Capture the Memories: April 2011

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004)

Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer, who is also known as the Father of modern photojournalism. He spent most of his life traveling around the world to capture events in just in the nick of time, which is well known as the “decisive moment”, with his precious 35mm Leica. Although he spent most of his time taking modern photographs, he started out to be a painter before he encountered this particular career (in which he was very gifted) - photography. He was part of the team whom developed the “street photography” or “real life photography” – photojournalism style. He also co-founded Magnum Photos with Robert Capa, which became an influential force in photojournalism. With the particular style of being “invisible”, not being able to engage with the events and having the ability to come up with the accurate angle within the frame, which also requires the patience to wait for exactly the right moment to capture, this skill is definitely difficult, but it was never a challenge to Cartier-Bresson who was so talented. His images appear to be simple, but meanwhile are complex in the number of layers of insight, story or message of depth they present. Most of his shots are just demonstrated as it is, rather than editing this and cropping that. He believed that capturing the moment regardless of time and environment is the best way of depicting the photo. He would describe the action of tip-toed picture, velvet hands, and hawk's eyes.

This shot by Loren Zeman was taken at a quick moment, which Zeman captured just when the old woman wrapped the little girl in her arms. This is very close to the picture which Cartier-Bresson had took, however Cartier-Bresson’s picture of the little kid had his eyes still open. Also, both pictures are in black and white. It's as if we were there with the children, on the spot, feeling the warmth from the caregivers. These photographers would have to practice some sort of unobstrusiveness in order to capture unposed photographs, which Loren had done well.

(Loren Zeman)

Vs.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, INDIA. Tamil Nadu. Madura. 1950)

The following 3 pictures has almost the same angle, when Cartier-Bresson and Simon-Bolivar present these pictures, it tells us a story of what is happening down there, without any contacts with anyone downstairs.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, FRANCE. The Var department. Hyères. 1932.)

VS.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, ITALY. Abruzzo. Aquila. 1951.)

Vs.

(Avenue Simon-Bolivar, Paris, 1949)

This is one of my favourite photos so far, the way that Huff has captured this moment of the busy New York City, it was well depicted through his Leica M9 & 35 Summicron F2 ASPH. This is a great shot, because it is obvious which we know that the people on the streets is not alerted at all. It really makes me feel like I was just right there where Huff was, looking out the window.

(Steve Huff)

“Cartier-Bresson came to America many times during his career. On one early visit, he captured this extraordinary moment, as a mother and son, separated by the war, are reunited in New York. One of the things that make this moment so extraordinary is the way the other people in the frame — and there are many of them — remain absorbed in their own concerns, oblivious to the drama of the reunited family.” Both Eisenstaedt and Cartier-Bresson was a Leica photographer, they both captured the moment where passion, intimacy was caught just in the nick of time. Eisenstaedt, just like Cartier-Bresson took pictures quickly to find and catch the storytelling moments.

(Alfred Eisenstaedt, VJ Day, The Kiss, New York, New York 1945)

Vs.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, New York, 1947)

Cartier-Bresson and Salgado both were pioneers and is into photojournalism. They both use white and black film, but also both wanted the audience to truly see what was going on, even though they had different ideas on how this should be done. They just really want to tell their journalism through their photographs. Both, at Refugee camps, taking the photos and moments of their lives, how can they miss a moment like this? This sort of photojournalism is what we all need, with just one capture to shoot the whole scene and story is what their roles are. To take photos like these, Cartier-Bresson would cover his camera with a lot of black tape to remain "invisible" to his surroundings and to remain silent.