In the end, the only heritage we have is our planet, and I have decided to go to the most pristine places on the planet and photograph them in the most honest way I know, with my point of view, and of course it is in black and white, because it is the only thing I know how to do.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of preserving the planet and capturing its beauty authentically through photography.
Sebastiao Salgado reflects on the responsibility we have towards our planet as our most significant legacy. He expresses his commitment to documenting its untouched places, underscoring the purity of nature through his black and white photography, which aligns with his personal artistic skills and vision. This quote invites a deeper appreciation for the environment and challenges us to consider how we can contribute to its preservation.
In practice
This quote could be used in an environmental awareness speech to highlight the importance of protecting our planet.
I have a way to photograph. You work with space, you have a camera, you have a frame, and then a fraction of a second. It's very instinctive. What you do is a fraction of a second, it's there and it's not there. But in this fraction of a second comes your past, comes your future, comes your relation with people, comes your ideology, comes your hate, comes your love - all together in this fraction of a second, it materializes there.
As in any person's life, there have been difficult moments: I have a son with Down's syndrome; through my photography, I have witnessed all manner of human degradation. But there have also been very happy moments.
There are moments that you suffer a lot, moments you won't photograph. There are some people you like better than others. But you give, you receive, you cherish, you are there. When you are really there, you know when you see the picture later what you are seeing.
So many times I've photographed stories that show the degradation of the planet. I had one idea to go and photograph the factories that were polluting, and to see all the deposits of garbage. But, in the end, I thought the only way to give us an incentive, to bring hope, is to show the pictures of the pristine planet - to see the innocence.
My way of photographing is my way of life. I photograph from my experience, my way of seeing things.
You photograph with all your ideology.
Labor is the only prayer that Nature answers: It is the only prayer that deserves an answer—good, honest, noble work.
Take the crocodile, for example, my favorite animal. There are 23 species. Seventeen of those species are rare or endangered. They're on the way out, no matter what anyone does or says, you know.
Saving Greenland is both a metaphor and a precondition for saving civilization. If its ice sheet melts, sea levels will rise 23 feet. Hundreds of coastal cities will be abandoned. The rice growing river deltas of Asia will be under water. There will be hundreds of millions of rising-sea refuges. The word that comes to mind is chaos. If we cannot mobilize to save the Greenland ice sheet; we probably cannot save civilization as we know it.
Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.
Storms make trees take deeper roots.
I worry that more and more kids my age are growing up without experiencing the outdoors, which means that fewer will care about the natural world.
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