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Henri Cartier-Bresson and the ‘Decisive Moment’

Who is He?

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French artist and humanist photographer and he was 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. Cartier-Bresson was one of the founding members of Magnum Photos in 1947.He was born in 1908 in France.

The Decisive Moment

Henri Cartier-Bresson’s influential publication, is considered to be one of the most important photobooks of the twentieth century.

The Decisive Moment was described by Robert Capa as “a Bible for photographers.” Originally titled Images à la Sauvette (“images on the run”) in the French, the book was published in English with a new title The Decisive Moment,

The decisive moment was the recognition, in the fraction of a second, which needs to be precise so it can have proper expression.

Also it means, a visually pleasing image that is combined with deeper meaning by capturing the essence of what was happening when the shutter is pressed.

This is the decisive moment Book.


Why is the camera an extension of the eye?

Finding things that people may miss. The eye is the extension of the brain. A camera is often described as an extension of the eye because it imitates the eye’s natural ability to capture and focus light to create images. In this way, photography uses the camera as a tool to extend human vision, capturing moments and scenes much like our eyes do but preserving them beyond the moment they are seen.

What is the physical pleasure in making photographs?

A sense of connection to that certain image. May have movement with this certain image. Crouching and adjusting your stance or angle and sometimes waiting patiently for the perfect moment. Your body is actively involved in exploring the environment, almost like a dance.


How can photography be likened to hunting?

Trying to find the perfect spot and the perfect image. The Pursuit, which is trying to find the perfect spot and the perfect image and also a connection with nature can often bring you into close contact with nature and wildlife. This connection can heighten awareness and respect for the environment.

Mood-board of Henri Cartier-Bresson

Zines

A zine is a small kind of magazine, that has images and text inside it. Its also a self-published work which is produced in a copying machine . Zines are singular products of they come in a box set, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation.

The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet an are popular with science fiction, entering the Oxford English Dictionary  in 1949.

Mood-board

This is my inspiration.

Research zines and a newspaper design which are made by artists and photographers that will provide visual stimulus for your page design.

Factors To Consider

  • How you want your design to look
  • Format, size and orientation
  • Narrative / visual concept
  • Design and layout
  • Rhythm and sequencing
  • Images and text
  • Title and captions

Zine and Layout

This is the Title. I like this front cover since the colour of the background contrasts the foreground.

This image at the bottom has taken over the whole page because the image is horizontal and it one of my favourite images.

These are all my pages in my zine. On all the pages I have stated the name, date and what type of image is it.

The very last page is information about me.

Typologies Photoshoot

Contact Sheet

For this photoshoot, I went to the old sea cadet unit for some images and for the rest I went to La Collette industrial estate so I could capture Hilla and Bernd Becher typologies ideas.

Image Selection

These are the six images I have picked for my typologies photoshoot to edit. I like these images because they have industrial value which links to Hilla and Bernd Becher.

Image N01

This is the image I’m going to edit.

This is the edited image.

This is the filter I used to edit the image.

This is how I edited this image.

Black and White

This is black and white image I have edited.

This is how I edited my black and white image.

Image N02

This is the image I want to edit.

I have cropped the image because it was unequal and wasn’t matching the rule of thirds.

This is the filter I’ve used to create this image.

This is the image I’ve edited.

This is how I’ve edited my image.

Black and White

This is being cropped due to much negative space in the foreground.

This is the final edited image, this image didn’t need a filter since white has stood out in the sky and makes the incinerator look tall and towering.

This is how I edited my image.

Image N03

This is the image I want to edit.

I have cropped this image due to lots of the foreground being exposed.

This is the edited image.

This is how I’ve edited my image.

Black and White

This is the edited black and white image.

this is how I edited my image.

Image N04

This is the image I want to edit.

This is being cropped due to lots of negative space in the background and the foreground.

This is the edited image.

Black and White

This is the cropped image.

I have darkened the mage to bring out the rust on the container.

This is how I edited my image

Image N05

This is the image I want to edit.

This is the cropped image due to unequal symmetry in both halves of the image.

This is the edited image.

This is how I edited my image.

Black and White

This is the final image with further editing.

This is the filter I have used.

This is how I edited my image.

Image N06

This is the image I want to edit.

This is the cropped image. Its been cropped because it want the container centred so it follows the rule of thirds.

This is the edited image.

This is how I edited my image.

Black and White

This is the final image.

I have used this filter because it gives a lovely industrial effect and it really brings out the pattern on the container.

This is how I edited my image.

Final Images

I like these images because they give off industrial vibes and they link with Hilla and Bernd Becher typologies collection.

Topographics Photoshoot

Contact Sheet

This is my contact sheet, I took the images at Fort Regent to gather the geometric shapes.

