Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was born on August 22nd, 1908 in the northwestern region of France, is widely recognized as one of the most impactful photographers in history due to his unique and curious approach to capturing portraits, and is an early user of 35mm film. His renowned photobook, titled ‘The Decisive Moment,’ stands as an iconic example within its genre, delving into his exceptional skill in capturing spontaneous moments in street photography. The Decisive Moment is a term coined by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Initially drawn to the world of painting and drawing, Bresson’s creative journey took a turn towards photography due to limited access to art supplies. Through photography and capturing images, he discovered his true passion. Motivated by a fervent desire to combat Fascism, Cartier-Bresson eagerly volunteered for the war effort and was assigned to a film and photography unit in Metz, France, in 1940. However, his aspirations were cut short when he was captured by the Germans shortly after enlisting, leading to a three-year period of captivity.

Despite two unsuccessful escape attempts, Bresson eventually found refuge in a nearby farmhouse. Throughout the remainder of the war, he dedicated himself to aiding others in their liberation while simultaneously documenting the occupation of France using his cherished Leica camera. Recognizing his talent and vision, the American Office of War Information commissioned Cartier-Bresson to create a documentary titled “La Retour” (1946), focusing on the return of French prisoners. This documentary became the centerpiece of his first solo exhibition, held at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947. Remarkably, the exhibition had initially been planned as a retrospective, as Cartier-Bresson had been mistakenly presumed dead. However, the artist defied expectations by being very much alive and present at the exhibition’s opening.

At its core, the book conveys Cartier-Bresson’s conviction that within every captured scene, there exists a crucial moment that holds tremendous significance. This moment, according to him, relies on an instinctive intuition and a profound understanding of composition and visual appeal, qualities that Cartier-Bresson believes are indispensable for any photographer.

The book showcases Cartier-Bresson’s mastery of candid street photography, where he captures spontaneous and fleeting moments with his keen eye and impeccable timing. It emphasizes his belief in the importance of intuition, composition, and aesthetic value in creating compelling photographs.

Through a collection of his iconic images and insightful writings, Cartier-Bresson conveys the power of photography as a medium for storytelling and capturing the essence of human experience. The book serves as an inspiration and guide for aspiring photographers, encouraging them to develop their own artistic vision and be ready to capture the decisive moment whenever it arises. this inspires me and will use this advise taken from his photographs, to capture decisive moment while photographing people on the streets of St Malo.

In St Malo i plan to take photos of a range of different things under the theme of street photography. These include: portraits of people, groups of people, buildings, places, objects (bikes, chairs,) and social areas. I’m keeping my subjects vast as i will be photographing as i go not knowing the outcomes of the images. By photographing lots of things, i have multiple things to edit and experiment in. Also, this will help me reflect on what does and doesn’t work when doing street photography.

Henri Cartier- Bresson mood board

Examples of street photography in St Malo:

Helen Levitt

Helen Levitt was an American photographer and cinematographer, born on August 31st 1913 and passing away on March 29th, 2009. She was well known for her street photography around New York City even being described as “the most celebrated and least known photographer of her time.”

She began photography when she was eighteen years old and in 1931 she learned how to develop photos in the darkroom when she began working for J. Florian Mitchell, who was a commercial portrait photographer. She also attended many classes and events hosted by the Manhattan Film and Photography League around the time she was exposed to the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson at the Julien Levy Gallery, who she was also able to meet through the league.

Cartier-Bresson’s work became a major influence for her photography as it inspired her to change from her more journalistic and commercial approach to photography to a more personal one.

While teaching art classes to children in 1937 for New York City’s Federal Art Project, Levitt became intrigued with the transitory chalk drawings that were part of the New York children’s street culture of the time. She began to photograph these chalk drawings, as well as the children who made them for her own creative assignment with the Federal Art Project.

In 1959 and 1960, she received two grants from the Guggenheim Foundation for her pioneering work in colour photography and in 1965 she published her first major collection, A Way of Seeing. Levitt lived in New York City and remained active as a photographer for nearly 70 years. However, she expressed lament at the change of New York City scenery:

“I go where there’s a lot of activity. Children used to be outside. Now the streets are empty. People are indoors looking at television or something.”

William Klein

William Klein was an American-born French photographer and filmmaker born on April 19th 1926 and later passing on September 10th 2022. Klein was noted for his ironic approach to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography. He was ranked 25th on Professional Photographer‘s list of 100 most influential photographers.

Klein trained as a painter, studying under Fernand Léger, and found early success with exhibitions of his work. He soon moved on to photography and achieved widespread fame as a fashion photographer for Vogue and for his photo essays on various cities. He directed feature-length fiction films, numerous short and feature-length documentaries and produced over 250 television commercials.

