Out of the nearly 400 photos I took this day many were not ones I deemed useable hence the red colour, some I marked in yellow to check again as I liked elements but they weren’t the strongest. The green ones were my strongest images and the ones I will go on to edit.

Best Photos

These are all photos I think are strong compositionally, capture Saint Malo and are in a similar style to Henri Cartier Bresson. As they are the best ones they are the ones I will edit and use for picture stories.

Edit One

This is my first edit for this photoshoot, the original was taken on a slight angle so I used the crop tool to balance the photo, I then used the black and white feature to turn the photo black and white, in the style of Henri Cartier Bresson. This benefitted the photo as the dark outfit contrasted with the white van and light sky and round about.

Edit Two

For this shot I pulled the crop in a bit closer to use the edge of pavement and ladder as a central leading line from a close depth of field to the sky with the chimney pots. I also changed the exposure to make it more obvious that the line splits the middle of the photo and that the left of the line is a lighter grey not only the buildings, but the people also on each side of the line the guy on the right is darker matching the shadow and building and the guy on the other side is lighter again matching the building.

Edit Three

For this shot I wanted to emphasis the diagonal line created by the guy sitting on the left. The next thing I did was reduce the highlights so the sign was dulled down a bit as it was distracting from darker grey and black hoodies.

Fourth Photo

This photo I took at a wider angle including more of the background to help use this I adjusted the exposure and shadows etc. I felt it needed more to pull away from the grey scale tone to get a better, higher contrasted black and white so I used the brush tool on Lightroom with a small adjustment to the shadow slider so when I coloured over the subject it made them a little darker without altering the whole image.

Fifth Photo

I liked how this shot was composed with subject being in the door way so he was framed in the centre. By adjusting the photo to black and white again I then increased the contrast to make the blackboards and environment around the subject darker while he remained framed by the white door frame. I also cropped the image down to remove some of the extra stuff in the photo that draw away from the subject.

Sixth Photo

For this photo I really liked how the person is stepping while being in the middle of the two windows. It has a symmetrical and undenounced feel to it, to emphasis this and help it fit with my other photos I used the contrast slider to increase the darker areas.

Seventh Photo

For this one I produced two final photos, one with higher contrast and one with lower contrast. The lower contrast looks better individually as the rocks don’t have a s much texture, however to suit the rest of the photos and follow the Bresson style I increased the contrast the get the pockets of darker grey which added the texture back to the rocks but also the subject.

Eighth Photo

Ninth Photo

Tenth Photo

Selective Colour Editing

Selective colour editing is when the photographer edits the photo by making everything except a certain colour black and white. This adds a pop of colour to the photo, making the photo black and white adds to the contrast and atmosphere to the photo while the splash of colour adds a dynamic element to the photo. I will edit a few of mine in this style picking a certain colour as I think it would make a great trio of photos to present.

Photo One

This was the photo I edited first in the colour pop style. I started by selecting HSL colour and reducing all the colours except red to make the rest of the photo, minus the red areas, black and white. To then complete the photo I used the brush tool with 0 saturation to remove reds parts that just didn’t work in the photo.

Edit two

This is the second photo I edited in the same style I chose to select red colour in photos so make a trio of photos. Again I desaturated the entirety of other colours that weren’t red to make the photo black and white with a element of colour. This has been very successful for this image as the red coat ties into the rest of the image with the added section of red on the opposite coat.

Edit Three

This photo I did the same again with the saturation. With this photo particularly I used the small sections of red to pull the photo together with the section on the guys jumper and the text on the sign behind the other guy frames and makes them fit into the photo well with the red door frame.

