Henri Cartier-Bresson - Blog Post 1

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Blog Post 

1) Short Biography

Henri Cartier-Bresson was born in 1908 and sadly passed away 96 years later in 2004. He was a French photography who helped develop 'Street Photography' for future generations of photographers. He always used the Leica Camera to shoot in a 35mm format. When Henri was a young boy he owned a 'box brownie to take holiday snapshots. He was raised in a traditional French bourgeois fashion. Cartier-Bresson was introduced to oil paintings by his uncle Louis after an unsuccessful attempt at music. In 1927 he entered a private art school at the age of 22 years old. He became inspired by a 1930 photograph by hungarian photojournalist 'Martin Munkacsi' showing three naked young african boys, caught in near-silhouette, running into the surf. This captured the grace, spontaneity and freedom of their movement and their joy to be alive.

                                                   2) Visual Style

Henri's photography visual style was very natural. He framed the picture with the camera before the shot and after it is captured nothing will change. He was a strong believer that photography is a fine art that it is natural 'beauty'. He expected all his photos to be printed without any editing or consideration as to which photo is better than others.

                                                       3) Photos

Paris. Place de   

l'Europe. Gare Saint Lazare. 1932. 

This is one of Cartier-Bresson’s most famous photographs. It shows a man jumping over a puddle. This could suggest that the man is free. The location looks like a train station so he could have just gotten off the train and is running to someone. He could also be escaping from something. This photo sets the viewers imagination wild as their are endless situations this it could be showing.

SPAIN. Valencia. 1933. - 

 
This is a picture of a little girl running by a wall covered in paint. The paint on the wall is clearly a dark colour although we do not know exactly what colour it is due to black and white photography. This could suggest that the dark paint is negative and possibly ‘evil’ and it is trying to cover the little girl who, in contrast, looks very happy. She could also be scared and running away from the 'evil spirit'. If the little girl is smiling it could show that she is covering up her fears and thought because they are evil and she can't let anyone know they are controlling her.

GREAT BRITAIN. England. London. Hyde Park in the grey drizzle. 1937.

This is a picture of an old woman sitting alone on a bench surrounded by chairs. This could suggest a social event was supposed to take place but no one except the woman showed up. This photo suggest that the woman is lonely or maybe sad, mourning for someone.

• http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson