Blogfinger

Sebastiao Salgado. Brazilian photographer. Photograph from the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. It shows some Brazilian Indians fishing in Puilanga Lake.

Paul Goldfinger, photography editor @Blogfinger.net

Sebastião Salgado was born in 1943.  He became one of the great photographers of all time. He is best described as a social photojournalist because he traveled the world seeking out places and people who hadn’t changed much over time, and he found subject matter everywhere he went.

His work has been dramatic, poetic, and emotional.  He placed his life in danger many times as he sought out his special subject matter.   His last project, called Genesis, took 10 years and is now on tour.  The image above is from that exhibit currently at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego.  It opened just one week ago.

During his travels, he saw some horrible sights including many deaths.  When he witnessed the horrors of Rwanda, he became physically ill, feeling that he would die.  He returned to France to recover from the effects of so many scenes of  inhumanity to man.

Since the project ended, he returned to his family farm in Brazil where he and his wife are busy restoring the rain forest to a 14 acre piece of land where most of the forest had been destroyed over the years.

Here is a ten minute video where you can see some of his amazing images.  The music by John Williams is from Schindler’s List  (I did not choose it; the videographer did.)  I think it was a strong choice, but if you don’t like it, just turn the volume down. Accompanying still photography with music may seem familiar to some of you who follow Blogfinger.