Henri Cartier-Bresson 
- Henri Cartier-Bresson was born on August 22nd, 1908 and was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film.
- He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment. His work has influenced many photographers.
- His father was a wealthy textile manufacturer, so Henri got the financial support he needed in order to pursue his photography ambition.
- Henri was given his first camera by a man named Harry Crosby who convinced the commandment to release him into his custody from a House arrest for hunting without a licence. They both shared an interest for photography.
- He died on August 3rd, 2004
Image Analysis
Technical: The image uses natural daylight to give a balanced tonal range that may consider it to be apart of the Ansel Adams Zone System.
The image appears to have used a wide lens and angle to allow for the majority of the image to be in focus, where it has a slight blur in the background. This also gives the whole image a feeling of stillness.
I believe it would have been taken with a fast shutter speed to capture the business of the street.
Visual: The image is presented in a Black and white 2D appearance. It is arranged to feature the repetition of the cattle.
Contextual: Cartier-Bresson was driven by a sociological impulse to India to convey the post-colonial development. He went at a turning point in his career as he had a “curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually.” The curiosity would drive a long career in photojournalism, for which his India trip was an apprenticeship.
My Images
Edits
I reduced the brightness to -40, and increased the contrast to 53.
For the above 2 images, I took inspiration from Bruce Gilden’s technique of street photography and took photos of my subject by their suprise.
With the coloured image, I only increased the contrast to 56 on Photoshop. However, for the black and white image, I reduced the saturation before increasing the contrast to 20 and also decreasing the brightness to -12.
For this Image, I looked at the colour schemes of Martin Parr’s work and decided to incorporate this in my edit. This filter on the ‘VSCO’ app gave a similar feel.
I also used the ‘VSCO’ app for the image below however this time I also reduced the exposure.
I liked the style of Henri Cartier-Bresson so decided to edit some of my images in black and white by reducing the saturation. I reduced the brightness and increased contrast to present different tonal ranges.
This is one of my favourite images as it was taken in St Malo, France. I feel as if this makes the image more interesting than an image just being taken in Jersey. I reduced the brightness to -70 and the contrast to -21 as I felt the original image was too bright and warm, and I wanted to show off the shadows.
How is it used in modern photography?
Chiaroscuro is used within modern photography today to create dramatic portraits by making certain aspects of an image once again stand out as seen below:
This allowed me to focus on certain aspects of the shoot easier, as I now had a rough idea what I needed to capture. These were the results from my shoot:
From the shoot I went on to highlight and crop the images I thought were the best out of all the photographs. This allowed me to limit the shoot down to just ten pictures so that I could choose my final image to display. These were my choices:
I chose this image because I loved the contrast between the darkness of the wall, and the subject. This is due to the rule of thirds which line up with the character inside, which instantly draws your eye to the face. I found that the pure blackness of the wall covering the picture added for a dramatic effect overall, making it almost seem hidden.
I chose this image once again because of the contrast between the subject and the surrounding area. I found that the silhouette created by the lamp really made the image pop, whilst at the same time balanced it so that the darkness itself was not too overpowering in the picture.
What I liked about this image was how the subjects face lit up against the darkness of the rest of the picture against the white strip of wall. I found that capturing someone off guard in their comfort zone allowed for a greater insight to the subjects life, and really captured them as an individual.
I found that this picture captured a clear contrast between the darkness of the three old figures and the white pub behind. I found that this silhouette that is almost created, makes the overall piece more dramatic than it is, with the blurred black building behind allowing for the whole picture to work.
Finally I chose this image because it captured the nightlife of a man drunk stumbling home. What I liked about this was how the picture was blurred itself as well, allowing greater emphasis on the man in the jacket being drunk, and the perspective that he may be seeing.
FINAL IMAGE
