Jillian Leedy

Professor Hughes

Principles of

5 March 2013

1. Henri Cartier-Bresson states, “In photography, you have to keep in the same line of sight your head, your eye, and your heart.” Elaborate on this statement, explaining what you think he is saying about his approach to photography and photography in general.

I think with this statement, Bresson is expressing the key elements to “great” photography. In class we have talked about the different elemental levels to photography, such as informational, graphic, emotional and intimate. These components can display a purely description-al image of an event or place, informational, or a picture that looks good through its compositional elements, graphic, or lastly it can reflect a situation that elicits a response from the viewer and taps into the emotional/intimate arena. In Cartier-Bresson’s case, these are showcased by the mind, eye, and heart. He said a lot in the movie about how “you can’t force things” and how it should be natural, “easy and effortless.” With each image shot, Bresson believes in the symbiotic relationship of having a natural eye for what looks good, the mindset of remembering compositional elements and patterns, and the heart, which allows the photographer to articulate the deepest parts of the real-world human character and emotional experience.

Source: Class Notes/Discussion

2. In 1947 he founded Magnum with three (initially four, but we only count the ultimate three) other photographers. Research and provide information about all four photographer's roles in the organization.

Two years after World War II, , Henri Cartier-Bresson, and David "Chim" Seymour founded Magnum photography (also William Vandivert). They decided to split the world between themselves as photographers. Magnum was one of the first photography collectives that was owned and run by all its members, with each of the men playing the role of photographers, with ownership of their own photographic work. The name Magnum came from the bottle of champagne they always drank during their first meetings. Rodger quit Life magazine in London, and after scarring experience from the war, went to cover Africa and the Middle East. Chim spoke many European languages, and was therefore assigned Europe. Capa, really travelled where the wind took him, and anywhere the others could not be, to capture moments of the world. Bresson obviously went to India and China, captivating others with his beautiful work shooting Ghandi’s last days and funeral, and the Chinese Civil War. Magnum is now today, an international photographic coorperative operating out of the US, Europe and Asia, and every year elects new budding photographers into its ranks. According to Cartier- Bresson, "Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually." (Man, is he a quote machine or what?)

Sources: http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/about/history http://www.magnumphotos.com http://www.bjp-online.com/tag/magnum-photos

3. Select your three favorite Cartier-Bresson portraits and describe each from a technical and emotional level — what makes these images so special to you?

Obviously, my first thought goes to an image that I had actually have seen before this class, and is easily one of Bresson’s most recognizable. The picture of the man stepping off of the wooden dock area, and his body is perfectly represented in shadow on the water. I love this image because of its simplicity, which can be said for most Bresson photographs, but I think is especially true of this. It wasn’t taken with a fancy modern day camera. It’s a little blurry, out-of-focus, and doesn’t even show the face of the man, just a dark figure. But, compositionally, it displays perfect light and moment, and contains such things as rule-of-thirds and leading lines. I think it succeed in eliciting a great emotional response out of me, including confusion, intrigue and curiosity. Who is this man? Where is he going? It is even confusing as to what he is stepping into, because the ground is so widely reflective, it gives off the impression that he is stepping into a deep body of water and just might disappear, when he’s probably just a heavily flooded street.

Sources: - Class Notes/Discussion http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4h5hvNe0IP4/TRJweu33n7I/AAAAAAAAAKI/dn0got3i6xs/s1600/Lazare.jpg

My favorite image of his is slightly obscure, but was seen in the documentary. It shows a man and woman on a rocky beach with their heads and upper torsos blocked by the shade of a black umbrella. I love how the two subjects in the picture are level with the base of the frame, yet because it is shot from a lower angle and the beach curves down, the rest of the people on the rocks and the ocean horizon are off kilter. I love how some people in the background including a small child blend with the lightly colored beach, or are a light grey, making the dark subjects in the foreground protrude from the picture. I know we haven’t talked much about texture, but I love the contrasting soft, hazy waters in the back, and the jagged rough rocks at the base of the image. One of my favorite parts is the almost law-of-closure-esque way these two are shot in their own isolated lover’s paradise, behind the umbrella. Are they talking? Sleeping? Kissing? Well, we’ll never know, but the first time I saw this I had an “Awwww” moment because I think it looks sweet, real and natural.

