Henri Cartier-Bresson is among some of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. His photographs appear in most popular magazines such as, Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and also co founding Magnum Photo Agency. Cartier-Bresson pursued photography with an impulsive passion that he refined into a photojournalistic art form. He is also well know for coining the phrase “The Decisive Moment” in photography, which is capturing the moment something is happening creating a photograph that leaves the viewer waiting. In better terms the decisive moment is “the one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant. It is important to keep in mind each picture was exposed on film and could only be viewed after the film was developed; multiple shots were taken and with a keen eye one is selected. This will focus on the concept of “The Decisive Moment” with a brief summary on Henri Cartier-Bresson followed by photographic examples by Henri Cartier-Bresson and
BODY 1 Henri Cartier-Bresson was born August 22, 1908 in France and passed away after a very successful career in August 3, 2004. He can easily be called the father of modern photojournalism. He helped popularize 35 mm film by capturing candid photographs. He used a 35mm Leica with a 50mm lens. The camera was quite small, which allowed the photographer to move easily among people. Cartier-Bresson’s influence can also be seen in street photography and real life reportage. In many interviews Bresson explained his focus was initially geometry and worked with the golden ratio frequently. Over his career he photographed many diverse subjects, “He was there for the Spanish Civil War and the Chinese revolution. He documented George VI’s coronation and told the story of Khrushchev’s Russia.
His subjects ranged from Che Guevara to Marilyn Monroe, while his magazine clients ran the gamut, including not just Life, but Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and many others. ” After some of the photographers travels he returned to France in 1952 to published his first book, The Decisive Moment. A quote by Cartier-Bresson that describes the concept of the decisive moment thoroughly is “To take photographs means to recognize- simultaneously and within a fraction of a second, both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning.
Cartier-Bresson tells the importance of “the fact itself” the subject matter and “rigorous organization of perceived forms” composition, “that give it meaning” and purpose. BODY 2. The first image taken by Cartier-Bresson is of a city street with a few people walking; a particular boy with a smirk draws the viewer’s attention. Why is the boy smirking? Is it at someone or his own thoughts about the obviously large bottles in his arms? The questions the viewer asks when they look upon the piece is an example of experiencing the decisive moment.
The emotion felt when looking at the image because a variety of factors that came together in the shot. There is also underlying geometry to an intriguing image such as the theory of thirds or the golden ratio. Cartier-Bresson often photographs around the golden proportions as it helps the eye flow through the photograph subconsciously causing motion. In the image of the boy the focus is on the boy but moves to the background and other people, creating the golden mean shape. This as well as the boy’s face and positioning of other people come together to create the decisive moment.
Bresson writes how important the expression on the subjects is, “What is there more fugitive and transitory than the expression on a human face? The first impression given by a particular face is often the right one; but the photographer should try always to substantiate the first impression by “living” with the person concerned. The decisive moment and psychology, no less than camera position, are the principal factors in the making of a good portrait. ” (31). The photo of this little boy carrying two bottles of wine under his arms, with the triumphant grin of a champion perfectly conveys the message of the.
When the viewer first sees the image, they are struck with memories of childhood. Henri Cartier-Bresson took many beautifully nostalgic photos of children in their natural playful state. It is difficult to shoot children in this way now with all the media hysteria about kidnappings. But children are fantastic subjects because they care less about being photographed letting the photographer capture their true essence. BODY 3 The photograph Behind the Saint-Lazare station, Paris taken in 1932 by Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the most well known photographs in the world.
Surprisingly the photograph defined Cartier-Bresson’s career was ironically one of only two pictures he cropped. He despised darkroom editing techniques and to prevent his editors from cropping, he sent his pictures framed with a black. Although, behind the train station, he couldn’t do this: “There was a plank fence around some repairs behind the Gare Saint Lazare train station. I happened to be peeking through a gap in the fence with my camera at the moment the man jumped. The space between the planks was not entirely wide enough for my lens, which is the reason why the picture is cut off on the left,” he explained.
Behind the Saint-Lazare station is often used to show the idea of the decisive moment, the image leaves you wondering: does the man make it or land in the puddle? Where is he going in such a rush and why not avoid the puddle? All the questions arise when looking at the photograph. Cartier-Bresson explains how a photographer’s memory and intuition are incredibly important, “Memory is very important, particularly in respect to the recollection of every picture you’ve taken while you’ve been galloping at the speed of the scene itself.
The photographer must make sure, while he is still in the presence of the unfolding scene, that he hasn’t left any gaps, that he has really given expression to the meaning of the scene in its entirety, for afterward it is too late. He is never able to wind the scene backward in order to photograph it all over again. ” (25) Everything is aligned for an instant to capture the decisive moment and is one of the biggest gifts of street photography is that things are constantly vanishing. Once a moment has come and gone, it is lost forever.
