Many photographers position themselves as artists. Sebastian Salgado picked up the camera for other reasons. He talks about the events taking place on planet Earth using not words and letters, but photographs.
Childhood and youth
For happiness, our planet is poorly equipped. Sincere and honest people cannot accept this situation. Sebastian Salgado became interested in photography late. By that time he was 30 years old. He received a brilliant education and worked in one of the World Bank divisions. As part of his job duties, he had to visit different countries and continents. When the economist saw what traces European and American companies leave in Africa, he decided to give up his prestigious profession and do photojournalism.
The future photojournalist was born on February 8, 1944 in the family of a Brazilian farmer. Parents lived on a hacienda in a remote area of Minas Gerais. Father was engaged in cattle breeding and rearing. Mother worked as a veterinarian. Sebastian from an early age prepared for the difficulties of an independent life. He studied well at school. He was distinguished by diligence and good behavior. He defended his master's degree in economics at the famous University of São Paulo. A graduate was hired by an international company that produced and supplied coffee.
Creative activity
After Salgado chose the camera as his main tool, his lifestyle changed markedly. At first, he put in the first place political reporting and news reviews. After some time, the work of the photojournalist shifts to the sphere of social problems. A child exhausted by systematic malnutrition appears in photographs. A disabled person who carries a huge flask of water. Dilapidated house in which a large family huddles. In 1986, his first book, Other America, was published, which included fifty black and white photographs.
In the mid-80s, Salgado began to systematically collaborate with the organization Doctors Without Borders. He spent almost a year and a half in the desert region of the Sahel in northeast Africa. Here, more than a million people have died from malnutrition and disease. His photo project Sahel: A Man in Need brought Sebastian world fame. Politicians from developed countries began to pay attention to his work. The photojournalist devoted a lot of time to the problems of international migration and the hopeless situation of workers engaged in heavy physical labor.
