Henri Cartier-Bresson was a french photographer whom many have credited as being one of the founding fathers of street photography. Born on the 22nd February 1908, Bresson came from a wealthy family, with his father being a wealthy textile owner and his mother a landowner herself. This in turn allowed for his education and pursuit of photography to be entirely funded by his parents.
in 1929 after being placed under house arrest for hunting without a license, Bresson was introduced to an American Expatriate by the name of Harry Crosby. Crosby learned of Bressons interest and passion for photography, and therefore issued him with his first camera. Bresson had a long term affair with Crosby’s wife, which, upon ending in 1931 two years after Crosby committed suicide, made him move to Cote D’ivoire in West Africa where he lived for several years hunting and selling game to locals. Upon returning to france in late 1931, Bresson found insipration from the surrealist movement and this sparked his desire to take photography seriously and persue his career as a professional
Notable Works
Allee Du Prado, which simply translates to Prado alley is an image depicting a man in a long trench coat and bowler hat smoking a long cigarette. At the time, this person was seen to be someone of higher class and power and typically quite wealthy, so therefore the dead trees in the background provide a contrast between the clean cut image portrayed by the male in the foreground and the trees themselves.
Bressons most well known image, Rue Mouffetard, Depicts a man outside of a train station seemingly running to catch a train. However, Bresson captured the image at the exact moment both of the subjects feet had left the floor, giving the appearance that the subject is floating. This affect is amplified in terms of effectiveness by the reflection of the subject in the water on the ground. This image is a defining one in the surrealist genre as it finely depicts the crossover between real life and surreal ideas
In this image, Bresson has captured an avenue of trees leading down a path. The image features the first trees and then the avenue continues snaking around to the left of the image in the background. The completely white sky can help in providing a contrast within the image as the darker colours of the trees highlight the prominence of the feature within the image.
