sebastiao salgado

economist/photojournalist/activist/UNICEF special representative sebastiao salgado is the photographer i hope to emulate in my work. although he photographs people at their bleakest time (doing manual labor, or as refugees of war, famine, poverty), the technical virtuosity of his images (quality of light, tonal quality of prints) elevates his work above photojournalism into art. it also ensures that the stories he is telling transcend the weekly/monthly time window of magazines, taking them into galleries and art books, thus providing other avenues to inform and change behavior.

salgado’s current project is called “genesis” where he is photographing landscapes and wildlife in what is left of the unspoiled world. the second part of the project has taken him to rwanda and the virunga national park. he recently went to antarctica for the the third part of the project.

more salgado goodness:
outcaste: displaced people of the world
multimedia new yorker piece on salgado
san francisco chronical piece on salgado