Sebastiao Salgado Interview

It was just always inspirational to envision the romantic notion of him with a film M body and two lenses producing all of those powerful images.
 
Yet he creates a physical negative from the digital file. I've always wondered why he did this but I bet the final prints look amazing.
 
pachuco said:
Yet he creates a physical negative from the digital file. I've always wondered why he did this but I bet the final prints look amazing.
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He said in an interview that due to security reasons (airport having to check 50 pounds worth of film, or something like that, took FOREVER to go through security) and logistics problems, schlepping around all the film etc, he said he started using digital only because you don't have this problem. He still (last time I checked, haven't read the OP's article yet) converts them to negatives and works in a darkroom... well, maybe not him personally, but someone does :)
 
pachuco said:
Yet he creates a physical negative from the digital file. I've always wondered why he did this ?
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Its a question of prestige and marketing. Salgado's prints are expected to sell with hefty price tags, so to justify those prices there has to be a complex process into making those prints, namely digital to film, contact sheets etc. But mostly that step of converting digital to film, even though totally unnecessary other than for archival purposes, makes the whole sales pitch a little more compelling to the potential buyers.
 
Alternatively: perhaps over the course of a long career Salgado has developed a reined and very personal editing workflow and look to the images (including grain structure and silver gelatin prints), and this was the easiest path into digital capture without altering the rest of that workflow or the physical media used to make his prints.
 
He didn't want to change the person who prepares his prints (which Salgado doen't do himself), which is a large part of the reason he still uses negatives.

In addition to the difficulties with carrying film/customs, he also wanted to print larger than his R6.2 (he also used M's just not as much), which was a large part of the reason for the change (and why he used a Pentax 645 prior to switching to Canon digital).
 
semilog said:
Alternatively: perhaps over the course of a long career Salgado has developed a reined and very personal editing workflow and look to the images (including grain structure and silver gelatin prints), and this was the easiest path into digital capture without altering the rest of that workflow or the physical media used to make his prints.
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I totally agree, and I think that he still prefers the analogue workflow...other than that he would be editing digitally.
 
He is one of my favorites....I met him a couple of years ago and I am a big fan of his work.......I don't really care what camera he uses, as long as he keeps taking photos, and being who he is......he is really an awesome guy to talk to.....

cheers, michael
 
Beautiful images, but dare I say it? They don't look as good as his film ones. They look more digital and synthetic.

I don't blame him for changing due to airport issues though. I just managed to get six hand searches in a row, which has to be a record, but let it go through the X-Ray on the last leg (aside from the 3200 that is). I only had 26 rolls. I cant imagine dealing with 500!
 
I believe he also uses/used DxO Film pack to emulate the appearance of film. Bottom line of course (IMO) is that his images are still so darned good
PS - Joe thanks for the link
 
pachuco said:
Yet he creates a physical negative from the digital file. I've always wondered why he did this but I bet the final prints look amazing.
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He's a documentarian, and the Genesis project in particular is aimed at capturing aspects of the world that may disappear shortly. I don't think he wants his images left to something as ephemeral as digital media.
 
Thanks for the link! It's great to read about what he's learned through traveling and seeing all these years. It's good to be reminded that even when/if the physical picture (mine) might not be perfect, the act of capturing gives still.
 
I think Genesis is a great project and look forward to seeing it in its entirety when finished. It marks less of a departure than one might think, especially if one is familar with some of his images in the book Africa.
 
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