Image Selection

These are the six images I have picked to edit for my new topographics photoshoot. I have chosen these due to the crisp cut lines and the geometric shapes.

Editing

Image N01

This is the image before editing. I will be editing in colour and into Black and White.

To edit this image I have cropped it so I could get rid of the shadow that was present.

I have used these settings to edit the image.

Black and White

This is the edited image

This is how I edited my image.

This is filter I used so I could get different shades of grey

Image N02

This is the image I will be editing.

This is the edited image which is in colour.

These are the settings I used to create the image above.

Black and White

This is the image, it has been cropped due to the shadows covering some important parts of the buildings and the roads.

This is the edited image and above it has been cropped.

These are the settings I used so I could achieve this image.

This is the filter I have used to really enhance the black in this image.

Image N03

This is the image I’m going to edit.

This was the image with just the filter on

This is the final edited image with the filter and adding highlights and a little bit of shadow.

These are the settings I used to edit the image.

This is the filter I used .

Black and White

This is the edited image. I have decreased the highlights on the white buildings, so a pattern was created of a square on top of the buildings.

This is what I used to edit the image.

Image N04

This is the image I’m going to edit.

This is the edited image.

This is what I used to edit the image.

Black and White

This is the image with only the filter.

This is the edited image with the filter and also additional editing.

This is what I used to edit my image.

This is the filter I used.

Image N05

This is the image I’m going to edit.

This is the edited image.

This is the filter I used and I set it to 162 so I could achieve the sky in a certain way.

This is how I edited the image.

Black and White Image

This is the black and white image.

This is how I edited my image. This is what I used to make the image lighter in some particular parts , so it didn’t look to dark. I also adjusted the contrast because I wanted a clear difference between black and white.

Image N06

This is the image I’m going to edit.

This is the edited image. I have made sure that the clouds spread. This has happened due to the filter I have used.

This is the filter I used to edit this image.

This is what I used to edit this image.

Black and White Image

This is the edited Black and White Image.

This is the Pre-set I have used to create some of the image.

This is how I edited this image.

Final Images

I like these image due to the patterns and the lines, it makes the object really stand out. The filters I have used also makes the white stand out onto the buildings. I like how the clouds are shaped in the background. I creates a calm atmosphere in the setting of the images.

Image Analysis-Robert Adams

Robert Adams

Robert Adams is an American photographer who focused on the changing landscape of the American West. His work first came to prominence in the mid-1970s through his book The New West and his participation in the exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape in 1975. He was born on May 8, 1937 (age 87 years) City of Orange, New Jersey, United States. He also moved to Southern California in 1956 to attend the University of Redlands. He chose to major in English literature and went on to earn a PhD

Image Analysis

Technical

This image was taken outside which means this light is natural and there is no artificial light. This was taken at a low ISO due to there being little visual noise, it looks like the visual noise might have been (100-200).

Visual

In this image there is lots of repetition of the porter cabins which people may of lived in. In the background there is lots of empty space behind the porter cabins. There is lots of geometric shapes in this image.

Contextual and Conceptual

This image is connecting nature and normal life. The nature is mountain. The nature indicates that the area is a quiet and peaceful place. This was a big retrospective in Paris offers a logical narrative of the development of the Western United States in the late 20th and early 21st century, but also a challenging view of the complexity and contradictions of our contemporary, global society.

Typologies

Examples of Typologies

What Are They?

The term ‘Typology’ was first used to describe a certain style of photography when Bernd and Hilla Becher began documenting damaged and ruined German industrial architecture in 1959. The couple described their subjects as ‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’.

Removed and detached, each photograph was taken from the same angle, mostly at the same distance from the buildings. Their aim was to take and record the landscape they saw changing and disappearing before their eyes so once again, Typologies not only recorded a moment in time, they prompted the viewer to consider the subject’s place in the world.

Hilla Becher

Hilla Becher was a German conceptual photographer. Becher was known for her industrial photographs, or typologies, with long-time collaborator and husband, Bernd Becher.  She was born: September 2, 1934, In Potsdam, Germany. She died October 10, 2015 (age 81 years), Dusseldorf, Germany.

Bernd Becher

Becher was a painter and decorator in Siegen, Germany from 1947 to 1950. From 1953 to 1956, Becher studied painting and lithography at the Staatliche Kunstakademie, Stuttgart, Germany. Becher studied typography at the Staatlichen Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, from 1957 to 1961. He was Born: August 20, 1931,  Siegen ,Germany and he died: June 22, 2007 (age 75 years), Rostock, Germany.  

Examples of their work

Image Analysis

‘Pitheads’, 1974 by Bernd and Hilla Becher

Technical

 Every image that is part of the typology was taken outside meaning the lighting is likely 100% natural, with lots of detail that is easily seen throughout the image meaning aperture was likely high in order to have a very deep depth of field. Little to none visual noise is present in any of the images, so ISO was kept to a minimum with a value likely between 100-200.

