Are you able to master luck?

[telenous]

Kertesz and Muncaszi clearly foreshadow Cartier-Bresson. (Probably others did too.) There was something in the air and water of fin de siècle Mitteleuropa that tuned these photographers into a style which, later, HCB also made his own: a combination of formalism with absurdist (but lyrical) happenstance. Since his photography was about serendipity it would seem it relied heavily on luck. Not so. He had to pursue fiercely and with relentless commitment the opportune moment. Differently: Photographing Lady Luck's alternate manifestations could not be left to luck.


.

 

[helen.HH]

hmmmm....re: Luck, To the Bold Fortune gives her hand

as for Bresson shooting 20 rolls a day.... 😱
your bound to have a collection of good shots 😛
I couln't possibly shoot that amount in a Day

I think what carried him thru was the Love and Challenge of what he was doing more than just having 'luck'

 

[Scrambler]

Kertesz and Muncaszi clearly foreshadow Cartier-Bresson. (Probably others did too.) There was something in the air and water of fin de siècle Mitteleuropa that tuned these photographers into a style which, later, HCB also made his own: a combination of formalism with absurdist (but lyrical) happenstance. Since his photography was about serendipity it would seem it relied heavily on luck. Not so. He had to pursue fiercely and with relentless commitment the opportune moment. Differently: Photographing lady luck's alternate manifestations could not be left to luck.


.

I think this is the best brief summary of HCB's (and other's) photography I have read. I think many people assume the formalism is accidental when it is not, not even slightly. And what telenous aptly calls "absurdist (but lyrical) happenstance" comes of waiting, sometimes for hours, and choosing the "peaking" moment of activity.

 

[willie_901]

I'm happy to learn HCB shot 20 rolls a day.

The next time someone defames Winogrand's artistry and gift for observation because he shot 20 rolls a day I'll bring HCB up.

 

[airfrogusmc]

You'll never good really good at timing unless you do it and do it a lot. If you have to think about it you've missed it. Meyerowitz said to get good you need to get out as often as possible. I know if I have not been out for a few days my timing is not sharp.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I'm happy to learn HCB shot 20 rolls a day. . .

But do you actually believe it? Some days, sure. Maybe fairly often. Some days, quite possibly more than 20 rolls. But every day? This sounds like myth-making to me.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Rodchenko]

Indeed. It's a remark that seems to have captured people's imagination. I'm sure he sometimes did, but that was, er, remarkable.

 

[hepcat]

"f8 and be there." every day.

And that's why I'm not good at it... it's the "every day" part that lets you get "lucky."

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

20 rolls a day of say 37 is 740 frames exposed; let him have Sundays off (there's proof he didn't) and that's 4,440 frames a week. How many of those were "lucky" and published?

Now do the maths for (say) a years' shooting...

It's not what I call luck.

Regards, David

 

[Rodchenko]

"f8 and be there."

Being a resident of the UK, I find this amusing, as we live so much of our lives in utter gloom that f8 would be massively underexposed or blurry. 😀

But the principle is sound.

 

[gns]

"Habitually shot 20 rolls a day for 50 years". You have to love the internet for its efficiency in the advancement of hyperbole, rumor and misinformation.
Or, maybe it's true.

 

[Sparrow]

When did Henri do all that developing I wonder ... 20 rolls eh? whats that two maybe three hours? then perhaps the same agin to do the contacts and go through them and reject any that would need cropping, then a quick nap and off again the next day

 

[Rodchenko]

He did use others to do his processing. It is said they cursed his casual disregard of exposure measurement.

 

[Sparrow]

... that was his printer. I'm not sure about the developing but he stuck them in the scrapbook himself

 

[Rodchenko]

Fair point.

 

[airfrogusmc]

He could print but left the printing to others though he was very specific in his processing and burning and dodging instructions.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Being a resident of the UK, I find this amusing, as we live so much of our lives in utter gloom that f8 would be massively underexposed or blurry. 😀

But the principle is sound.

And Arthur Fellig (Weegee) IIRC is the one that said that and f/8 with a Speed Graphic is very different in terms of DoF than f/8 in 135 format.

 

[jsrockit]

Being a resident of the UK, I find this amusing, as we live so much of our lives in utter gloom that f8 would be massively underexposed or blurry. 😀.

I find it amusing in NYC as well... the light changes so much going into alleys and under train tressels.... and during the winter.

 

[Sparrow]

He could print but left the printing to others though he was very specific in his processing and burning and dodging instructions.

... so that's twenty rolls a day, processing, contact-sheets, writing up instructions for the printers and drinking with Hemingway ... not so much man but superman! ... all that and a philosopher to boot

Oh, and ... f8! you were lucky, in't north we'd a' been glad to have f8 ...

 

[airfrogusmc]

I have no idea if Bresson shot 20 rolls a day. I doubt he did it everyday. I read Winogrand shot 5 rolls a day pretty much everyday but in the huge Bresson exhibit (Henri Cartier-Bresson The Modern Century) at the Art Institute of Chicago a few years back they had test prints and his instruction of how he wanted the finals to look. Also some interesting letters to editors saying if they cropped his work he would bring a law suit against them for copyright infringement. at the Art Institute of Chicago a few years back