|
Henri
Cartier-Bresson is reckoned to be
the forefather of street and reportage photography and many of today's
street photographers have copied his style. There is a great deal more
to
Henri Cartier-Bresson's style and body of work than just walking down the
street taking pictures with a Leica camera.
In his early days he studied
music and he did train as an 'artist'. From the very start of his
photography he did have an eye for the 'artistic' image and this did
influence and accelerate his photographic skills. Martin Munkasci's 'Three Boys at
Lake Tanganyika'
greatly influenced him as did the 'Surrealists' who helped to channel his photographic direction. I am not totally in
'tune' with the 'Surrealists' who maintained that ordinary photographs
contain a wealth of unintended, unpredictable meanings. I have witnessed this 'taken too literally'
in street photography whereby the images are just plain boring and
without soul.
I think that the image 'Three
Boys at Lake Tanganyika' does make an 'artistic' impression and embodies
'human life' within the image which is surely the statement. It was much more
than an image that could be defined by the 'Surrealists' and I
firmly believe that Cartier-Bresson transcended their perceived
photographic ideals............this combination of 'art' with the
'visual statement' within the image is why his images were so
successful.
Henri was also a prolific photo journalist and captured images of the
Second World War and major events throughout the world. His images of
those events transcended traditional street photography and their
historical value raised his status whereby he became recognised as an
iconic photographer. He along with
other great photographers was a founder member of
Magnum Photos.
A video of 155 images, shot by
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson - 'The Decisive Moment'
This
must be one of the best bits of 'SPIN' in the history of photography!
From his book,
Images à la sauvette,
whose English edition was titled The Decisive Moment
this phrase, leapt out - "There is nothing in this world that does not
have a decisive moment". Those words originated from the
17th century Cardinal de
Retz and Cartier-Bresson used them as
part of the keynote text in his
book.
Henri was reputed to have regretted ever
mentioning them.
Today, many photographers still conjure up 'grandiose ideas' and write
rubbish about the decisive moment..............the academics
love
the debate!
All photographers have their 'decisive moment' the
'fleeting' opportunity to catch
the light on a grand landscape, the smile on a wrinkled face in a
portrait, an interaction in sport or in wildlife photography but that's
all it is............the shutter button is pressed, the image is
good or bad, other people love it or hate it.
Henri was known for his 'inward analysis' that to be creative in photography you
must be quick to seize the moment, that point in time where the scene,
the art, the statement are interpreted by the eye and the shot is taken,
the image captured. Photography to Henri was a vocation, it would cause
him great anxiety when he over indulged and the images did not come. He
regarded it as a physical pleasure that stimulated his senses and
admitted that it did not take any brains to be a photographer. Henri
admits to planning some of his locations and waiting on subjects to
enter the scene, he recognised the possibility of 'art' in the shot,
whilst he waited for the right moment, the right step and the image he
desired. He also accepted that there was no rule, no set limits on the
number of shots he would take to achieve one suitable image.
Like many of today's aspiring photographers, Henri often thought he
recognised the quality in the scene, he lined up the camera viewfinder,
pressed the shutter button but later when he saw the end result of the
image in print, he binned it. In this digital age, images are being
deleted in their thousands if not millions, great shots in the mind's
eye that later turned out to be rubbish. Strange though it may seem,
this is a positive analysis of photography!
There is a
great DVD which you can purchase on-line. It is an 18 minute 'short
film' which was made back in 1973 with samples of his images and
narrated by Henri Cartier-Bresson himself. He speaks very good English
with an interesting accent and discusses his images and
technique -
Decisive Moment DVD
If you have enjoyed this article - please donate to my
Charity of Choice -
The Sick Kids
Richard Lawrence
Scotland
United Kingdom
Back to Articles Page |