Sebastiao Salgado's From my Land to the Planet, cloth, 174 pp., (2014) Contrasto, is a small book about a vast photographic career. Anyone who has seen such mammoth black and white books as Workers or Genesis cannot help but be stunned at the level of skill and artistry on every page. The photographers among that audience must also wonder about the person behind the camera, and the process he has engaged in to make such deeply affecting and beautiful images. As his co-author, journalist Isabelle Francq, writes in her preface: "...while Sebastiao's images have travelled all over the world, little [is] known of his own story and the political, ethical and existential roots of his photographic commitment." Ms. Francq worked with Mr. Salgado to put his story down, with representative photographs from different stages of his career. The book relates Salgado's youth, education and photographic career in chronological order, in short chapters keyed largely to his published books. The overarching theme is Salgado's love affair with photography: "I adore photography, taking photographs, holding my camera, choosing my frame, playing with the light...It is a need that comes from deep inside me." Equally compelling throughout are his commitment to the environment and his profound humanism. LVL members, and particularly those who enjoy the abstract quality of black & white images, will be keenly interested in Salgado's description of his move from film to digital format, and of his approach to editing his work. He stresses the preparation involved in his various projects, and the roles played by various colleagues, his wife Lelia in particular. The book is available from Amazon.
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