Despite having no formal training as a photographer, Klein won the Prix Nadar in 1957 for New York, a book of photographs taken during a brief return to his hometown in 1954. Klein’s work was considered revolutionary for its “ambivalent and ironic approach to the world of fashion”, and for his extensive use of wide-angle and telephoto lenses as well as using natural lighting and motion blur. The New York Times’ Katherine Knorr writes that, along with Robert Frank, Klein is considered “among the fathers of street photography, one of those mixed compliments that classifies a man who is hard to classify.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson, born August 22nd, 1908 in North-western France, is considered to be one of the most influential photographers of all time, with his distinctive and inquisitive style of portraiture. His photobook, ‘The Decisive Moment‘, is one of the most famous of its kind and explored his mastery of candid street photography.

The book essentially works to express Cartier-Bresson’s belief that there is a ‘decisive moment’ in every scene laid before a photographer. It is based on an innate intuition and key knowledge of both composition and aesthetic value that Cartier-Bresson feels is integral to the skill set of a photographer.

Cartier-Bresson’s career turned towards the documentary sector of photography when he co-founded the Magnum photojournalist agency in Paris in 1947, an association that focused on the important job of documenting the world’s biggest events through the accumulation of press prints from its members. He found himself photographing the liberation of Paris in 1944, the Maoist revolution in China in 1948, the funeral of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, and both the building of and the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1961 and 1989 respectively.

His interest in the composition of a scene clearly demonstrates his personal enthusiasm for Surrealism and cinematography, evidenced by his first job as second assistant director to French director Jean Renoir.

I plan to use the work of Cartier-Bresson as inspiration for my upcoming photography trip to St Malo.

Photography is a way of living. To me, my camera is an extension of my eye.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

American street photographer Gary Winogrand famously said, ‘I photograph things to see what they look like photographed.’

On the 14th of June, we went to St Malo, France for a day trip to take images for our module on Nostalgia and in the style of Henri Cartier-Bresson. We stayed within the walled area, as shown below, but otherwise we were free to wander to find image opportunities.

The brief we were given included the below considerations

SUBJECT MATTER/ CAPTURING A MOMENT > people and humanity, theatre of everyday life, poetics of streets, comic absurdities and humour, small acts of kindness, scenes of unexpected beauty, ordinary moments, visual pun and humour, gestures and poses, faces and crowds.

LOCATIONS & PLACES > inside the walls and on the ramparts, back alleys and sidewalks, beaches and coastal promenades, parks and public spaces, cafes and shops, street corners and intersections, signs and advertising, facades and architecture.

POINTS OF VIEW > low/ high/ canted angles, deadpan approach, light and shadows, intensity of colour, reflections in shop windows, shoot through glass, frame within a frame, focusing and un-focusing, up-close and details, shallow depth of field, artful and funny juxtapositions, geometry and space, lines and form, textures and patterns, signs and shop windows, advertising and graphics, reflections and mirrors.

APPROACH > capturing decisive moments, candid portraits, informal snapshots, inobtrusive observations (Cartier-Bresson style), interactive and confrontational (William Klein approach), spontaneous and subconscious reactions, poetic possibilities, inquisitive mind and roaming eye, looking and prying, shoot from the hip, serendipity and good luck.

CAMERA HANDLING > Lenses (focal length): use wide (18-35mm) to standard lenses (50mm). Focusing: automatic or manual – whatever you prefer. Exposure mode: S or T mode – (shutter-speed priority). Shutter-speeds: experiment with fast (1/125-1/500) and slow shutter-speeds (1/15-1/60). ISO: 100 (sunny weather), 200-400 (overcast ), 800-3200 ISO (inside or evening/ night). White Balance: auto

Below are the images that I managed to capture.

DreamStudio

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Photoshop Beta

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I added more features to the image using the generative fill.

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I added some extra features using generative fill

In class, I experimented with Photoshop’s new beta feature – generative fill. To use this, I took an image from the St Malo trip and wanted to see what I could add to it; to distort it whilst still maintaining some of the reality of the original photograph.

First, I went with adding something that would suit the scene, using the prompt hanging vines and lanterns over a selected area at the top of the image. At first glance, I was shocked to see that it actually looked real, and noticed how it was naturally blended into the environment.

I changed the available preset for my first prompt to the third, noticing the vines were a darker, deeper green, and the lanterns were yellower. I implemented a dog lying down in the bottom right, which, after a closer look, didn’t look too believable. I followed this with a plant pot and a waiter to suit the restaurant setting, which suited the scene quite well, until the AI had generated the waiter’s face; a nightmarish, strange looking visage, that I attempted to fix for a good few minutes. After I gave up with that, I placed a signpost on the wall, and selected the preset I wanted, before adding a rat into the bottom left corner, which surprised me by how real it looks.

Experimenting with neural filters, another new addition to the beta, I found this one that manipulated most of the image into dream-like hues; purples, reds, and blues.

On top of the first filter, I decided a second could benefit the composition, and leave it smoother overall. I enjoyed the tones it left me with once again and thought it would be best to leave it at that for now, as I wanted to continue doing this with some other photographs.

Overall, I believe that these new features in photoshop are perfect for adding a surreal element to my photos, and it’s definitely something I want to continue using in the future.

Edited Versions

I think editing all my images into black and white was a good decision as it linked in more with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work. I think my results were quite successful in capturing St. Malo, especially the people.