Research Notes: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photographer Research -

Henri Cartier-Bresson -

Born: August 22nd 1908

Died: August 3rd 2004

Place of Birth: Chanteloupe-en-Brie, France

Occupation: Photographer and painter

Groups: Documentary, Decisive Moment
Camera Used: Kodak Box Brownie, 35mm Camera

• Bresson was born to a wealth mother and father who raised him in a bourgeoisie neighbourhood.
• Bresson originally was a painter who was taught by his uncle until he died in the war.
• He later attended a private school, the Lhote, where he studied art.
• Bresson called the art institute his teacher of "Photography without a camera".
• In 1929 Bresson received his first camera from his army friend Harry Crosby.
• After the war, the suicide of Crosby and his break from Corsby's wife, Bresson escaped to Africa.
• Whilst in Africa Bresson survived by hunting and selling it to locals; in this hunting Bresson crafted his photographic ideas of 'The Decisive Moment'.
• Bresson later returned to France where he photographed three boys by a lake and thought is displayed the spontaneity and joy of life. At this point he started photography seriously.
• In 1937 Bresson's first photojournalist works were published; the images were those of the coronation of King George IV and Queen Elizabeth.
• In 1947 Bresson teamed up with other photojournalists and formed 'Magnum Photos' where work was equally distributed between them.
• Bresson received high recognition for his coverage of Ghandi's funeral in 1948 and the last stage of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
• In 1952 Bresson published his book 'The Decisive Moment'.

Magnum Photos:

• Cartier-Bresson
• Robert Capa
• David Seymour
• William Vandivert
• George Rodger

Decisive Moment:

The Decisive Moment is a particular point where the photographer captures an image that directly surmises the events at the point in existence that could not be replicated ever again.  Or in Bresson's own words: "To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression."

Henri Cartier-Bresson Examples:

This picture is an apt subject for exemplifying 'The Decisive Moment' as the subject of the image is framed just perfectly within the negative space of the landscape and also sits exactly at the cross-section of grid composition method. The golden ratio also applies to this image. Also, the black and white nature of the photograph, due to the time period, evokes nostalgia and history. The audience are intrigued by the subject's story which is displayed so concisely within an individual frame.

This image is significant due to the subject matter. The two become almost like figureheads for a  political and social campaign. The homosexual nature of the photograph would most likely have been disapproved on by the public yet Bresson chose to capture this to encourage a change within society.

This image depicts the resourcefulness of children in events of social inequality such as social class and disaster. The image is framed beautifully in reference to composition with the subjects almost displayed as separate from the rest of society and from the viewer. Bresson may have been challenging audiences to relate themselves to the youth displayed in this picture.