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| Henri Cartier-Bresson Exhibition at Centre Pompidou 12 February - 9 June 2014 |
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One day, I had a chance to visit the exhibition about Henri
Cartier-Bresson at Centre Pompidou in Paris. I have to admit that I do
not know or even heard his name before coming to the exhibition that
day. Our tour guide told us how important he was as a 'father of
photojournalism. Wikipedia also states in
his article that
'he was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the street photography or life reportage style that was coined The Decisive Moment that
has influenced generations of photographers who followed.'
And that is when
I realized how important he was as a photographer, so I would like
to learn more about him and his important works. Below are couples
photos shot by him in various period from the beginning when he
discovered the art of photography until when he mastered his valuable skills for the
purpose for journalism.
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| Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris 1932 (Derriere la Gare) |
"Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare" is my favorite photo
for his entire works (I didn't see all of his works but this one has a
huge impression on me). Our guide tour also explain this photo that it
is his signature technique of "instant photography" which is when the
object is moving and the photo captures that split second in time. One
second before, the guy stood on one side of the puddle and one second
later, he might be all wet from that jump. But only at that very moment
that Cartier-Bresson capture the photo that he seem floating on top of
the puddle. This technique open more possibility to different types of
photography and shows more value of photography as a time capsule.
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| Henri Cartier-Bresson. Trafalgar Square on King George VI’s coronation day. 12th May 1937. |
'
Trafalgar Square on King George VI’s coronation day.
12th May 1937' demonstrates his work while he is a journalist. He got
assigned to take a picture King George VI’s coronation day, but instead
he turned his back to the king and capture the moment of the crowds
while they are waiting for the king to pass by. This moment has mix
feeling between people who a waiting and the guy who is sleeping. Also,
when I first looked at the photo, I did not know the title. Then, this
photo invites me to have many imagination to think about what these
people are looking at and why it is so important that everyone show the
expression of excitement with boredom.
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| Henri Cartier-Bresson: Leningrad, 1973. |
For
'Leningrad', I am not certain what is the history of Russia behind this photo and the reason that Cartier-Bresson has to go to
Russia. But what I got from this photo is the mixture of his technique
of instant photography and his career as photojournalism. Cartier-Bresson must have been waiting for the couple to walk across the field until they came to the spot that Cartier-Bresson wants and took this one precious photo. The way that the guy in the photo is walking is really similar to a massive Lenin's poster behind.
It made you think whether he is Lenin. However, the warm feeling with his daughter is a
contradiction foe this assumption and the idea of Soviet Union at
that time.
I am glad that I got to learn about Henri Cartier-Bresson during my stay in Paris. I would like to end this post by couple quote from him about photography and
- “A photograph is neither taken or seized by force. It offers itself up.
It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.”
- “It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head.”
- “Of course it’s all luck.”
For more information on Cartier-Bresson, check out his page on Artsy.
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