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.
Interpretation
The quality of a photograph is deeply influenced by the photographer's emotional connection with their subjects.
Sebastiao Salgado's quote highlights that the essence of a photograph is not solely determined by technical skills but rather by the emotional bonds and relationships the photographer shares with their subjects. This connection can greatly enhance the depth and resonance of the captured image, demonstrating that photography is as much about human connection as it is about the visual medium itself.
In practice
In a photography workshop, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of building rapport with your models.
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.
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.
My way of photographing is my way of life. I photograph from my experience, my way of seeing things.
I tried writing out a plot with the second or third novel I wrote, and it was so boring, so desperately boring.
For those who were desperate, my camera became an object of hope (...)Throughout my year-long coverage of the monsoon world, my strongest conviction was that I was involved in the fundamentals of life.
Architecture is one of the art forms best able to improve and revitalise cities both artistically and functionally.
Films made by women belong to the history of cinema; it's just that we get erased pretty quickly.
Artists can no more speak about their work, than plants can speak about horticulture.
I just wanted to go to New York and be on Broadway, but then I was accepted by Juilliard, where they trained me in classical voice. It was great in the end, but at the time, I thought, 'What am I doing here? This is not my path.' But it was absolutely my path and where I was meant to be.
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