How does Henri Cartier- Bresson view that act of photography?
- photography is an extension of the eye
- physical pleasure
- connects with humanity
- to be present
- compared photography to haunting
Henri views photography as a physical pleasure he compares it to haunting, Henri feels that photography makes him connect to humanity and to be present , he also states that photography is an extension of the eye in the way that the camera can capture things that our naked eye cannot.
Henri Cartier-Bresson (born August 22, 1908, Chanteloup, France—died August 3, 2004, Céreste) was a French photographer whose humane, spontaneous photographs helped establish photojournalism as an art form. His theory that photography can capture the meaning beneath outward appearance in instants of extraordinary clarity is perhaps best expressed in his book Images à la sauvette (1952; The Decisive Moment).
Describe Cartier- Bresson’s Theory of The Decisive Moment.
The Decisive Moment is the moment where the photographer decides to press the shutter button and to take the picture, It is when the subject and the photographer are in a perfect position. It does not matter if the person is or isn’t aware that they are being photographed what matters is that the person isn’t posing for the photo. Bresson thinks that correction is impossible because you cannot recreate a moment.
” You are must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.”
In my opinion he means that when you see something interesting happening you need to feel when to take the picture, if you see something that you like but you don’t think it is worth enough you might have to wait for something to happen and for you too feel that that is the moment that you click the camera. I also think that you must take advantage of the moments that are happening around you.
Analysis
Technical:
Lighting: The type of lighting is not natural as it can be seen in the mirror, I can see that the light is quite bright and white, it also can be a mixture or natural and un-natural lighting.
Aperture: I would say that he used a not so large aperture but not so narrow I think it would be right in the middle F8. And this is because the 2 women and Cartier are in perfect focus but the background is unfocused.
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec
ISO: 100
Visual:
In the photograph there are two women one sitting on a chair and the other a lit lower, one is doing the others make up and on the left side there is the reflection on Cartier Bresson taking the picture. It is a black and white image like most if not all Cartier’s images The tone i would say its quite light.
Conceptual:
I think he took this image not with the thought in mind that he would be in the picture, In my opinion the his concept was to maybe show different creative jobs since he is a photographer and the women in the picture is a makeup artist there two jobs normally go together in for example commercial photoshoots.