Salgado, Sebastião

Born in 1944 in Aimorés, Minas Gerais, Brazil, the sixth child and only boy in a family of eight children, the son of a cattle rancher, Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado studied economics in Brazil (1964-1967) and earned his M.A. in economics in 1968 from the University of São Paulo and Vanderbilt University (USA). In 1971 he completed his coursework for his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Paris and worked as an economist for the International Coffee Organization until 1973.
A world-renowned photographer and part of the tradition of "concerned photography," Sebastião Salgado has been awarded virtually every major photographic prize and award in recognition of his accomplishments from institutions around the world. In 1994 he founded his own press agency, Amazonas Images, which represents him and his work.