Our school travelled to St Malo for street photography. St Malo is a walled city on the English channel coast and is a popular tourist centre and has a lot of historical value. We where trying to capture the ‘decisive moment’, coined by Henri Cartier-Bresson. This is where there was little planning involved (the furthest I planned was waiting at specific areas where I think an interesting moment could happen). I was looking for photos that looks classically ‘French’ as we where in France after all. I also did a few photos of just the French architecture, with their colourful French shutters and bright doors. Here are a few of my favourite photos with a small amount of colour editing:

Biuldings:

These photos would go very well together in a topology so I have edited them with similar settings so I can do this later on. I tried to capture the unique buildings in St.malo, that maybe had so moss growing, old paint, graffiti, and more to give the images more life.

People:

Here I mostly cropped to keep to the rule of thirds, making the subject more prominent, However with some cases I thought it looked better to forget about the rule of thirds, like when the subject is moving quickly off the scene. I have a few strong images that I will edit further and try a ‘Bresson style’ B&W photo.

Cropping images can alter an photos meaning. By changing the focus you can create a new photo, which in many cases this could make a photo better.

By cropping this image to have the line of focus go from the dive platform to the water to the beach, then town and then the sky,

With this one I have brought the bottom of the photo to the the barrier. By doing this I have made uses of the sky, to make the towers and cranes stand out.

Cropping can also alter the way a photo is perceived. This photo below is already quit elegant and ethereal.

However, when the model is put in a circle crop the viewer and focus in on her and their mind can explore the possibilities of who she is and where she is from.

Picture Stories

Picture stories are essential for most mainstream physical media, from magazine spreads to blog posts online. For years we have been using text and photos to reiterate a story, from newspapers to scientific textbooks. However in photography terms a picture story is using a series of shots with adept text to tell a narrative. As in the examples above, it’s clear some use a more creative approach in all black and white scattered pictures with text in between and some use a more direct, documentary style. It depends on the narrative the page is trying to tell. 

St Malo Picture Stories

Having taken photos (street photography) of the st malo streets and the people in them I would like to use them to create a picture story, showing and explaining parts of St Malo from a photographers perspective. I’d like to do something show casing certain joining points in photos, like photos with an abundance of certain colours and maybe one telling a narrative about the people, whether locals or tourists. 

How Will I Create My Picture Story?

Using in design I can completely customise the page spreads before printing. I will start with the same layout for all of them and then place the photos in, moving the text and flow of the page to fit the images. There is a particular way to approach a photo story, mainly using an establishing shot, this is the main attention pulling photo on the page, often the biggest and drawing the eye around the rest of the page. It’s important that this shot grabs the viewers attention and gives a small overview into the narrative you are telling. I will also before adding text look at how the images flow on the page, by not having text it removes distractions and allows me to focus on how well the photos flow around the page and if the story is interesting without the text. This also allows me time to check the images all work together and nothing is too different or confusing. 

Landscape:

Portrait:

Panoramic:

Square:

Circle:

1.

2.

3.

Final edits:

Moodboard:

Here is my mood board for my street photography in St Malo. This is my inspiration as I hope to capture people in their ‘own world’ with off guard photos of people not looking directly into the camera. I also incorporated both black and white photos, with colourful photos.

Whilst taking a trip to St Malo, I photographed many different people living their everyday lives in inspiration of Henri Cartier- Bresson. My approach was to photograph my subjects as soon as I see there is a photograph opportunity. This is in order to capture a perfect angle, moment and shot. I chose my favourite photos I took below, which I edited in Adobe Lightroom.

I took an array of photos both capturing photos in the style of Henri- Cartier Bresson in the idea of ‘candid photography’. This is by the subjects not knowing they are being photographed or not knowing when the camera is going to take a photo. Whilst exploring St Malo, I came across many different citizens and tourists which I could photograph. I attempted to use many different camera angles such as ‘hip- shots‘ where the photo is taken with the camera at the same level as my hip to capture a lower angle of the subject. I also used a ‘deadpan‘ angle which is a straight-on a style of photography which I used to capture subjects in a straightforward, unexpressive manner. This attempt and style of photography was challenging for me however, due to the fact I was walking and my subjects were also walking so many images came across as blurry.

Examples of Low Quality images I took using ‘hip-shots’ technique. That are not effective.

Black and White.

I like this photo as it shows the man crouching down on the street corner counting money. This is a raw image which I think is made meaningful in black and white. This man may have been pleading for money or busking to make money from passers by on the street.

