Photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has died aged 81, on power of realism

48 HOURS: Your exhibition at Sundaram Tagore Gallery, which runs through December 31, presents a selection of photographs taken from the past three decades. Does it feel strange to see your life's work contained in a little space?

SEBASTIÃO SALGADO:In a sense, yes, because every one of these pictures is part of a larger story. Here, the pictures are isolated. When I look at them, I say, "Wow, I was in incredible situations." When I was there, I was part of the moment. And this, for me, is the most interesting part of doing this kind of photography: the photography of life, history, historical moments.

What do you mean by that?

When I was coming here just now, I saw in the street [Hollywood Road] one gallery selling portraits of Mao Zedong. Mao was one politician among thousands at that time. If you had lived in that moment with Mao as a sign of China, the portraits would be just normal. When you isolate them, they become an icon. [ Points to his photograph of a gigantic boat] When I was on the beach of Bangladesh to photograph this, it was a big boat, but it is only now that I realise it was really big when I see the size of the tiny human figures next to it. I believe that is the power of this kind of photo; they are cross-sections of reality.

Do you usually notice that power?

About four weeks ago, I was looking around a show [at Grand Palais] called "Paris Photo". Hundreds of galleries came from all over the world to show their work there. Ninety-five per cent of the work was made to be there; they are pictures where guys are being very smart [about their approach]. They said, "Well, I do this, compose like that, use this light", and it became an object [the photographic print] at the exhibition. And we had maybe five per cent of pictures there that were like these [in my exhibition], which are pictures of people in our history.