The magic world of coffee by Sebastiao Salgado
Magical aspects of the coffee world by a master of photography.
The world of coffee has many facets and a bean goes through many processes before ending up in our cup. A Brazilian photographer captured magical images of this world in a monumental book. No trip to the world of coffee is complete without a look at the photos of Sebastiao Salgado!
From the World Bank, behind the lens of a camera
Sebastiao Salgado was born in February 1944 in Minas Gerais, Brazil. After a turbulent childhood, Salgado studied economics, initially working for the World Coffee Organization and the World Bank. His business travels were his first motivation to take photographs, until in 1973 he left his career to become a photojournalist and photographer. Just six years later, he found himself working with Magnum, perhaps the most well-known and demanding photo agency in the world. Salgado's new career is now established, and he is slowly revealing an artist with a sensitive look, in addition to a technically flawless photojournalist.
In the fifty years of his career, Sebastiao Salgado has won dozens of awards and has captured with his lens many sensitive issues, such as everyday life in Latin America, indigenous communities, difficult working conditions and the Amazon rainforest, jobs. which have been presented in exhibitions, but have also been published in luxury albums.
One of Sebastiao Salgado's most distinctive works is "Aroma of the Dream": a collection of black and white photographs that tell the story of the daily journey of coffee!
An artistic look at the world of coffee
"Aroma of the Dream" was unveiled to the public in the fall of 2007 and includes photos from Sebastiao Salgado's travels to Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, India, Costa Rica and elsewhere. Salgado has been photographing for almost a decade, documenting the entire coffee production process, from cultivation to processing, roasting and packaging.
Salgado's look is characterized not only by high aesthetics, but also by respect and understanding. He manages to capture decades of techniques and traditions, fatigue and toil, the people behind the coffee, creating an image of incredible beauty, without ever becoming melodramatic. Salgado moves almost "inside" his subjects: reading his book you feel the moisture on the cherry of the coffee tree, you muddy from the soil, you smell the roasting of the grain.
Although some images are idealized, Sebastiao Salgdao does not fail to show the most arduous and painful aspects of the coffee industry, without embellishing the situation. He found a supporter in this effort in a coffee giant, Illy, who financed the entire project, as well as the publication of the book.
Something more than just photos
Sebastiao Salgado has stated that the purpose behind "Aroma of the Dream" is not only aesthetic or artistic, but hides the ambition to make known to the world the roots of coffee, as well as the effort hidden behind each cup.
It would not be an exaggeration to believe that the key to the interpretation of this project is hidden in the childhood and youth of the photographer. Salgado is Brazilian, and was born and raised in Minas Gerais, one of the major coffee-producing regions of the world's largest coffee-producing country - something that brought him into contact with the coffee world from a very young age. Also, his first job involved traveling around the world, through the World Coffee Organization, something that undoubtedly acquainted him not only with the magic of coffee but also with the harsh reality of working around it.
They say that nothing goes so well with coffee as a good book - and if we are talking about a book full of wonderful photos of Salgado, this is probably true.