I like these two photos I think that they look good side by side as it shows a typical tourist or citizen roaming the streets of France. I think the bright colours of her outfit and her black expression make the photo interesting and eye-catching.

Henri Cartier-Bresson Comparisons.

I like this photo because it is similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s as it is a man peering out the window with his hands out the window. I attempted to match the shades of black and white whilst editing on Lightroom. To improve on this image I would prefer to take this photo at a higher angle. I would also have liked if the person was holding a camera, or if the window was open.

This photo shows a person holding a camera and not looking directly at the camera and instead looking behind past the person who is taking the photo. The most direct contrast between these two photos is that it is a older male and a younger female

These photos are similar because there is people in the background of the image who are walking. However, the people are more clear in my image than in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s. The street also looks a lot more gloomy and mysterious in his photo with the buildings looking more scarce and the space looking more empty and morbid.

Further Analysis.

This comparison I find particularly meaningful because this shows the difference in outfit, expression and atmosphere from the 1900s- the present day. For example, the left image the man :

• Wearing skinny ripped jeans
• Shoulder bag
• Trainers
• Hoodie
• Holding a phone
• Earphones in

Whereas in the right image:

• A hat
• A long coat
• Umbrella

Henri Cartier Bresson

Henry Cartier captures the movements of people through the world. He is a humanist photographer, who is considered a master of candid photography. He waits for the decisive moment, by looking with his heart, looking at things that connect to humanity and waiting and watching for the decisive moment. The decisive moment is a second when all elements of reality align perfectly and the goal is to notice and capture that moment. He often compared this waiting and watching to hunting, as it was similar to predator waiting and watching their prey, also trying to capture it. A good example of Henri Cartier capturing the decisive moment is this image:

This captures the decisive moment, as he captures a man, who is passing by leaping of the puddle and captures his action in this image.

About him?

Henri grew up in a wealthy family in France, and was introduced to the arts early. He was initially drawn to painting, but his passion was sparked when he discovered photography, which he saw as an extension of drawing and an extension of his eye. With a camera, Henri found a tool he could use to interact with the world. In his early years, he travelled extensively, from Europe to Africa, and absorbed varied cultures. These experiences helped to shape his outlook on life and hone his philosophy.

“Photography isn’t just about images; its about capturing the essence of existence.”

This philosophy matured into what we call “The decisive moment”.

Inspired in the 17th centaury Cardinal de Retz’s quote,

“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.”

Henri internalised this notion, making it the cornerstone of his work. It wasn’t just about pushing the shutter at the right moment. It was about intuition, anticipation, and connection with the subject and environment.

The Camera and Lens

Henri Cartier Bresson was known for using a Leica rangefinder with a 50mm lens. The Leica rangefinder were a revolutionary piece of equipment in the world of photography, especially during Henri Cartier Bresson’s time. These cameras were compact, reliable, and their design was more discreet than the large and conspicuous cameras of the era. This allowed him to use a quick and unobtrusive shooting style, which is essential for street photography.

Another main reason Cartier-Bresson favoured the Leica rangefinder was its stealthy nature. Its quiet shutter let him capture moments without drawing attention to himself, letting life unfold naturally before his lens. The silent operation was crucial for someone who believed in capturing authentic, unstaged moments.

Henri also preferred the 50mm lens, because it offers a field of view close to the human eye, ensuring he captured images that felt natural and immersive to the viewer.

Behind the Saint-Lazare

Henri Cartier-Bresson’s most famous and well known image was taken in Paris in 1930. The image was taken behind the Saint-Lazare train station, an ordinary scene was about to unfold. An unsuspecting man, perhaps in a rush, decided to leap over a puddle. Henri, always observant, saw this not just as a jump, but as a symphony of shapes, shadows ad reflections.

He captured it, turning a mundane act into a timeless masterpiece. I wasn’t just a photo; it was a testament of his philosophy. The leaping man, frozen in time, epitomized the essence of ‘The Decisive Moment.’ A split second earlier or later, the magic would have been lost.

Analysis

The composition of this image is a man jumping over a puddle at first glance, but the message this photo displays is that there is always thing waiting to be seen and captured.

This image has leading lines, which direct the viewers eyes to the heart of the action, which in this case is the man jumping over the puddle. These leading lines also help frame the subject, so the viewers eyes are drawn to the subject even more.