Visual

 Every image is gaining some type of machinery, most likely an oil well. Each image has been taken from the same perspective and angle which will create an obvious similarity between them all, whilst it still maintains contrast since the background and environment around the oil wells are distinct in each photo.

Some images in the typology feature there isn’t a lot of natural elements (e.g. grass), even though the frame is still largely dominated by the oil well so there is very little centre of attention which is paid to natural landscapes in these images.

Conceptual/Contextual

 Bernhard Becher gave up making paintings, drawings and etchings of old industrial buildings because he had decided that photography met his needs better.

Painting needed  composition which included changing the object and was too subjective; photography was more precise and objective, which is able to clearly capture and present exactly what is happening in a scene at that moment in time. The pictures in the typology leave little to nothing up to the imagination of the viewer, simply being 9 different oil wells occupying spaces, almost as if they are taking up all the space of the natural landscapes. 

Alexander Mourant

Alexander Mourant is an artist, educator and writer based in London. His first publication, The Night and the First Sculpture, was published by Folium, 2024.

His recent exhibitions include To Walk in the Image, Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland (2023)At the Farthest Edge: Rebuilding Photography, NŌUA, Norway (2023) and A Sudden Vanishing, Seen Fifteen Gallery, London (2023).

Mourant is a recipient of grants from Arts Council Norway, Arts Council England and ArtHouse Jersey. He won the Free Range Award and was nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award.

He achieved BA Photography at Falmouth University, and MA Photography at Royal College of Art, London. He is a Lecturer in Photography at  Kingston University.

A Famous Collection

This collection is called Aomori. This was all taken in Japan and was taken with a blue stained glass window from a church.

Aomori means blue forest in Japanese.

This image was part of The Night And The First sculpture, which was published in a book .

Panoramic Landscapes

To take these images I went down to Gorey Pier and took some images of the scenery and the man made structures . This photoshoot was a way to show the comparison of nature in juxtaposition to man-made structures.

Contact Sheet

Edited Images

These are the images I used to make my joiner photo. These are the edited versions of the images I used.

Joiner

For this joiner. I used photoshop, since I could do it manually.

Panorama

This is how I edited to make a panorama.

This is my panorama , but I filled the edges and made it spherical.

The New Topographic

Definition

“New Topographic: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” was a ground-breaking exhibition of contemporary photography landscape held at the George Eastman House’s International Museum of Photography from October 1975 to February 1976. topographic is the physical feature of the area.

Term from William Jenkins

New topographic was a term called by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers (such as Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz) whose pictures had a similar aesthetic, in that they were formal, which are mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape.

Their photographs were taken in a built-up environment, suburban sprawl, industrial structures, and the mundane aspects of daily life.

Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher
Pitheads (1974)
Tate
© Estate of Bernd Becher & Hilla Becher

The New Topographies photographers, which include Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, and Stephen Shore, documented built and natural landscapes in America, often capturing the tension between natural scenery and the man made structures of post-war America: car parks , suburban homes, crumbling coal mines. These photographs, stark and documentary, are often a lack of human presence.

Jenkins described the images as “neutral” in style, “reduced to an essentially topographic state, which conveys the substantial amounts of visual information but was very serious in the aspects of beauty, emotion, and opinion.

Features

Jenkins described the images as “neutral” in style, “reduced to an essentially topographic state, which conveys the substantial amounts of visual information but entirely the aspects of beauty, emotion, and opinion”.

What Was The New Topographic A Reaction To?

They were reacted by the tyranny of an idealised landscape photography that elevated the natural and the elemental.

Image Analysis-Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore, Beverly Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California, June 21, 1975, chromogenic colour print.

Technical

In this image there is a slow shutter speed due to the cars in the distance being blurred. The light is a natural light because it was taken near lots of petrol stations. This is a very strong but cold light. The light was projecting towards the signs which will create hard edge shadows that will project onto the pavement below.

Visual

There is hard edge square pavement, signs and the horizon line , which creates harsh, clear lines . The rule of thirds are present because this image can be split into a grid, into threes. There is lots of repetition with the signs due to ,most of the lines being squared shaped.

Contextual

By using the red, white and blue colour theme it represents the American flag, which conveys national pride of the nation. By having lots of petrol stations it implies that this era focuses on the oil industry and the nature in the background represents the environment. With these two together, it shows a connection between the oil industry and the nature of the American dream in the the 1970s. By being in a town it conveys isolation due to being far away from a city and it also implies a sense of community because everyone will know everyone that lives in this small town.

Conceptual

This image connects nature and the oil industry. It also looks like the angle of the mountain is pointing to the petrol stations.