Final Colour Pop Edits

Final Photos

Final Evaluation

For this photoshoot, it was actually a day trip to St Malo so required some planning before hand to make sure I had the right equipment. I took my cannon 550D with a 24-105 mm zoom lens. This is a very versatile lens that meant I could grab quick shots close to me or wait and use the zoom to be unnoticed. Street photography was new to me but this was a successful day of quick snapshots and planned shots waiting for the perfect moment. I kept the camera at sinker settings all day Tv, 1/400 shutter speed and auto iso and f stop. In the end I picked my six best shots all of which had similar features, the subject was centred and unaware they were being photographed. Overall I am pleased with the results especially after editing the photos have captured Saint Malo very well from the busy shops to a peaceful moment on the rocks surrounding the old town. I think I created a successful photoshoot inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson’s theory of ‘the decisive moment’ deciding which precise moment exactly, while much easier with modern cameras still remains a complex mixture of angles, lighting and covertness. I will now go onto use some of the images in a picture story, describing Saint Malo in images.

Henri-Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier Bresson, was a legendary humanist photographer known for his candid photography of Paris in particular. From unknown strangers to people of the time, he made human life seem connected and together through his work. He felt the camera was an extension of his eye and that taking photos was a physical pleasure. He was the best photographer at the time when it came to trusting his own intuition and grabbing the perfect shots and using composition to build a base for the perfect moment. Later on ‘the decisive moment’ was likened by Bresson to hunting but without the killing this was Bresson’s approach to his work with watching, waiting, trusting his intuition to get the best shot he could. His style and philosophy behind his work froze particular human moments in time.

Biography

Born in 1908, Henri Cartier Bresson was born into a wealthy French family who taught him to appreciate the arts as he grew up, he was an avid painter prior to taking up photography. Bresson continued to paint and develop his poetic style as he studied literature at Cambridge university prior to travelling around Europe and Africa. A few years after attending university Henri took up photography on his Lecia camera which continued to be his camera of choice going forwards, this went with him everywhere in his words ‘it never left my hand, except for when I was shaving’. He quickly progressed with his passion learning what exactly he wanted in each shot, very quickly having his first exhibition of many in 1933. However as WWII progressed he was taken as a prisoner of war in 1940 until he escaped in 1943, going onto help others escape and flee to safety. As the war ended he quickly went back to his photography routes, his first photos back being of the Liberation of France in 1945 before teaming up with other professional photographer to film ‘Le Router’. As his career developed and he continued to travel further capturing and exploring more of the world through his work he founded Magnum photos with a few others- this became and still is a place for photographers to gain recognition and is an archive for many older photos of much beloved photographers work like, Bresson’s work. He continued to be a creative till his death in 2004, however as his photography career grew eventually he returned to his roots in painting and sketching while still displaying his photography work in his own foundation.

The Decisive Moment

The decisive moment was Bresson’s philosophy when it came to his work, picking the precise moment to take the perfect shot capturing his envisions when he originally composes each shot. While Bresson didn’t actually coin this term it has stuck around him as it describes his style perfectly along with another comment form Bresson himself when he liked photography to hunting, waiting for the perfect moment while the tension builds as you get one shot, especially with the cameras at the time and you will know when you have missed the perfect shot.

Camera and Lens

Henri Cartier Bresson was known for his lifetime use of the Lecia range finder camera with a 50mm lens. The Lecia rangefinder were particularly revolutionary to the time period as with its unusually quiet shutter release, and were smaller while maintaining the quality of other cameras of the time. This benefitted his work as he managed to remain conspicuous to the subject and with a 50mm lens he manged to keep a similar view to the human perspective. This all benefitted his street photography style of remaining unknown to the subject in the photo keeping the candid authenticity.

