Sebastião Salgado is an award winning photojournalist and environmentalist who has dedicated himself to revealing the lives of the world’s displaced. His photography sheds light on all humanity while protesting war, poverty, and other injustices. I recently saw a selection of his work from his Africa series on display in Los Angeles and was moved.

The beauty of his images lies in Salgado’s depiction of his subjects. He is known to live with people for weeks before ever touching his camera and when he does photograph his subjects he depicts them with honesty and respect.  Salgado has said that “It’s not the photographer who makes the picture, but the person being photographed.”

In addition to his images, Sebastiao has contributed to many environmental and humanitarian efforts including UNICEF and The World Health Organization and has even started his own. The Instituto Terra is a nonprofit he founded with his wife in 1998 to promote reforestation and environmental education in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Salgado is from this region of Brazil and wanted to help rebuild his home after decades of deforestation as a result of logging and cattle grazing. Since its inception, Instituto Terra has successfully planted one million trees.

Salgado has said, “I believe that the average person can help a lot, not by giving material goods but by participating, by being part of the discussion, by being truly concerned about what is going on in the world.”

His work speaks for itself and if you are in Los Angeles it is worth a visit to the Peter Fetterman Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica where a selection of his photography is on display through September 30.