In GENESIS; my camera allowed nature to speak to me. And it was my privilege to listen. -Sebastiao Salgado On a very fortuitous day in 1970; 26-year-old Sebastiao Salgado held a camera for the first time. When he looked through the viewfinder; he experienced a revelation: suddenly life made sense. From that day onward-though it took years of hard work before he had the experience to earn his living as a photographer-the camera became his tool for interacting with the world. Salgado; who always preferred the chiaroscuro palette of black-and-white images; shot very little color in his early career before giving it up completely. Raised on a farm in Brazil; Salgado possessed a deep love and respect for nature; he was also particularly sensitive to the ways in which human beings are affected by their often devastating socio-economic conditions. Of the myriad works Salgado has produced in his acclaimed career; three long-term projects stand out: Workers (1993); documenting the vanishing way of life of manual laborers across the world; Migrations (2000); a tribute to mass migration driven by hunger; natural disasters; environmental degradation and demographic pressure; and this new opus; GENESIS; the result of an epic eight-year expedition to rediscover the mountains; deserts and oceans; the animals and peoples that have so far escaped the imprint of modern society-the land and life of a still-pristine planet. Some 46% of the planet is still as it was in the time of genesis; Salgado reminds us. We must preserve what exists. The GENESIS project; along with the Salgados' Instituto Terra; are dedicated to showing the beauty of our planet; reversing the damage done to it; and preserving it for the future. Over 30 trips-traveled by foot; light aircraft; seagoing vessels; canoes; and even balloons; through extreme heat and cold and in sometimes dangerous conditions-Salgado created a collection of images showing us nature; animals; and indigenous peoples in breathtaking beauty. Mastering the monochrome with an extreme deftness to rival the virtuoso Ansel Adams; Salgado brings black-and-white photography to a new dimension; the tonal variations in his works; the contrasts of light and dark; recall the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Georges de La Tour. What does one discover in GENESIS? The animal species and volcanoes of the Galapagos; penguins; sea lions; cormorants; and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions; leopards; and elephants; the isolated Zo'e tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone Age Korowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan; Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula; Saharan deserts; the Negro and Jurua rivers in the Amazon; the ravines of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska... and beyond. Having dedicated so much time; energy; and passion to the making of this work; Salgado calls GENESIS my love letter to the planet. Whereas the limited Collector's Edition is conceived like a large-format portfolio that meanders across the planet; this unlimited book presents a selection of photographs arranged in five chapters geographically: Planet South; Sanctuaries; Africa; Northern Spaces; Amazonia; and Pantanal. Each in its own way; this book and the Collector's Edition-both edited and designed by Lelia Wanick Salgado-pay homage to Salgado's triumphant and unparalleled GENESIS project.