Henri Cartier-Bresson Research

Henri Cartier-Bresson Research

Context
Something about Cartier-Bresson that has interested me in his work is the decisive moment in which he says that your eyes should see the structure of the picture before you take the image. It shows that a photographer should know when the photo should be taken, it summarises to be correct moment for to take the photo. Also, Cartier-Bresson sways away from using a tripod, this interests me because when looking at his images although you can tell that he hasn't used a tripod he captures better moments than a photographer who might use a tripod. By using his camera handheld he can capture the person exactly how he sees it rather than having to set up a tripod then capture it from that angle. When no using a tripod he can capture the candid image rather than Cartier-Bresson is a French photographer so the majority of his images are taken in France which we can tell in some of the images he uses because there are features of the country in his photos. 

In this image we can see a boy walking with a proud look on his face carrying two glass bottles of wine, there are a few girls walking behind him. The fact that he has a proud look on his face could represent to us that he is showing off to the girls around him, this is shown further by the girls expression as she looks in awe. By carrying this wine it gives the boy more status and girls attention which is why he has this proud grin on his face. Personally, the boys expression stands out to me because this creates the story of him showing off to the girls around him and helps us establish that he has this expression due to the female attention. Cartier-Bresson uses the 'decisive moment' in his work, this is visible in this image as he would've had to time it right to capture the boys expression as well as the girls. In this image it becomes obvious that Cartier-Bresson uses his camera handheld because if you look closely at the wall it is not entirely straight, this is something I could continue with in my work. I think taking his images handheld enabled Cartier-Bresson to capture moments as they happened, I could use elements of this in my work because it takes time to set up a tripod where as handheld photography can capture what you see. 

In this image the denotations show us small children playing in amongst rubble, there is a huge hole in the wall which we can see the through. Cartier-Bresson has cropped the bottom out of the image so that the children's faces become more obvious. The rubble instantly makes us think about what type of lives they live because it is uncommon to see children playing in these conditions. It initially makes us think that these children are from poorer families, or they may live in a country where there is a war going on because of the conditions they are in. Personally, the faces of the children stand out because by looking at their expressions, the way they are dressed and the dirt around their faces makes us immediately feel sorry for them and worry about the conditions of their homes. This image shows a frame because we can see the bombed hole in the wall make the background stand out as we are drawn to looking through the frame towards what the older boys are doing. This also shows the 'decisive moment' because he would've had to time the image right to capture all the boys looking at him and the one jumping through the wall. 

In this image we can see what looks like a man jumping through a puddle with an umbrella, behind him there is a couple whose umbrella is blown inside out, also in the background we can see the Eiffel Tower. The famous landmark in the background helps us locate where the image has been taken, Paris is the city of love and this is represented in the background of the image. Love is expressed within the couple and their relationship but it is also expressed by the man jumping as it could show that he loves dancing as his position mirrors a dance. Another connotation that can be expressed within this image is that a relationship isn't always the happiest, this is represented because of their umbrella as it is inside out. The man who is on his own, his umbrella is fine which contradicts that of the two in a relationship. The man jumping stands out to me because he is centred in this image which immediately attracts our attention. In this image the background is more exposed than the foreground which oddly shouldn't work in this instance but it does, the silhouettes stand out as they are bold. In this image Cartier-Bresson has also used the decisive moment because he would've had to times the photo correctly to achieve the freeze frame image of the man jumping. 

 

In this image we can see children walking down the steps dressed in white, also they are being accompanied by nuns who are dressed in black. The girls are dressed as angels and one of the girls at the front is carrying a cross. There is a lot of symbolism within this image, the cross represents that they are Christian, the colour white which they are all wearing we associate with religion. Some of the children are holding their hands together which represents to us that they may be praying as they are walking. The decisive moment is present in this image because Cartier-Bresson would've had to time it right to capture the children in the way that he has. Although, we are looking at children they seem like adults from the way they present themselves and how dedicated to religion they seem. We know that Cartier-Bresson used his camera handheld but it doesn't seem as obvious in this image because it seems straight. 

In this image we can see a group of people dancing, the men are dressed in black suits and the women are dressed in white dresses. There is a lot of symbolism within this image, the fact that all the couples are dressed the same could show that they are equally do not shoe their true selves and have to live up to the stereotype of a richer person. We associate these people with being rich because we wouldn't stereotypically see poorer people in these outfits. Also the colours that the people are dressed in show symbolism, the colour black shows power which is stereotypically related to men, this is a sexist view because it shows the men to have more power than the women. White symbolises innocence which is shown in the women because they are wearing white dresses, this shows them to be weak, this adds to the sexist views because it shows men to have more power and importance than women. This image displays Cartier-Bresson's 'decisive moment' as he would've had to time the moment right to capture them dancing in this way. This image could've failed but because he captured the girls dressed swaying it gives the image more of an effect. 

Influence and Summary

The main aspect of Cartier-Bresson that has influenced my work is the decisive moment because he documents his work in a way that only works if he is able to take the image at the right time. His work doesn't relate to British Culture at all but his technique is the main thing I wanted to focus on. At first I did think about documenting my images in black and white similar to the way he does but I don't think this would've been the best way to document my images. His images are also wholly related to documentary whereas I have decided to focus on landscape photography. In the beginning of my shoots I wanted to follow Cartier-Bresson's ideas but I realised that I wanted to do more documentation on landscapes and British culture in colour rather than following his idea of black and white. I wanted to use his decisive moment in the my work but to do this I would've had to focus more on people which is not evident in my work.