The reflection in this image also helps to create a balance in the image. There is also lots of negative space at the sky and the reflection. However, the reflection eats into that negative space, as well as the chimney, so both these create a balance in the image. They are almost symmetrical, as they are opposite end of the image, but they are different items.

The image also has outer and inner frames. The outer frames have negative space, so the inner frame is more apparent, so the eyes are drawn to the inner frames more, which is the man etc.

This image also contains the rules of thirds, as there is negative space at the top and the bottom of the image. The man also isn’t in the middle of the image, but it is in the middle right third, so the man is at the end of his leap, we have followed his journey in this image.

For this photo I duplicated the layer and made the original background layer black and white and with the duplicated layer on top I selected the red outfit that the lady was wearing and pressed select and inverse to delete the rest of the image and leave just the red outfit. The one bit of red colour in the all black photo makes The Decisive moment of the image stand out so that its really clear what is happening in the image.

For this image I duplicated the background layer again and used the quick selection tool to select the people in the image and then used Alt if I selected too much of the image that I didn’t want to blur. Then I went to select and inverse which deleted the background, after I clicked on the duplicated layer and filter then blur and motion blur to blur the people in the image.

Her I did another motion blur image and selected the man and his child to blur in the image. This contrasts really nicely against the clear background with all the boats in the background.

I have cropped different images in different ways to try and change them and make them look more unique than before.

Original:

Edited to Panoramic:

Original Landscape:

Edited Landscape:

Original Portrait:

Edited Portrait:

Original:

Edited to Square:

Original:

Edited to Circle:

For this photoshoot, I focussed on street photography while exploring St. Malo. I took photographs of buildings, beaches, people and more. I tried to focus on on the people around the town, capturing there lives and what was happening in the moment.

I was inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson and his work on the decisive moment. A lot of my photos are taken in a similar way to him and the outcome is also similar. I found while taking the photos that it was a really good way to capture a beautiful image as the majority of the time, people aren’t interacting with the camera and the photos aren’t staged, they are the raw moments of someone’s life. When Henri Cartier Bresson said his photography was ‘like hunting but without the killing’, I found this to be very accurate.

In my photoshoot, other than than photographs of people, I was able to take good images of buildings. These buildings included structures from a long time ago, showing the history of the town whether it was a big building block or a small old café. I think those images turned out well as it showed the beauty of the town while still having more modern structure as well. As it had both, I was able to take images that show the comparison of buildings.

I also captured landscapes of the beach which made for some really good photos. In these images, I was able to show the sand, sea, sea walls and sea structures further out in the ocean. I think it was a really good location as there was different photograph opportunities of just one beach.

The Decisive Moment is the moment where the composition (shapes and lighting) meet with movement and people. Henri Cartier-Bresson published a photobook in 1952. This book was a collection of his work showing random, spontaneous moments which he called ‘the decisive moment’. These images were constructed by first setting up the frames and then wait for the perfect moment to capture.

Henri Cartier-Bresson views the activity of photography as an ‘extension of the eye’. He would carry his camera to capture uniquely mundane moments as he saw them in the moment. This spontaneity allowed him to capture a period in a sort of time capsule. He would try and take photographs without being noticed to capture a ‘true’ moment. When someone is aware of a camera they act out or at least different which can lead to a ‘fake’ moment. Alternately he would frame up an image and wait for something interesting to happen within the frame.

He was a French artist and photographer well known as a pioneer of street photography. He started with a simple Brownie he’d received as a gift and quickly found his passion for the art. After a year he purchased his first camera which was a simple film camera of the time.

This image shows a man and a cat sat in a rat run. It is black and white with high contrast between the darkest and lightest parts. I believe it is portrait for 2 reasons: the first to show how small the man is. The height makes the walls look much taller and tower over the small hunched man. This could be to show how low and small he feels. The second reason is that it is still sort of a portrait of a man and would make sense to be shot in portrait. I think this image projects a sense of sadness onto the man which otherwise wouldn’t be present. Additionally the frame is completely excluded otherwise to show a sense of loneliness which makes the cat such an important part of the image.

In this image the decisive moment is the reaction between the cat and the man. The man is sat and seemingly observing the cat who is observing the man back. This is the decisive moment because not only would the cat be unexpected but it adds an additional layer to the private moment the man seems to be having. Had these two not been in the frame, the image would simply be a bland alley as its the two figures that add meaning and emotion to the image.

The image is framed with the large building walls. These are dark and draw the eye into the centre both through the lines and light. The brightest part is what draws the eye which is in the centre. This is broken up however by the small cat and the man.