Sebastião Salgado's TED Talk

I'm actually too busy to watch all of this right now. Please tell me if it's good or not good! (I will give thanks for the subtitles...listening as I worked didn't go so well. But then I have trouble making out accents [as well as handwriting].)

Just posted today.

Sebastião's new book can be pre-ordered. If my email is any indication, this book is being very eagerly awaited.

Mike

Rod Purcell adds: "Hi Mike—Salgado's Genesis book is already released in the U.K. My copy came last week. However good you think it will be, it's better. You have to be impressed by the commitment the guy makes to his projects and the range of his output. It is also a demonstration on the power of B&W photographs. The Genesis exhibition is currently on display in London (until 8 September).

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TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Jeff: "Inspirational and important, on many levels."

Jack: "Yes, it's good and worth your time, especially the last minute when he shows a photo of his parents' farm, before and after. The before is the farm as the result of years of erosion, the after is the same exact photo location after the 2.5 million trees he had planted had grown up. A wonderful and unique example of renewal that can be achieved."

Zach: "Really really enjoyed the Genesis exhibition at NHM in London. Locals should definitely go. Huge prints and relatively uncrowded even on weekends (compared to, say, the wildlife photographer of the year show which is quite unpleasant at peak)."

Geoff Wittig: "I can hardly wait for this book. Salgado's Africa is a wonderful book, but to my surprise the two images that stopped me in my tracks were landscapes. So a book that features more of them...."

matt scooler: "Saw the book at AIPAD a few weeks ago—the book is very nice (and quite heavy—Amazon shipping weight is 8.7 pounds), however it truly pales in comparison to the gigantic two-volume limited edition set which I would recommend to any of your wealthy readers interested in his photography."

Mike replies: Shhh, don't tell Geoff.

V.I. Voltz: "I pre-ordered Genesis and received it a couple of weeks ago. The printing is beyond reproach, but too many of the photos traverse the gutter, several look even more over-processed/manipulated than before; enough that it makes looking through the technique hard, and the portrait format doesn't work especially well for my viewing position. I am glad I have it, but it isn't Workers or Migrations."

stefano: "I saw the book last week here in los angeles at the Paris Photo exhibit. it is beyond any expectation; as far as I am concerned, this is the best photography work ever published—you must see it to believe it. the 'small' and inexpensive version is good too, but once you see the full size behemoth(s), you are sold!"

Comments

[John F.]

It should be noted that the book is already available in Spanish or Portuguese, and in fact here on the Amazon Spain web page they have it in English as well (already ordered). I've been looking forward to this for a long time and am trying to find an excuse to travel to London to catch the exhibition in one of my favourite buildings in the world.

[Bil OBrien]

Take the time, most interesting talk I have heard on how to resolve the CO2 situation. ( it is not a problem because we know how to resolve it, we need only to make the decision to do it, not expensive, not challenging ). And the man's photos are stunning. Wonder what equipment he uses (joke).

[Al Benas]

Thanks for the "heads up." It was quite interesting (especially watching with subtitles - his English slips when he gets excited). The talk was less about his photography, which is incredible, and more about restoring trees to the world. It's a crusade to help us breathe; well worth your time.

[Ken White]

I have a habit of watching TED talks on my IPad while exercising in the afternoons. This talk was an excellent and engrossing sixteen minutes. Highly recommended. In fact I recommend at least one TED talk a day.

[Terence Morrissey]

Sebastiao Salgado has a sold out lecture on Genesis at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on May 2nd.

[Stan B.]

Yes, we can still save our home (planet), even this late in the game. But we won't- at least, not in time. We rather destroy whatever's left for the next iPhone, the next mega plasma HD screen, the next bright and mesmerizingly shiny object that will occupy the next five minutes of our attention span.

Plant a tree? Surely you jest. The Kardashians just walked out- I'm a Belieber...

[Huw Morgan]

For those of us lucky to live in or near Toronto, the Contact Photography Festival starts today (May 1). Sabastio Selgado's Genesis images are a one of the Primary exhibits of the festival. They are on display at the Royal Ontario Museum (a spectacular building in its own right) from May 4th to September 2nd. Here is the link: http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/primary-exhibitions/1345

Anyone living within driving distance of Toronto should make an effort to see the Contact Festival. It has a very strong line-up of featured artists.

[Ed]

An immense body of work by an immensely committed man. Very few of us can measure up to Salgado's standards and we are privileged to have him among us.

[Wolfgang Lonien]

Wonderful to hear the man speak. Linked to it (and to here) from my site as well. Thanks Mike for pointing us to this.

[Collin Orthner]

CBC radio's Jian Ghomeshi of "Q" did an interview with Mr. Salgado yesterday here:
http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2013/05/01/to-the-ends-of-the-earth/#igImgId_68933

[Kenneth Tanaka]

I must confess that I've not been an enthusiastic fan of Salgado for reasons that range between aesthetic and conceptual. But it's not appropriate to discuss my reasons here.

I do, however, also confess to being a great admirer of the "Salgado, Inc." model. This is clearly a man deeply grounded in business strategy (a doctorate in economics) who has applied his education to enable him to pursue his passions. He has long ago adopted a DO / SELL cycle (by his own description) whereby he remains immersed in his work and largely out of sight for years (DO). When he reaches a natural or financial coma he fires-up his powerful publication and marketing machine (galleries, publishers, publicists) and operates in SELL mode for a while. Books, "limited edition" prints, personal appearances all earn him buckets of cash to enable him to return to his more reclusive DO mode, rather like a cicada. In this way he preserves the mystique of his brand.

So I salute the man's work, his boundless energy and devotion, and most of all his powerful business model.

[Bill]

I knew that he is a great photographer -- I didn't realize that he is also a great man.

[Stan B.]

On a more trivial note- it'll be interesting to see how his digital output holds up aesthetically compared to his previous film based work. He's always had the very best printers to get the most out of his negs, so quality has never been an issue. [Voja Mitrovic was his printer for a long time before he (Voya) retired. --Mike] Still too early to tell since most of us have yet to see the book or prints, but seems the new digital quality adds a further sense of grandeur to many of the images, but looks a tad hokey in a few instances.

[JohnMFlores]

Interesting that he lets the pictures speak for themselves, and that he tells the story of his life, the trees and family farm mostly in words.

[Patrick Perez]

I've tried Google, I've tried Bing. I can't find where this exhibition is traveling (if anywhere) in the US. Little help?

Patrick

[Michel]

By the way, Amazon says that the book's availability has moved up and as a result my preorder will arrive next week.

[Robert Gordon]

Genesis opens at the Royal Ontario Museum on May 4.

Great TED talk.

[QT Luong]

That's very interesting to see how he has come full-circle with the farm and nature photography, how everything was interconnected in his life - as it is in the world. However, career arc besides, I'm wondering how his work would have been received if Genesis had been his first project, rather than the social works for which is is known.

[MartinP]

So far as seeing the exhibition in the US is concerned (someone asked, above) I read that no outlets were interested during "the next five years" from the time when the show was planned.

I'm unclear whether that is because US galleries work on a five/six year booking system or if he is simply a politically-undesirable photographer.

[Well, such decisions aren't monolithic, so you can discard any thoughts of conspiracy. More likely it has to do with who can afford what and what's already scheduled...on a museum by museum basis.

I'm surprised no one was interested, though. Maybe Salgado has lower name recognition here than I think he does. --Mike]