Henri Cartier Bresson

Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004) a French Photographer who was born in Chanteloup. His father was a textile manufacturer and his mother's family were merchants and land owners.

Henri Cartier studied in Paris at a Catholic school where he wanted to learn music but never succeeded in it so his uncle introduced him to oil painting which become his hobbie. At the age of 19 he went to a private art school where he studied painting. He is known as street photographer/ photojournalist.

Cartier Bresson worked in black and white but had a few unsuccessful attempts in colour. He did not like to develop or make his own prints and was never intrested in the process of photography. For him photography was an instant drawing. Cartier Bresson uses a Lecia 35mm camera.

 

As a journalist, Henri Cartier Bresson felt an intense need to communicate what he thought and felt about what he sees, and while his pictures often were subtle they were rarely obscure. He had a high respect for the discipline of press photography, of having to tell a story in a picture. His journalist with the realities of men and events, his sense of news and history, and his belief in the social role of photography all helped keep his work memorable.

All his great pictures were taken with the kind of equipment owned by many amateur photographers, such as 35mm rangefinder camera's equipped with a normal 50mm lens or occasionally a telephoto for landscapes.