Photo Analysis of Gare Saint – Lezare

Composition

The composition of the photo appears to be a lucky, fleeting capture at first until you start observing the details, for example Henri Cartier Bresson has used the rule of thirds to place the leaping man in the far right grid box, this means the viewer is led away from the busy background of fencing and the train station to the smoothness of the water and the movement the man is creating. The horizontal lines have also been lined up very well in the grid pattern, the fence line matching up with the rule of thirds grid, this creates a balanced look to the image and provides structure to the shot. It is an interesting photo as while there are significant leading lines, the fence and roof tops they don’t necessarily lead anywhere making the viewer look at the rest of the photo. Saying this, this does add to the geometric elements of the photo, as there are many roof tops and sharp angles used to create a geometric element to the contrasting the slightly grainy look to the shorter depth of field. The overall image is very well balanced with the chimney pot and the mans reflection, again another compositional master piece of Bresson’s making sure the photo was balanced was important with the rest of the image having such a mix of focus, contrast and movement, this balancing of the two diagonally opposite elements has allowed the photo to remain feeling connected with its large depth of field and focal point meaning there are many different elements. To continue to help the composition in the photo work, Bresson has used the negative space of the sky and water to make sure the photo doesn’t feel too busy or too complex, again drawing the viewer to look at the man leaping over the dark, busy background as the negative space of the water with just the ladder in it leads the eye to the man and his reflection. There is significant texture in the photo from the time period of the 1930s the cameras were and still are ever developing in quality so the grain was common at the time, but the way Bresson has used it to his advantage just adds to the photo with the high contrast and patterns from the railings. It adds to the quick, snapshot feeling of this shot that while was very well composed Bresson couldn’t have known the man would leap across the puddle and unlike modern day camera he wouldn’t have had multiple shots for the one moment. Following this while the monochrome was not a style choice but apparent to the time it still adds a timeless quality to the image, forcing the viewer to look at the subject and the individual textures within the image as if it was in colour you wouldn’t see the wear and tear on the posters as much as you do with the lack of colour.

Exposure settings:

There is no way we can be sure on Bresson’s camera settings but by looking at the photo as the result we can predict that his settings consisted of a smaller aperture for a long depth of field, this keeps the full scene in focus capturing everything not just the subject adding to the everyday scene and how lucky the capture was over a planned and modelled shot. To capture the movement he would have had a fast shutter speed to capture the movement well, the focus isn’t perfect but for the time it was good. Due to the shot being taken during the 1930s ISO wasn’t such an apparent feature on cameras instead there was film speed which effected the lighting of each shot.

Lighting

This photo is unusual as Bresson has embraced the bright sunlight which is unusual for photographers as it can create harsh shadows or bleach subjects out. Bresson however has used the shadows and silhouette of the subject, buildings and reflections to make best use of the bright sunlight and create a high contrast, sharp image. This has added an authentic feel to the image common in the street photography style. He has also considered how the contrasts fits the photo, for example Ansel Adam’s zone system fits well in this image working through many different tones, creating texture and intensity in the photo.

Symbolism

This photo is often known to be the photo that started the shift into wider more creative photography, pulling away from the 1900s planned portrait era and starting to explore and capture daily life in a more documentary style. This linked with Bresson’s philosophy when it came to his work which was ‘the decisive moment’ which meant he would compose a photo and wait till the perfect moment in which he made the decision to take the shot or wait for another subject, however waiting too long would change the lighting or other elements so he had to choose what the best shot in a world of unknows would be. This is reflected extremely well in this photo as he wouldn’t have known the subject would jump but he thought it would be the best use of the shot he set up and it turned out to be one of his most respected pieces of work with a whole new era of candid, creative photographers following in his footsteps.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French artist and humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment. 

He studied painting when he was just 5 years old, taking an apprenticeship in his uncle Louis’ studio. Cartier-Bresson was introduced to oil painting by his uncle Louis, a gifted painter and winner of the Prix de Rome in 1910. But his painting lessons were cut short when uncle Louis was killed in World War I.

The Decisive Moment

In 1952, Cartier-Bresson published his book The Decisive Moment. Cartier-Bresson took his keynote text from Volume 2 of the Memoirs of 17th century Cardinal De Ritz “There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment”. Cartier-Bresson applied this to his photographic style. He said: To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.

“Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”

Cartier-Bresson’s photography took him to many places, including China, Mexico, Canada, the United States, India, Japan, Portugal and the Soviet Union. While traveling in China in 1958, Cartier-Bresson documented the construction of the Ming Tombs Reservoir He became the first Western photographer to photograph “freely” in the post-war Soviet Union.

Technique

Cartier-Bresson almost always used a Leica 35 mm rangefinder camera fitted with a normal 50 mm lens, or occasionally a wide-angle lens for landscapes. He often wrapped black tape around the camera’s chrome body to make it less conspicuous. With fast black and white film and sharp lenses, he was able to photograph events unnoticed.

He never photographed with flash, a practice he saw as “impolite…like coming to a concert with a pistol in your hand.”

He believed in composing his photographs in the viewfinder, not in the darkroom. He showcased this belief by having nearly all his photographs printed only at full-frame and completely free of any cropping or other darkroom manipulation. He insisted that his prints be left uncropped so as to include a few millimetres of the unexposed negative around the image area, resulting in a black frame around the developed picture.

He worked exclusively in black and white, other than a few experiments in colour. He disliked developing or making his own prints and showed a considerable lack of interest in the process of photography in general, likening photography with the small camera to an “instant drawing”. Technical aspects of photography were valid for him only where they allowed him to express what he saw.

Image Analysis

This image was taken 1954. The decisive moment is the boy with two wine bottles in each of his arms. The boy’s face expresses happiness and a cheeky smile, In the background you see more children looking at the boy and it seems like he knows they are looking because he has his head held high a proud smirk on his face. The image is solely focussed on the boy in the middle so you can’t tell if there are any adults around or with the other children in the background. The boy’s name was Michel Gabriel and when he grew up he kept in touch with Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Contact Sheet

Edits and Experimentation

Selective Colour

Black and White Edits

Summary

Overall I am happy with how the photoshoot had turned out, I managed to take a variety of candate and rustic architecture photos with different angles up close and far away.

Similarly to Henri Cartier-Bresson, I used my camera as an “extension to my eye” to try and capture the everyday view of a tourist or local in St Malo, I wanted to capture decisive moments in time that represented people’s memories. Unlike Cartier-Bresson I didn’t have a small compact camera so it was much harder to capture these moments without people becoming aware.

I’ve used a black and white filter with a yellowish tone and experimented with blurred images to add to the aged feel and look to the town. However, I intended to photograph cars in some of my images because I like the contrast of the town against something very modern, It shows the shift from the old days into the new.

Definition

The aim for this theme is to observe people going about their every day life, while trying to capture the decisive moment.

Decisive Moment- Photographers must be able to anticipate an important moment within the constant flow of life, and capture it in a fraction of a second. This is the decisive moment.

Mood Board

Mind Map

Henri Cartier was known for his candid pictures. He quoted “its like hunting without killing”, this means that when he is taking photographs he has to wait for the right moment and use his intuition to take the photo at the right time. He was also a humanist photographer. He brought his camera everywhere with him, and used his camera like an extension of the eye. He brought his camera everywhere to capture the reality of life and an everyday image. He claimed that his camera was like an extra limb and he never went anywhere without it. This way he could capture many moments in everyday life.

Background of Henri-Cartier Bisson

Henri-Cartier Bisson grew up in a wealthy French family. He was first fascinated by paintings until photography really opened his eyes. Photography inspired Henri to travel to different countries to capture candid’s of everyday life. He ended up travelling to Africa and other places in Europe. He discovered that photography wasn’t about taking photos but about the essence of existence. He was inspired by the quote “there was never not a decisive moment” and he decided photography was about intuition, anticipation and connection with the subject of the environment.

In this image Henri Cartier-Bresson uses lines as a border of the subject who is walking in the background of this image. This creates the idea that not only is this image about the man that is jumping but also about the man in the back. He also uses negative space, this

When Cartier Bresson was taking these photos, he only had a camera that produced black and white images because of the limitations in the 1930’s, he called this monochromatic magic. Even though there is no colour the monochromatic shows a sense of timeless qualities. By having no colour the viewers can thoroughly focus on what’s in this image and what’s going on instead of being distracted by the different colours.

