method looks the best?
 
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