Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), a French photographer who is considered to be one of the fathers of photojournalism and masters of candid photography. He thought to capture the ‘everyday’ in his photographs and took great interest in recording human activity.
The Decisive Moment is a term coined by Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. It refers to the moment when all the elements in a photograph come together perfectly to create a meaningful image.
What is meant by the decisive moment?
The camera freezes time and fixates on the exact moment when photographic magic happens. This fraction of a second is called the decisive moment.
“For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to ‘give a meaning’ to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”
Henri-Cartier Bresson often used diagonals (the golden triangle) for composition. This technique is a mixture of the rule of thirds and diagonal lines, to draw peoples attention to the photograph. Imagine a scene where the subject lies on a diagonal line across the image. Now imagine another line intersecting with it.
Bresson started his creative career by firstly falling in love with painting and drawing, but due to the lack of art supplies Bresson had he turned to photography and taking photographs where he found his passion.
Eager to join the fight against Fascism, Cartier-Bresson volunteered for the war effort and in 1940 was assigned to a film and photography unit in Metz, France. Captured by the Germans soon after enlisting, he spent three years in captivity.
After two failed attempts at escape, he finally managed to reach a nearby farmhouse. He spent the rest of the war working to liberate others, and photographing the occupation of France with his beloved Leica camera.
The American Office of War Information commissioned Cartier-Bresson to make a documentary about returning French prisoners (La Retour, 1946), which became the focal point of the artist’s first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947. The museum planned the show as a retrospective, as Cartier-Bresson was thought to be dead. But the artist was very much alive — and was present at its opening.
