Sebastiào Salgado

Salgado's photographs cover a large range of subjects but very few of his photographs cover subjects that would be considered "familiar" to people living in first world countries. And the recognizable sights he does have are modified in some way. In terms of how many subjects are present in his photos, there's almost always at least one, and if there's more than one they're generally in huge groups. Even photographs that at first appear devoid of life are oftentimes just zoomed out enough that the figures aren't immediately recognizable. He also tends to use the wide-angle lens for a number of shots.

When he photographs people, I feel like he tries to choose subjects that would cause viewers to feel uncomfortable on some level or at least alienated. He chooses subjects from such far off places, showing their cultures and their struggles. Not every photograph is meant to show a tragedy but there are a lot of pictures of disasters and poor living conditions. However, there are images of people going about their lives happier than the other pictures. When his pictures are focused on animals they often feel out of this reality, having a mystical sort of feel to it.

I like Salgado's work, it shows off parts of the world people either don't get to see or pointedly ignore.It's a negative part of life that needs to be addressed even if it's not pertinent to the viewer's life. They help foster feelings of empathy which are needed to really function in social settings like how our society is set up. His distance shots give an excellent sense of scale as to how many people are there even if we can't see any individuals in the crowds. His use of the wide-angle lens adds a lot to his photographs and I don't think they would have the same impact without it.