Salgado’s Experiences

 

Salgado’s photos have a lasting impact on everyone views them. The first thing I noticed was his tendency to document places where much of the natural world was still untouched by civilization. He would go to tribes in Africa and penguin homes by the sea. After studying many photos, I can conclude that he went through a lot just to get snapshots of beautiful moments. These pictures certainly do tell a thousand words. He must have journeyed through extreme weather and difficult terrain. Like an anthropologist, he must have spent much time with natives before getting them to be comfortable with him. I wonder if they understood exactly what was happening.

The thing that stood out to me the most was how the natives used scarification. They cut themselves and put ash in their wounds to cause bacterial infections. Then, they would make patterns all throughout their bodies. I thought that was extremely disturbing and dangerous. They also have huge gauges for their ears and lips. I realized that it is not only a modern trend today, but is probably an ancient custom inspired by these cultures.

I learned that there are indigenous people all over the world living far away from society and electricity. I was shocked because we consider them so unfortunate, however they are successful in their own terms and are well off. The problem is that climate change might cause trouble from them because they don’t have the luxuries that we do. All the more reason to support the conservation of energy and divest fossil fuel companies. I also concluded that people should be grateful no matter what socioeconomic status they are in, because we are all blessed with life. It is very touching that people living without technology are happy despite their struggles.