© Henri Cartier-BressonI watched this DVD about Henri Cartier-Bresson last night. Interestingly enough it was loaned to me by a woman whose name is Martine Bresson (no relation, but she is from Paris and a photographer).
It was wonderful to see him and so many of his photographs in this piece. He spoke about the geometry of photography and how he takes a picture just to take a picture, nothing more, nothing less. He defined himself as a photographer b/c he took pictures, not b/c they were hung in a gallery or b/c he received fame and accolades.
You can't dispute this man had an eye for seeing, and if you don't agree then watch this dvd. Something happens when you see image after image of his across the screen and you listen to him talk so candidly. His body of work appears effortless. You begin to see that all he has done is capture a moment in time, over and over and over again. The concept sounds simple and he does it so artfully.
Many of his images show intimate moments of people which made me ponder if it's still possible to achieve those kinds of images without being hired by the subject. On this side of the world we seem to covet our privacy and that's probably b/c we have given so much of it away (debit cards, cell phones, utube, email, etc). We are accessible most always, and much of it isn't even human contact. It makes me question what kind of response you would receive from an unsolicited photograph. Perhaps I'll go find the answer.
The above image is taken of the painter Matisse.
No comments:
Post a Comment