In this image Cartier-Bresson uses a fast shutter speed, this meant that he was able to capture the subject jumping in mid air without being too blurry. With the limitations of the camera quality in 1930, though the subject is still slightly blurry, he was able to capture the perfect moment which enabled him to create this image with as little blurriness as possible. Henri Cartier-Bresson also uses a low aperture to allow him to have the camera focussed on the foreground and the background slightly blurred. This is to allow the viewer to focus on the main subjects in the image instead of the irrelevant background.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a very influential and famous photographer, born in France in the earth 20th century and considered a master of candid photography (every aspect is unplanned). He harnessed the idea of the decisive moment, which is, with little planning, waiting for a moment which is interesting to capture. His photos set in motion a transformative wave that resonated throughout the photographic community. It symbolized a shift from planned, staged and seemingly perfect composition, to more real, spontaneous photos that tried to capture the truth in his subjects within the frame.

He saw his camera as an extension of his eye due to his understanding that the most appealing candid images are created when the subject is completely unaware they are being photographed. He also saw photography to be like ‘hunting’ your subject. This is because he never planned his photos, so he would walk around ‘hunting’ for the perfect photo.

“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.

How he took photos and the camera used:

Bresson took photos in the photography genre called street photography, which is a form of documentary but it is decidedly not reportage and rarely tells one story. He would sometimes capture something very unexpectedly (like a crime, or an funny looking face), however most of his photos where seemingly normal yet extraordinary at the same time. This is due to his perfection in composition and finding the perfect subject.

Too take his street photographs, he used the Leica handheld camera, commercially available as of 1924. This was the perfect camera of the time to allow quick photographs on the move, as well as adjustable exposure time to capture more of less movement. It was a 35-mm film camera with a wide aperture, as well as being able to advance quickly, allowing photographers to take photos of the subject in quick succession. This meant the photographer had lots of choice to find the best photo.

Below are some famous photos from him:

his background:

he grew up in a wealthy family in France and originally had a passion for art, until he discovered photography, seeing it as an extension of his eye in the 1930s. This passion for photography steamed from seeing the work of two major 20th-century photographers, Eugène Atget and Man Ray. Making use of a small allowance, he traveled in Africa in 1931, where he lived in the bush, recording his experiences with a miniature camera.

He also visited many other places like Europe and America, expanding his knowledge of cultures an the world, allowing his to find a true meaning to photography, the decisive moment. This is where you consider everything like anticipating a good shot and the connection with the environment and the subject.

Photo analysis:

This photo is very good in many ways. Firstly, the rule of thirds are heavily in use, with the main subject running off the scene (in the centre right third), making the image compositionally more appealing. This also allows the viewer to see where the subject came from, and how he got over to the right (by leaping through the water). There are many structural lines that bring the eyes over to the this subject, like the fence in the background, the reflection of this fence, and the wood on the floor that the subject used to get across. The negative space in this image helps the subject to take over the image, especially his shadow witch completely contrasts the bight water.

The image is in Black and white, removing the distraction of colour, allowing the essence of the image to be captured, instead of realism, of course this was only due to a limitation of 1930s cameras, but it still positively impacted the image. the texture of the image became more pronounced as well, with the smooth, shiny water contrasting the the rough and worn out walls in the background.

He used a smaller aperture to achieve more depth of field (focus in the foreground and background), and a medium film speed to get the a clear photo with enough brightness in his image. His shutter speed was short to capture the subject jumping without them being to blurry.

mid day sun is very difficult to take photos in, however Bresson embraced the negatives of mid day sun. For example the harsh shadows created deep shadows, and high contrast. It also added texture to the image, especially the puddle, making more defined ripples.