The Editorial
(January 1st, 2008)
I’ve been making photographs all my life. Sometimes with a high level of productivity, sometimes – like when my daughters were young – little more than the occasional snapshot. Recently I was looking over some old images, deciding which to keep, and I made a discovery: the good shots were all fixed in my mind not just as images on a page, but as a physical experience.
When it mattered, I remember being there.
I’m not sure this applies to all photographers. Agatha Christie was so prolific a novelist that there was at least one she had no recollection of writing. I’ve written several corporate scripts that were dumped in the mental recycle bin as fast as they were emailed away. So perhaps Salgado forgets too. Or maybe we all forget only those things we shouldn’t have bothered with in the first place.
On the other hand, there may be something special about photography. I wish I’d taken more pictures, but I’m making up for lost time.