Customer Reviews

Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is an astonishing document on both the talents of Sebastiao Salgado and the roughness of some of the worst professions in the world. The book was several years in the making and it shows. A lot of credit goes to Aperture for such a quality print. Your first impression will be of astonishment as you browse through the pictures of one of the top photographers of this century. Then, you'll want to read the small booklet that explains what each picture is. One day I hope someone will print a teaching book of photography with as good pictures as these, but with all the detailed information of how the picture was taken (film, camera, lens, exposure, # of photos discarded, date, time of day & latitude, time spent to take the picture, etc). If there's anything to critize in this book is that no technical information is given at all. But that was the point of it. It is an art book, not a didactic one.

At first glance this book is very intimidating by size. I was overwhelmed by the amount of photos Salgado took of his subjects, which in this book were the workers around the world. As I flipped through each page I began to think of rather than looking at a book of a photographer's work, it seemed as if I was looking at a photo album dedicated to hard laborers. Each photo is extremely vivid and beautifully shot. In addition, each photo gives the impression that Salgado puts thought and emotion before shooting his subjects. This is apparent by the many angles he shot his subjects and more importantly the extreme close-up shots he had. In many of his pictures Salgado appears to capture not just the action of the subject, but the emotion and story as well. You can't help but sympathize for each worker. Furthermore you start to realize how much the world depends on this type of labor in order to move forward. In a sense, this entire book give a view into all the hard work it takes to create all the luxuries we take granted for.

The entire book itself is very high quality. Each picture is printed clearly and at a large scale to show each detail of Salgado's work. It's also neatly organized rather than photos jumbled everywhere. Photos are separated by the location where they are shot. Moreover, aside from the large scale photos in this book which take an entire spread, there are some fold-out pages that contain smaller photos which give it that "photo album" feel.

This book is evidence of how great of a photographer Sebastiao Salgado is.

These are some of the most powerful photographs ever made. They are at once disturbing, thought provoking and astonishingly beautiful. Salgado is a genius of the medium. He is one of the very few who has managed to elevate photography to a genuine art form. By comparison, the work of most other contemporary photographers seems like paint-by-numbers dreck.

The most outstanding body of photographic journalism to be published yet. Large edge-to-edge photos compliment fold-out pages of smaller images. Salgado has changed the world of photojournalism, the way we look at manual labor, and ourselves.

I discovered the book in a public library in Paris. I was really shocked when I just pass hundreds of pages just discovering great and greater pictures. In particular, I loved some chapters like the "Mattanza" thun-fish in Sicile, or the one settled in Bangladesh. The photographic style is pure and simple. The technique is simply perfect, so the work of Salgado is rated at a very high level, all over the book. The only "but" I find is that maybe there are so many good pictures you can swallow them at once!

Salgado's eyes capture a world forgotten to most of us: a world where humanity is subjected to hard, unending labor. Here machines tower over their workers as hapless captives, as if man and machine have traded roles in some dark nightmare. And even amidst this bleak picture, Salgado has found a spark of humanity, still afire, testifying that their struggles are, in a way, still our own. An engrossing book.

I first learned of Salgado from reading "Magnum 50 years at the frontline of photography" Magnum lost a great when he left. For months I removed this book from the shelf of the local Borders and studied it over a cup of coffee. Any photographer could learn a lot from study of this book. I eventually bought the book and I continue to study it about once a week. Salgado's eye for showing people's pride while doing what many would consider distastful is what sets him apart. While I like his later books something about this one touches me deeply

Skin covered with goosebumps, I slowly turned each page of Workers while my lower lip trembled. I couldn't believe the power that those images had.

It's a big heavy volume worth every cent I paid for it. To be honest I was a little cautious when I saw the price, but my gamble paid off. The pages hold the detail and tone beautifully. Salgado drags you into the lives of these people from vast mines of thousands of workers to the effort of an individual. Looking into their eyes will appreciate not only what they go through, but how photography can take you anywhere.

I love these photographs, and the quality of the reproduction is exquisite -- BUT
most of the photos span two pages

Having a "spine crease" in the middle of the photos detracts severly from their beauty and impact

Sebastião Salgado (born February 8, 1944) is a Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist, first trained as an economist and worked successfully in that field until the reality of the world economic situation urged him to change vocations and become a poet of the working class. His photographs are some of the most majestically poetic of any artist who desires to carry a message to the public. Labeling him as a photojournalist may be a proper classification, but that title is only the core of what Sebastião Salgado has accomplished.

Salgado visits those places that are unknown to us were it not for his famous images. The workers in the vast mines of South America, the sulfur mines in Indonesia, builders of dams in India, assembly line workers all over the globe - these are the heroic places Salgado takes us. His images and accompanying gentle words are separated in this book into categories of agriculture, mining, oil, construction, food, and industry and the raw realities of mass labor jump from these pages. Lest we think that these kinds of impossible working conditions occurs only in other places, then look carefully at the images of slaughter houses in our own South Dakota.

In addition to being a brilliant photographer Salgado is a humanist and it is his obsession with quietly reminding us all of how we co-exist on a planet whose future is in danger in softly whispering overwhelming mages and words. This is a book that should be part of every household: it should be demanded reading for school children and students of art and sociology and the environment. Grady Harp, September 10