Salgado picks his own subjects, and his output typically takes the form of book-length collections of photographs. Regardless of the subject, Salgado never fails to communicate his intense interest in people. He uses the power of black and white images, with their ability to cut through the distractions of color and movement, to capture the light and shadow essence of his subjects. In lesser hands, achieving this level of formal beauty would risk masking the human dimensions of the subject. But in the case of Salgado, the elegance of the abstract image puts the humanity of his subjects in even sharper relief.
Poor people have nobility, but there is nothing noble about poverty.
Salgado works in the time-honored tradition of documentary photography, but he documents people's lives, not news events. Sebasti o gives you little stories of what people said. He is very close to the people he photographs.