‘Henri Cartier–Bresson (1908-2004), arguably the most significant photographer of the twentieth-century, was one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos in 1947 and champion of the “decisive moment”. He brought a new aesthetic and practice to photography, initiated modern photojournalism, and influenced countless followers.’
Henri Cartier-Bresson is well known for his street photography, here are some of his most significant images:
Analysis
This image was shot in natural light on a sunny day, which created strong defined shadows on the dround. This creates a large tonal range from the light whites of the highlights to the darkest blacks of the shadows. This high contrast makes the subjects and image as a while pop out. The image is also perfectly exposed with no sun glare or over whitening of surfaces. The aperture of the photo seems to be around the f.11 mark, a medium to high aperture to let most things in frame be in focus and sharp. There is a slight vignette around the edges of the image to create a more moody feel and to draw attention to the centre of the image. The shutter speed was probably above 1/120 as the subjects were moving at the time the photo was taken and the sunlight was bright. There also seems to be a slight grainy texture to the image indicating a higher iso.
The light coming from behind the people give a silhouette effect. This along with the dark shadows being cast on the brightly lit road creates an ominous and almost uneasy, moody feeling. As the people get further away from the camera and further down the road, their silhouette becomes less distinguishable from the background, creating a greater sense of depth in the image.
The peoples faces are not clearly seen. This might symbolise how each person in the image, weather they know each other or are strangers, is living their own personal life (sonder). Them being unaware of the photograph shows the natural way of living and people getting on with their daily tasks.
MAGNUM photo agency
In early 1947, Cartier-Bresson, with Robert Capa, David Seymour, William Vandivert and George Rodger founded Magnum Photos. Magnum was a cooperative picture agency and aimed to use photography in the service of humanity, and provided arresting, widely viewed images.
William Klein – comparrison
William Klein took many street photography, and ill compare the above image with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s images
Similarly to Bresson, the image has a large black and white tonal range, with no over exposure or under exposed parts of the image.
Contrasting to Bressons image, this was shot with a lower aperture, maybe about f.5. This is because the Gun that is being pointed at the camera in the foreground is blurry and out of focus, but the subjects behind it are in focus and well detailed. There is also not a vignette in this image.
There seems to be a high iso, similarly to Bressons image, because of the grainy texture.
Contrasting completely to Bressons image, there is immediately a lot of emotion and meaning in this photo. The use of a gun symbolises danger and destruction. Along with the boys emotion with shows anger and sadness. This contrasts to the unidentifiable, shadow filled faces of the subjects in Bressons image. Also, in the image the subjects are aware of the camera.