Sources: - Class Notes/Discussion http://erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/henri-cartier-bresson-umbrella.jpg

The last image I enjoy is the portrait of all the children looking through the jagged/broken wall opening. Think of how different it would have been if Bresson would have walked through the hole in the wall and snapped the picture…probably not as good. Using the wall to frame with form is absolute genius; Bresson really had a natural eye and talent for photography. I love the expressions on the children’s faces because I don’t really know what to make of them. Bored? Sad? Caught playing? And the layers! Oh, the layers, are fantastic!! I also love the vertical leading lines of the walls some of the children in the background are peeking out from and leaning against. It’s just a simple photo, but I think it’s very powerful.

Sources: -Class Notes/Discussion http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0-5KKMI5NuA/Tm8vWKL0tsI/AAAAAAAAApU/43ZOTTTDYNg/s1600/henri-cartier- bresson-hyeres-france-1932-seville-spain-1944-wall-hole-children-playing.jpg

4. Is Cartier-Bresson a photojournalist? Why or why not? Substantiate your claim.

I think Cartier-Bresson meets the classic criterion that defines a photojournalist. Photojournalism is all about collecting, editing and delivering real-life images through a series of images to tell a story. The different criteria for a photojournalist includes ideas of “timeliness,” or relevance to the current topics of the day, “objectivity,” or fair representation of the subject depicted, “narrative,” or the photo with other elements to give the reader and insight. Bresson was perfect at all of this in his short, yet storied career. I think the job of a photojournalist is to capture the “real-life” true human emotion and spirit in current everyday life. I think one of the biggest testaments to Bresson being a photojournalist is his work with Magnum. He and four other photographers split THE WORLD between them, to photograph. I remember in the documentary someone describing Bresson as naturally intuitive when it comes to knowing something big is going to happen and being there to shoot it. He traveled the world taking revolutionary pictures in China, Mexico, Cuba, USA, and France. He documented newsworthy important history, and such things as Ghandi’s funeral in India and the Soviet Union, when nobody else could capture it. Even though he shot in a time with less technically advanced cameras, he was able to get amazing pictures, with large depth of field, giving the audience a sense of place, and that his photos were larger than life, which they were. I think he, like James Nachtwey, is a great representation of a photojournalist. The only exception I have is, in class we discussed his book of Paris at night. In these shots, he was said to have brought lighting tools with him, to alter his reality. I guess for the time, these elements were necessary to capture at night, but it feels more like art/still-life, altered reality, similar to Annie Leibovitz, rather than the vast majority of Bresson’s natural work.

Source: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Photojournalism

5. The body of his photographic work covers a 35-year span. During that time he covered many places and topic around the world. Choose one of those locations and describe the significance of the story or stories that he produced. Be sure to discuss the technical and emotional aspects of the images in addition to the overall story.

I think one of the most stirring and beautiful photosets/stories that Bresson captured was his work done for Magnum in India, during Ghandi’s last days and at his funeral (saw some of it in the documentary, but I mostly utilized the gallery of India in Magnum’s photo site). Even when they were a little blurry, Bresson captured such great depth of field. I think using this compositional element was key above all else because it was able to show the sheer size and scope of Ghandi’s following and funeral. In the days leading up to his death, Bresson capture so many candid intimate moments of Ghandi. Bresson utilized rule of thirds (cool picture of the sea of crowds and this one lone tree shooting up on the side, and there were even people in the tree the streets were so crowded), leading lines (played a lot off of architecture and buildings), light and shadow (such beautiful lighting in so many of his photos), motion (people moving and lamenting in the streets), and framing with form (lots of staircases…boy, he liked stairs) to draw the viewer in through sheer aesthetics alone. But, his photographs didn’t stop there, he also capture the days on a deep emotional level. Capturing the “mourning process,” from the hazy chaotic shot of Nehru’s announcement of the death to the weeping of individuals, and begging of the poor in the street. Such a powerful collection in India.

Sources: -Class Notes and Discussion http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN