Pioneering Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado did much of his work in far-off lands untouched by the creep of modernity, creating images that registered the tremors of profound cultural difference and the awe of novel environments. Deeply admiring of this body of work, Wenders also saw something of a kindred spirit in Salgado and set about taking visual inventory of his career in Salt of the Earth. Much of the film consists of lengthy contemplations of Salgado’s photographs over recollections and musings from the artist himself, while the structure is determined by a trip taken by the director and his subject around South America, passages often captured by Wenders with the monochromatic, panoramic field of view that’s a core of Salgado’s style. In giving carte blanche to the photographer to elucidate his working life, Salt of the Earth seeks to pose fundamental philosophical inquiries into the value and responsibility of a life behind a camera, but it also takes on more personal dimensions with a running exploration of Salgado’s complex relationship with his son Julian Ribeiro Salgado (who acts as co-director), a bond defined by the demands of a globetrotting vocation.