[Leica] The Salgado show (was An evening with James Nachtwey)

[Paul Chefurka <Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com>]

I just got back from a weekend in Rochester - a trip I took expressly to see
the Salgado exhibit at the George Eastman House. Some of my reactions were
interesting (to me, anyway):

The prints were big.  Maybe even too big?  They're all 16x20 or larger, and
at that size they seem to take on a life of their own as objets d'art.  This
seemed to diffuse their impact a little - I felt that smaller prints would
have created more of a sense of intimacy with the scenes depicted.  On the
other hand, the fact that so many of the shots are wide-angle with a lot of
information in the backgrounds (as Martin noted), smaller prints would have
conveyed the main message but not so much of the context.  My personal jury
is out on this issue until I've spent more time with the book.

Salgado's work is much more dispassionate than Natchwey's.  I get much less
of a feeling of the photographer reacting to(participating in) the event
than I do from Natchwey.  Salgado seems to be more of a reporter, while
Natchwey's statements are more editorial in tone.  Now we all know that the
myth of the "objective reporter" is just that, and I'm not by any means
saying that Salgado doesn't care deeply for his subjects - he obviously
does.  His tone, however, seems to be more matter-of-fact.

It's probably a continuation of that same theme, but I felt that Salgado did
not want to abstract the events he was photographing.  In most cases he did
not photograph individuals as representatives of the event.  Although
individual people were often the focal point of the picture, they were
usually placed in a broader visual context.  Natchwey's eye seems more drawn
to the individual.  Inferno contains many more photographs of single people
with their settings pared down rather than fleshed out.  As a result I find
Selgado's images more intricate and Natchweys more graphic (in every sense
of the word).

Some smaller points:  The technical quality of the prints was stupendous.
Salgado's use of mist and backlight is unerring.  He doesn't care about how
big the grain gets, as long as the image is captured.

This is a monumental work, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it.
It's being used as a teaching tool for schoolchildren, to give them an
understanding of how and why people move from place to place in this world.
It also provides a valuable glimpse of lives with a level of insecurity that
would be incomprehensible to most of them.  Natchwey's work would be
unsuitable for this purpose IMO - his education is for the grownups who are
letting stuff like this happen.

All in all, a heck of a weekend.

Paul Chefurka

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Martin Howard [mailto:howard.390@osu.edu]
>Sent: Friday, April 28, 2000 11:52 PM
>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>Subject: Re: [Leica] An evening with James Nachtwey
>
>
>B. D. Colen jotted down the following:
> 
>> I made this observation a couple of days ago after spending 
>some time with
>> both Inferno and Migrations, but if any documentary 
>photographer/PJ is an
>> explorer of light, it's Salgado, whose work is technically 
>superior to
>> Natchwey's. 
>
>
>I don't wish to detract from Salgado's work in any way, shape, 
>or form, but
>I spent an evening with his books (minus "Migrations") some weeks ago.
>Something struck me: He almost works to a formula.  Wide-angle 
>lens (28mm or
>so), have a main subject close and a large vista in the background, and
>shoot against the light.  Many, many of his pictures follow 
>this pattern.
>It's extremely effective if you wish to create a photograph 
>that grabs your
>attention quickly, but still offers lots of stuff to linger on.  I'm
>guessing it's one of the components that make his photography 
>so strong.
>
>M.
>
>-- 
>Martin Howard              | There's a culture here which dictates that
>Visiting Scholar, CSEL, OSU| anyone who walks more than a few 
>paces must
>email: howard.390@osu.edu  | either be too poor to own [a 
>car], clinically
>www: http://mvhoward.i.am/ | insane, or British.    -- David 
>Willis, BBCWS
>                           
>+----------------------------------------------
>
>