What drew you to the camera?
I was doing a PhD in economics in Paris when my wife Lélia, who was studying architecture, bought a camera. I looked through a viewfinder and my life completely changed. What I loved, what I found interesting, what made me upset I could capture it all. Photography took up so much time there was nothing left for any other activity.
How did your early life inform the stories you photojournalist?
I came from an underdeveloped country with huge social problems, and for a while I studied and worked as an economist. I was a Marxist, then became a Maoist and afterwards a hippy. These movements gave me a communitarian vision of the planet, which inevitably led me to a human, social kind of photography. I focused on this for most of my life, until I became an environmentalist.
Why did you turn to environmentalism?
As a photographer, I witnessed terrible things. After documenting the 1994 Rwandan genocide, I became sick and grew hugely depressed. A doctor recommended I rest for a few months, so Lélia and I moved back to Brazil, to the southern state of Bahia. We lived by the beach, close to ancient tribes. I became quieter, I felt better.
This story is from the December 2022 edition of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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This story is from the December 2022 edition of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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