Kept Light Photography

Photography and Writing by A. Cemal Ekin

Sebastião Salgado: The silent drama of photography

by

Wim Wenders and Sebastiao Salgado

The Salt of The Earth

I have been familiar with Salgado’s photography through magazines, newspapers, and the Web but I did not know him or his work as closely as many other photographers. During our visit to Istanbul in October 2015, we watched with Binnaz and Ergun a documentary on Sebastião Salgado, The Salt of the Earth by acclaimed director Wim Wenders. At times, it was difficult to watch the movie due to the intense subject matter of genocide, disease, war, and other human atrocities and suffering. However, finishing the movie was a rewarding experience of human resilience and capacity for good. I learned more about his work, his life, his dedication to protecting and even rebuilding the environment. I received a copy of the Blu-Ray disk of the movie I had ordered just a couple of days ago and will watch it again.

Genesis

His latest work, as he will tell you towards the end of his presentation is a celebration of life on Earth and it is called Genesis. You can see some of the photographs on the International Center of Photography exhibit page. I wanted to purchase the book, Genesis, alas it has a major flaw despite the gorgeous photographs. Every single photograph is printed as a two-page spread, double-truck, cutting the photographs into two. A no-no for photography books and I am surprised that he and Taschen allowed that to happen. I am waiting for the second edition, hopefully, printed in landscape orientation without disrupting the flow of the photographs. As a consolation prize, I ordered a 16 print set of posters in a protective box from Amazon. At $14 with shipping, a used copy was waiting for me!

Listen To Salgado Himself

The following TED talk is a summary of the movie, The Salt Of The Earth. He made this presentation at TED. You will find some photographs of various forms of destruction. But, you will also see the work of one of the best photographers living today. Parts of his talk reminded me of my last post I wrote from Istanbul. There, I used the expression I made up to summarize my feelings: Destruction by construction.

We must stop hurting our planet before it decides to shake us off its back!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. About to pack up and start driving to Afyon, I stopped, sat down and watched the presentation.
    Instead of losing 17 minutes, I found that I gained an extra 17 minutes in my life, if not more.
    Thank you Cemal for sharing this.
    Beatiful photographs, too.
    I now know more about Salgado.

    Best regards!

    • I am glad that you enjoyed the short video. You should try to get the DVD or Blu-Ray movie by Wim Wenders and watch it. Too bad they printed the book with a break in the photographs, it would have been really enjoyable. As, I said, next edition!

      Cemal

  2. Salgado’yu büyük bir ilgiyle izledim; Kazanımlarımı
    yazıya dökmek hiç de kolay değil Cemal, sağ olasın!
    Sevgiler.

  3. Cemal, I fully agree with you: The Wenders film is more than touching – and while the photographs in “Genesis” are wonderful, I still can’t force myself to break the book in order to be able to view the full images. Maybe I should have two glasses of wine in order to overcome my inhibitions – in the end it’s only a book (but I have never done this before…)

    At least the prints are on exhibition currently in Munich, and I plan to see them there in their full beauty.