Assignment 5: Virtual essay

Henri  Cartier-Bression
"Henri Cartier-Bression  in Chanteloup-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marine, France on August 22, 1908. Henri was the oldest of five children. His father was a wealthy textile manufacturer. His mother's family were cotton merchants and landowners from Normandy, where Henri spent part of his childhood. As a young boy, Henri owned a Box Brownie camera, using it for taking holiday snapshots. He later experimented with a 3x4 inch view camera. His rigorous theoretical training would later help him to confront and resolve problems of artistic form and composition into photography. in  the 1920s schools of photographic realism were popping up throughout Europe, but each had a different view on the direction photography should take. The photography revolution had begun:  "Crush tradition! Photograph things as they are!"  Henri matured artistically in this stormy cultural and political environment. He was aware of the concepts and theories mentioned, but could not find a way of expressing this imaginatively in his paintings. He was very frustrated with his experiments and subsequently destroyed the majority of his early works."   (para.1)

 "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 of Lake Tanganyika. Titled Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika this captured the freedom, grace and spontaneity of their movement and their joy at being alive."  (Para. 5)
"That photograph inspired him to stop painting and to take up photography seriously. He explained, "I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant." He acquired the Leica camera with 50 mm lens in Marseilles that would accompany him for many years. He described the Leica as an extension of his eye. The anonymity that the small camera gave him in a crowd or during an intimate moment was essential in overcoming the formal and unnatural behavior of those who were aware of being photographed. He enhanced his anonymity by painting all shiny parts of the Leica with black paint. The Leica opened up new possibilities in photography — the ability to capture the world in its actual state of movement and transformation. In 1934 Cartier-Bresson met a young Polish intellectual, a photographer named David Szymin who was called "Chim" because his name was difficult to pronounce. Szymin later changed his name to David Seymour. The two had much in common culturally. Through Chim, Cartier-Bresson met a Hungarian photographer named Endré Friedmann, who later changed his name to Robert Capa. The three shared a studio in the early 1930s and Capa mentored Cartier-Bresson." (Para. 5) 

"Cartier-Bresson's first photojournalist photos to be published came in 1937 when he covered the coronation of King George VI, for the French weekly Regards. He focused on the new monarch's adoring subjects lining the London streets, and took no pictures of the king. His photo credit read "Cartier", as he was hesitant to use his full family name."  (Para.7)
"Cartier-Bresson achieved international recognition for his coverage of Gandhi's funeral in India in 1948 and the last (1949) stage of the Chinese Civil War. He covered the last six months of the Kuomintang administration and the first six months of the Maoist People's Republic. He also photographed the last surviving Imperial eunuchs in Beijing, as the city was falling to the communists. From China, he went on to Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), where he documented the gaining of independence from the Dutch." (Para. 8)


"Cartier-Bresson exclusively used Leica 35 mm rangefinder cameras equipped with normal 50 mm lenses or occasionally a wide-angle for landscapes. He often wrapped black tape around the camera's chrome body to make it less conspicuous. With fast black and white films and sharp lenses, he was able to photograph almost by stealth to capture the events. No longer bound by a huge 4×5 press camera or an awkward medium format twin-lens reflex camera, miniature-format cameras gave Cartier-Bresson what he called "the velvet hand [and] the hawk's eye." He never photographed with flash, a practice he saw as "[i]mpolite...like coming to a concert with a pistol in your hand." (Para 9)
"He believed in composing his photographs in the viewfinder, not in the darkroom. He showcased this belief by having nearly all his photographs printed only at full-frame and completely free of any cropping or other darkroom manipulation. Indeed, he emphasized that his prints were not cropped by insisting they include the first millimetre or so of the unexposed clear negative around the image area resulting, after printing, in a black border around the positive image. Cartier-Bresson worked exclusively in black and white, other than a few unsuccessful attempts in color. He disliked developing or making his own prints. He said: "I've never been interested in the process of photography, never, never. Right from the beginning. For me, photography with a small camera like the Leica is an instant drawing." He started the tradition of testing new camera lenses by taking photographs of ducks in urban parks. He never published the images but referred to them as 'my only superstition' as he considered it a 'baptism' of the lens. Cartier-Bresson is regarded as one of the art world's most unassuming personalities. He disliked publicity and exhibited a ferocious shyness since his days in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Although he took many famous portraits, his own face was little known to the world at large (which presumably had the advantage of allowing him to work on the street in peace). He dismissed others' applications of the term "art" to his photographs, which he thought were merely his gut reactions to moments in time that he had happened upon." (Para 10)

Henri Cartier-Bression Photograph.

