Sebastiao Salgado

Sebastiao Salgado

I first saw Salgados (Genesis) work in BBC Wildlife magazine May 2013 issue. This is the 10 page spread that made him my favourite photographer.

Sebastiao Salgado is now I think my favorite photographer ever! His images have a tonal range that I have never seen in any other photographers work plus his mastery in black and white is second to none, I believe that Salgado's use of black and white film gives the images he creates a great sense of depth and I would like to try a similar style with my photos on this project. Salgado I have heard uses black and white 35mm Kodak Tri-X film to capture these awesome shots so I may try to imitate his film choice in this project. My favorite photo that salgado has taken has to be this one below it shows such a great tonal range and mind blowing detail, also the timing must have been perfect to capture such a dramatic moment, all of these componants in one image is what I would like to capture in my shots of trees for this project but the situation will be much different due to the detail and tonal range can be done with out to much trouble I hope , its the drama that will be the making or breaking of my images.

TRI-X 400

TRI-X 400 is the film of choice by Salgado, it is a high speed film that has been in production since 1954 and 59 years on the film is still regarded as a very unique professional film. There are two different types of TRI-X but the 400 is the only one available to 35mm.  Tri-X panchromatic film was once one of the most popular films used by photojournalists, along with this it is also a film that captures amazing tonal range and therefore was the obvious choice to bring more drama into the images I wish to create. the film can be developed with ID11, it will require 10 minutes in the developer, there is another process that I'm am both curious and nervous about called stand or semi-stand developing, the process can allow the film to be pushed up to speeds of 3200 or 6400 but it means you hardly or don't agitate the film and dilute the developer but this could go wrong and because of this I may steer clear of it until I am more familiar with the film.

Coran Gleed

Salgado's (genesis)

COMPARISON OF SALGADO'S IMAGE AND MY IMAGE

 Before I start comparing my image to Salgado's in my eyes Salgado is god with a camera where I am a mere year one photography student. This image of Salgado's inspired me to go down the black and white route with landscapes, also his iconic style using a high range of tones features in this image which I tried to portray in my own image. Salgado's image shows much more drama than mine and in my opinion a much better tonal range plus I also think the image features more formal elements such as the river leading your eyes through the picture. I am going to use the same film and techniques that Salgado uses for my final images to try get the same result in the tonal range.