Friday, April 17, 2015

Wim Wenders’ Striking Visual Ode to Sebastião Salgado

The Salt of the Earth makes its commercial debut on Friday, April 17 at MDC’s Tower Theater.
With deep empathy for the human condition, Sebastião Salgado’s photographs directly confront injustice, inhumanity and horror, while capturing the dignity within every subject. In multi-year, globe-spanning projects such as Workers: Archaeology of the Industrial Age, Sahel: The End of the Road, Migrations, and Genesis. Salgado’s stunning black-and-white compositions chronicle the lives of forgotten people—rendering them unforgettable.
Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado
Born in the Brazilian mining state of Minas Gerais and trained as an economist, Salgado moved to France in 1969 after Brazil’s military coup, and in the early ‘70s, in close collaboration with his wife Léila Wanick (then an architect), set up a home and studio in Paris to focus on photography. Devoting decades of his life to documenting the world’s darkest corners—among them the unspeakable horrors of the Rwandan genocide—left him deeply traumatized, and he decided not continue capturing such unimaginable horror. He couldn’t. In 1990, he returned from exile to the desiccated remains of his family’s formerly verdant farm, where his wife Léila said, “Let’s plant a few trees.” The ‘few’ trees became over a million through an experimental program of replanting. Their technique proved so successful that the project, called “Instituto Terra,” has now reforested parts of Brazil’s Atlantic (Mata Atlântica) rainforest and is a model for similar efforts worldwide.
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Refugee camp in Rwanda
Having collected Salgado’s photographs since the 1980s, German filmmaker Wim Wenders already knew that this Salgado really cared about people; what he didn’t know was that he was going to discover much more than just a photographer. His latest film, The Salt of the Earth (Le Sel de la terre), co-directed with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado(Sebastião’s son), is a fascinating amalgam of insider and outsider perspective on the Salgado family’s story. “Salt,” which earned a 2015 Oscar-nomination for Best Documentary Feature (Wender’s third, following Pina in 2011, and Buena Vista Social Clubin 1999) is a stunning visual odyssey through Sebastião’s career.
Dinka group of Pagarau cattle camp, South Sudan, Africa 2006
Dinka group of Pagarau cattle camp, South Sudan, Africa 2006
For the past decade, Salgado has moved on to take pictures of pristine territories, our planet as it was created, hence the project’s name “Genesis”. His hope is that these images of absolute peace will help counter-balance the onslaught of negative imagery that we are exposed to on a daily basis. Lélia, the curator of the exhibit says that “Genesis is a quest for the world as it was, as it was formed, as it evolved, as it existed for millennia before modern life accelerated and began distancing us from the very essence of our being”.
Wenders, who received Miami International Film Festival’s Career Achievement Tribute in 2006, created a clever, cinematic way of filming Sebastião discussing his work in The Salt of the Earth. By projecting the master’s photographs onto a semi-transparent mirror, he allows audiences to see both image and man. In this manner, Wenders elicits memories of various monumental projects, turning ordinary talking-head visuals into emotion-filled interactivity. Following its Florida premiere at #MiamiFF32 last month, The Salt of the Earth makes its commercial debut on Friday, April 17 at MDC’s Tower Theater—Tatyana Chiocchetti

Location Lighting Workshop with Rick Friedman Presented by Photo Workshops Miami on April 25th

Instructor Rick Friedman
On Location with Instructor Rick Friedman & Model Susan at
Casa Palma Miami and a Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class Roadster Convertible.
Location Lighting Workshop with Rick Friedman 
Presented by Photo Workshops Miami on April 25th
Join Rick on location at Casa Palma Miami with model Susan and a Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class Roadster Convertible. This dynamic, intensive, interactive workshop is designed for portrait photographers, photojournalists, corporate and event photographers, wedding photographers, and serious amateurs who want to improve their knowledge of lighting.  The workshop begins with creating interesting light with one Speedlight, progresses through using multiple Speedlites with many different light modifiers, using grip equipment, adding colors to your images and ends with mixing both Speedlights and studio strobes. 

To learn about portable lighting techniques that have enabled Rick Friedman to capture his on location, award-winning imagery around the world, sign up and join in for one of his upcoming workshops. One of the key things that he will share in a "very hands-on way" is how to better control your lighting.  If you attend Rick's class, you can plan on leaving feeling empowered to capture great images no matter what lighting situation you come up against!  Rick teaches using both Nikon and Canon.

Participants must bring their own cameras. A complimentary print of your choice size 16 x 20 or 20 x 24 of your days work will be provided by product sponsor Dale Labs.

Your day begins at the Coral Gables Museum for our Lecture Series with LaRae Lobdell, Al Diaz and Marc Serota from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m
Rick Friedman’s Workshop begins at 2:00 to 6:00 p.m.

We’ll toast the day with Bacardi’s Hatuey Beer and refreshments during our Closing Reception at Leica Store Miami from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. PURCHASE TICKETS
Reserve Your Session Today Purchase Tickets Here!
Feeling lucky? We’ll have plenty of valuable prizes we’ll be giving away throughout the day from our product sponsors. 3 Legged Thing | BlackRapid | Bay Photo | Books & Books | Canon | Dale Labs | Electric Avenue | ExpoImaging | Focus Pyramid | Leica Store Miami | Peak Design | Polaroid Fotobar | Think Tank Photo | Westcott | + more
So join us as Photo Workshops Miami presents, CHASING THE LIGHT 2015, hosted by the Coral Gables Museum on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Events starting at 8:30AM until 8:30PM 285 Aragon Avenue Coral Gables, FL 33134

For one full day you’ll share the fun and creativity of photography with some of the best in the business. Intended for the professional, amateur or photo enthusiast, who dreams of improving their photography skills, we’ve planned Photo Workshops Miami with you in mind.Take your craft to the next level; join us and START LIVING THE DREAM!
Camera Superstore  259 East Flagler, Miami, FL 33131