This is the first of a (hopefully) recurring series of posts about the great photographers, that shaped the art as we know it today.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
August 22, 1908 - August 3, 2004
Henri Cartier-Bresson was born 1908 in Chanteloup-en-Brie, France and despite spending his early years as a painter he became an early adopter of the Leica Model 1 in 1932, which truly catalysed his work. The experience he had gathered as a painter and during his time in Africa as a hunter came together to form his signature style of "capturing the decisive moment". He developed an uncanny ability to see where a good photograph could develop before the action took place, allowing him to prepare the composition of the shot and wait for that "decisive moment" when everything came together just perfectly. In addition, he made a conscious effort to blend into the crowd and avoid attracting attention to himself, so he could capture the unadulterated reality of life around him. It is thanks to Cartier-Bresson, that we are given an incredible insight into the daily life of people during some of the most turbulent times in recent history.
As well as his stunning street photography Cartier-Bresson was also renowned for the portraits he took, which he likened to "putting the camera between the skin of a person and his shirt".
His most notable work includes his street photography of Paris in the 1930's, his chronicle of Mahatma Gandhi's death, witnessing the birth of the Peoples Republic of China and his celebrity portraits.
In addition to his photographic work, Cartier-Bresson founded the cooperative agency Magnum Photos together with Robert Capa, George Rodger and David Seymour in 1947 and, with the help of his wife and daughter, set up the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation to preserve his legacy in 2003. Throughout his life, he disliked publicity and preferred to keep his identity hidden as much as possible. He is also famous for sticking to his Leica Model 1 throughout his life.
In 2004 Henri Cartier-Bresson died peacefully at the age of 95 in Montjustine, France.
The following images are some of my favourites:
Disclaimer: These are not my personal images. I highly recommend you follow the sources and in particular, the links at the bottom to see where these images come from.
Source
Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, shortly before his assassination.
Source
Albert Camus 1944
Source
Rue Mouffetard, Paris 1954
Source
Coronation of George VI, Trafalgar Square 1937
Source
Jean-Paul Sartre 1946
Source
Srinagar, Kashmir 1948
It's impossible to do a man such as Henri Cartier-Bresson the justice he deserves in a short post such as this, so I encourage you to visit both the HCB-Foundation and his profile on Magnum Photos
"You just have to live and life will give you pictures."
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Some great black and white photography. Like the history comments also.
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The photography of HCB really is amazing. Cartier-Bresson was a defining artist throughout the last century. Many of his images have become iconic for their time period.
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Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by gentbynature from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.
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Great post i enjoyed reading it and the quote at the end is great. 😊
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Thanks. I hope to do one every week. Got a few interesting photographers from back in the day lined up.
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Nice, id like to get mote into it. Gotta upgrade to a camera from this phone once funds allow. Recommend any good cameras on a budget?
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If you want the cheapest possible entry into photography check out film cameras. I wrote an introduction to the subject here:
https://steemit.com/photography/@gentbynature/getting-started-in-film-photography-for-less-than-150usd
If you are looking for digital it gets a bit harder. Personally, I think mirrorless cameras are great and can recommend the Fujifilm X-series cameras, as I both use them and have recommended them in the past.
Canon and Nikon are always safe bets too.
I would suggest you go to a camera store, ask for the previous models (they are much cheaper and not really any worse) and get a feel for what camera suits you. An important part of photography is how the equipment feels to you in your hands. In the beginning you won't really need any of the fancy features the high range cameras offer, so stick to the entry level models, or the cameras that are offered one step above entry level.
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That's great advice thanks for taking the time to reply. I think I will go with the digital camera just because I love doing photo edits and playing around with what I capture in Photoshop. Look forward to reading more of your post I gave you a follow! :)
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Thanks for your follow :)
I hope you enjoy getting into photography. Don't be discouraged. It can be difficult and daunting at first, but it really pays off once you learn the basics. Take your time to learn things step by step, practice exposure settings using the sunny 16 rule and learn how to use your camera in full manual mode. Make use of the basic compositional techniques like the rule of thirds, the rule of odds etc.
Eventually, it will really pay off and don't forget this excellent quote by Henri Cartier-Bresson:
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”
So keep at it!
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Love it!
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Thank you very much.
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Great!
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Thanks. Wrote my main reply on your post, where our main conversation has been going on.
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Amazing post!!!
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Thank you for your positive feedback.
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@gentbynature got you a $2.15 @minnowbooster upgoat, nice! (Image: pixabay.com)
Want a boost? Click here to read more!
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This post received a 3.3% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @gentbynature! For more information, click here!
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I really love that you are sharing influential photographers and their work. Another great post.
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Thank you for your continuing support. Really appreciate it.
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Wow. amazing photos.
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Yes! This guy was amazing! I love his street photography work (and this is my favourite genre). :)
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Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the most inspiring people to me. He's actually the reason I decided to start this series. If you are interested in street photography, you should definitely do more reading on his work. He wrote a book called "The Decisive Moment", there are a number of documentaries featuring him and a lot can be learned just by studying his work.
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Oh awesome, thanks so much for sharing that. I'm all over it like a rash!
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Have fun ;-) He's a great place to start with street photography since he basically invented the style. To me, his work is still the purest form of street photography and it's simply great that we have all these images he took that allow us to see what life was like for the average joe back in the day.
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Thanks, I will. You've got me all excited now!!
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