“The More I See, The Less I Need”
“The more I see, the less I need. The more I strip away, the closer I get to what I meant to say.” — Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado is one of the most revered documentary photographers of our time a Brazilian-born visual storyteller who spent decades capturing humanity’s labor, migration, and endurance in black and white. His monumental projects, such as Workers, Exodus, and Genesis, are not just collections of images; they are meditations on what it means to be human.
Salgado’s quote is less a statement about minimalism and more a reflection on clarity of vision. Over years of looking, he discovered that meaning in photography doesn’t come from abundance, but from reduction. Seeing deeply teaches us what to leave out.
In his work, that philosophy is visible in every frame the deliberate composition, the absence of distraction, the quiet dignity of his subjects. His photographs are stripped to their emotional and formal core. Each image carries the weight of patience, empathy, and intention.
For photographers, Salgado’s insight is a call to simplify not in technique, but in purpose. The more we look, the more we understand that what remains after we subtract is often the truest part.
To see deeply is to need less. And in that less, we finally begin to say what we meant all along.
If you’re not familiar with Salgado’s work, visit his instagram page below.
