Henri Cartier Bresson

"The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression... . In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif." — Henri Cartier Bresson




In photography, our aim should always been capturing genuine moments and Henri Cartier Bresson, in my opinion, did accomplished this in every shot. Bresson, a French photographer, is considered to be the father of street photography and photo journalism.

Bresson worked with a very small Leica rangefinder camera (I am a rangefinder user as well), a 50mm lens and would often cover his camera with black tape to make it less conspicuous. When working with human subjects, they have a tendency to close off real emotion and try to express what they think you want to see.

Bresson's style breaks through posed moments and brings out genuine moments of emotion, which you will see in the imagines below (his picture of Marlyn Monroe is perhaps the only picture I have seen of her not vamping).

His work is always balanced very well with great contrast. He seems to know exactly when and where to use shallow depth of field or to go really deep into the picture.