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One of the most famous documentary photographers, Sebastiao Salgado first became internationally known for his moving and bleak photographs of famine in the Sahel (1984-85). Following on from this, his talent was more than confirmed with the release of his book "Workers" (1993), an epic photographic study of manual labour across the globe. More recently he has documented the habits of the migratory population of the world in his book "Migrations: Humanity in Transition" (1993-99). Salgado's photographic style relies heavily on interaction with his subjects. In order to fully capture the essence of his subjects, Salgado spends time with them in their environment. As he says himself "The picture is not made by the photographer, the picture is more good or less good in function of the relationship that you have with the people you photograph." For instance, in Sahel, instead of hiring a car to get around Salgado caught the local bus with the local people. If he were to arrive in a car "it's a disaster - you are a guy in a car," not "with the people." In much broader terms "You need to be accepted by reality." Of course, travelling third class also has the advantage of keeping costs down, something at the forefront of every photographers mind! While I can understand the need for close contact and connection with your chosen subject for this type of photography, I feel it is in contrast to my own imagery, which primarily focuses on capturing people unawares. Regardless of how long you spend interacting with a subject in their natural environment, there is the possibility that subject will act differently knowing a camera is present. Perhaps this would be less problematic in a third world country, where the occupants are to busy to worry about a stranger with a camera, but not everyone takes photographs of third world human crises. Another photographer working in this field is Robert Appleby.