Rene Burri is a Swiss Photographer. This photograph below was taken by Rene Burri during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. Rene worked with Cartier-Bression when they Robert Capa and George Rodger formed Magnum Photos. Burri much like his friend and co-worker Cartier Bression liked composing his photographs in the viewfinder rather than a darkroom. This photograph is full frame, free of cropping or any other darkroom manipulation which is the same technique Cartier-Bression used. The photograph is also black and white rather than color much like Cartier Bression as his photographs are all black and white as well. When Rene Burri worked with Henri Cartier-Bression at Magnum Photos he studied his technique and used it in his work to try to capture the photograph at the right moment to show the viewers the truth about what was going on in Cuba during the revolution since the American people at that time were not pleased about there being a revolution in Cuba. It was Henri Cartier-Bression's technique that was used in taking this photograph but also Burri's skills as well that make a perfectly taken photograph in my opinion.


Rene Burri Photo taken in Cuba in October 1962 during the revolution.


Arthur Fellig did black and white street photography. Henri Cartier Bression helped develop the "street photography" or "reallife reportage" style that has influenced generations of photographers like Arthur Fellig. Arthur took photographs that "features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and other settings." (Para .1, Sen.3) Arthur like Bression took photographs of places in public places trying to capture the "right moment" when you can find people showing emotions such as happiness, sadness and anger. The photograph is black and white and while it was done in a darkroom it was not cropped. Almost exactly similar to how Bression develops his photographs.


 Arthur Fellig

Robert Capa was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist. Robert in his 20s mentored Henri Cartier Bression. He taught Bression all about photography and about the techniques he used when he took photographs during the Spanish civil war. Henri would then later learn to make his own techniques and his mentor Capa would use them during World War II. Capa's photography style is not that different from his student Bression. Capa would later start to use candid photography while working together with Bression while founding Magnum Photos. The similarities are they both use candid photography which is taking the photographs close rather than far away. Another similarity is that both Bression and Capa try to capture emotions in their photographs. Bression had an impact on Capa's photographs due to Capa also learning from him about his style of photography when they worked together at Magnum Photos.


Robert Capa

George Rodger was a British photojournalist. He worked with Henri Cartier Bression when they founded Magnum Photos along with Robert Capa. He photographed places like the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen to show how horrible people were treated by the Nazis durning the Second World War. George Rodger uses candid photography like Cartier-Bression and does not use the darkroom to develop his photographs. He does not crop his photographs either leaving them to be 100% original. These are all things Henri Cartier Bression does when he works on his photography. Since Henri is considered the "father" of candid photography he had a definite impact on the photograph below of Bergen-Belsen in 1945 as Rodger used candid photography to take this photograph to show the people the truth of what the Nazis were doing in the concentration camps during the Second World War.


George Rodger-after the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen 1945.


Murray Garrett worked as a photographer specializing in show business. Murray Garrett was inspired by Henri Cartier Bression and his work. He uses candid photography which is photography that focuses on spontaneity rather than technique, on the immersion of a camera within events rather than focusing on setting up a staged situation or on preparing a lengthy camera setup. Henri Cartier Bression is considered the father of Candid Photography. Murray and Cartier-Bression both capture the "decisive moment" in everyday life over a span of several decades. Garrett made his photographs in black and white like his hero Cartier-Bression. Garrett also does not use the darkroom or crop his photographs much like Cartier Bression does. Henri Cartier Bression made candid photography and used it so successfully that photographers like Murray Garrett could not only use it but take it to new heights than even Bression though possible.

Murray Garrett takes photograph of Babe Ruth and American baseball team.
Henri Cartier Bression has inspired many photographers over the years and is has shown everybody that he was a great photographer by making candid photography and helping to make steet photography. I am also inspired by his photographs and one day want to try to use his techniques to take my own photographs. He is considered one of the best photographers of his era along with others such as Robert Capa. Photography thanks to his input has grown exponentially and will continue to grow as we head into the future. The future of photography looks bright. Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henri_Cartier%20Bresson.jpg http://apphotnum.free.fr/images/cartier-bresson05.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2010/3/25/1269513352039/Rene-Burris-photograph-of-001.jpg http://murraygarrett.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Fellig http://www.annedarlingphotography.com/images/arthur-fellig-car.jpg http://www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/files/2008/08/capa_essay_01.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rodger,_Bergen-Belsen.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Rodger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Capa