Sebastio Salgado - Genesis

[dugrant153]

Not sure if this photographic artist has been named in this forum section, but I’ve recently become “wow-ed” with this guy’s work. I’m noticing a trend for myself… I like documentary photographers
I was in my local bookstore when I saw a copy of the Genesis book. It was HUGE and HEAVY. I pulled it down and, before I even turned the first page, I was absolutely stunned by the front cover. Then I opened it and was absolutely stunned by the amazing images inside. And they were B&W! All of them! The content was so live and vivid; a beautiful combination of the photographer’s eye, his heart and the mediums used.
Seeing his images in this book has me inspired to huck around my Pentax 645 and shoot in black and white (whereas I have relegated that duty to 35mm format mostly). The image quality was quite amazing and, while I know he switched to shooting digital while in the midst of this book’s project, I think some were Pentax 645. Seeing these images has me inspired to shoot beyond just 4x6 quality and present a higher quality and larger print for not only myself but to clients as well. (I’ve kind of wanted to do a 20x30 of a Vancouver Cityscape of Chinatown for my wall).
Beyond the technical, I found that there was such a close intimacy in his images. It felt like you were there and could almost feel the people or animals breathe or smell the air.
I always thought landscapes looked better in color until I saw this book and his work. I’m blown away by the large, high-quality prints of the landscapes that he took photos of. That’s not to say that I think landscapes in color are now bad but rather that I think landscapes in black and white are definitely more within my own mental realm of possibility.
If my memory serves me correctly, I believe he has been conducting a project to restore the rainforest from farmland?

 

[Shawn Rahman]

Yes, Salgado is a wonder, and Genesis is truly breathtaking. I know about his past work with Leica, and then with Leica digital, but not sure what he is using now. Here's a VERY interesting talk he gave about his work, and also addresses his work on the rainforest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH4GAXXH29s

 

[Trask]

I received a copy of "Genesis" for Christmas a while back. While I've enjoyed my copy of "Migrations," I found many of the reproductions in "Genesis" to be rather disturbing, almost as if they had been too sharpened digitally or something. I've seen the same thing in a Leica photo group I'm a member of online where one fellow in particular is using a new digital Leica and I can pick out his photos every time because they look odd. But getting back to Salgado -- a great photographer, a significant legacy, but I do find his film-based images preferable. And no, I'm not a digiphobe, I understand why some people prefer to go that route.

 

[Colin Corneau]

If you think the book was stunning, you should see the gallery show. I caught it in 2013 in Toronto and it was breath-taking.

IIRC in terms of digital he shot on a 5D and made a negative from a file...then silver printed the negative.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

He does excellent work. His pictures are amazing.

Jeff

 

[darkosaric]

I saw the gallery show in Paris last year in European house of photography. He is using digital camera now (I think specially modified Canon 5D) - but printing on Fiber Based Papers with analogized negatives (I asked for price - for 200€ you get 4 negatives 4x5 from 4 digital files - who says digital is not expensive?). He started with Nikon 35mm, then went on Leica 35mm (R and M, and minilux for everyday walk), then on medium format, then digital. I was reading about Salgado a lot .

Technical side of the Genesis show was wow, super sharp and so on - but it is far away from his best work. "Other Americas" is superb master piece of art that was top of his carrier in my point of view. Better than Workers, Migrations, Genesis...
"Other Americas" has best photographs I ever saw.