Sebastiao Salgado. Genesis

Earth eternal
The companion volume to the world's best attended photo show

“In GENESIS, my camera allowed nature to speak to me. And it was my privilege to listen.” -Sebastiao Salgado

On a very fortuitous day in 1970, 26-year-old Sebastiao Salgado held a camera for the first time. When he looked through the viewfinder, he experienced a revelation: suddenly life made sense. From that day onward-though it took years of hard work before he had the experience to earn his living as a photographer-the camera became his tool for interacting with the world. Salgado, who “always preferred the chiaroscuro palette of black-and-white images,” shot very little color in his early career before giving it up completely.

Raised on a farm in Brazil, Salgado possessed a deep love and respect for nature; he was also particularly sensitive to the ways in which human beings are affected by their often devastating socio-economic conditions.