Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French artist and street photographer, known for his heavily popularised concept of “the decisive moment” within photography. It refers to capturing a spontaneous event in a photograph; this event being what gives the image its character as a piece. This ‘event’ could be anything, from a plane flying over a house in an image to cyclists riding through the streets of Hyères, France in one of Bresson’s most famous photographs, aptly titled “Man cycles down street.”

The decisive moment brings an element of action to an image – providing it with a narrative that it wouldn’t have otherwise as a static shot of a staircase on an empty street.

This is reflected in some of my own images, such as this one above. The moving car on the road adds action to the composition and acts as a focal point, further drawing in a viewer’s attention. With this being said, I hope to use Bresson’s style as a key inspiration for when we go to St. Malo.

These photographs were taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson, who frequently visited St. Malo for his photography. I plan to take inspiration from his strong compositions of geometric shapes to use in my own images.

William Klein was a street photographer who preferred to get up close to his subjects, often in crowds in busy streets. I want to play around with monochrome photographs, and imitate the strong contrasts featured in Klein’s work.

I find both of these artists interesting and I plan to use both of their styles in my own images on this trip. The geometric shapes featured across the battlements and archways of St. Malo should make for very unique pieces, and I think that the people around the town could make for some interesting portraits too.