Sebastião Salgado, born on a cattle farm in Aimorés, Brazil (1944), is one of the most celebrated Photojournalists of our time. Interestingly, however, Photography barely featured in his life for quite a while! Having graduated in Economics, Salgado eventually moved to Paris to pursue a Post Graduate in the subject. Economics was going to be his life and it was well on course to become so. Until, that is, his wife Lélia gifted him a camera in 1970.
By 1973, Photography, in his words, made “a total invasion” of his life which prompted him to give up his career in Economics and pursue Photography.
Within just 6 years, Salgado worked for some of the biggest agencies of photojournalism like Sygma, Gamma and, in 1979, when he joined Magnum; eventually making a name for himself by covering the attempted assassination of the former American President, Ronald Reagan.
Despite his stellar career as a Photojournalist working for Magnum, Salgado is best known for his hard hitting commentary on social, cultural and geographical narratives from all around the world in the form of Photography Projects.