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.