Cartier-Bresson - Surrealism and communism!

[Roger Hicks]

The HCB quote describes shooting skeet as well. And that's how I describe the craft of photography. But first, one must make a great effort to put himself in the right time and place and have a natural eye for drawing geometry within the frame of a viewfinder. A good photographer 'makes it come together over me' in an instant.

All the allusions to genius are editing skills.

Really? You can produce, by editing, genius from ANYONE'S work, no matter how mediocre they are?

A great future awaits you as an editor.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Sparrow]

A lot of people are about equally weak in their understanding of both surrealism and communism.

Cheers,

R.

Not to mention anarchism, I bet Henri, Capa and Hemingway had some interesting, and possibly, surreal conversations in their cups eh?

 

[airfrogusmc]

I love them all too.

By the way, the puddle pic was an accident. Bresson himself admitted it. He could not actually see what was happening as he was behind a fence, only enough space to poke the lens through a small opening.

But he saw the background and waited for something to happen, When he saw the guy jumping he just couldn't see to focus and kinda guessed on the timing.

And I hate labels but if I had to label a photographer a surrealist it would be Uelsmann not so sure about Bresson.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Not to mention anarchism, I bet Henri, Capa and Hemingway had some interesting, and possibly, surreal conversations in their cups eh?

The French bourgeois, the Hungarian Jew and the American suburbanite went into a bar...

There has to be a joke in there, somewhere.

 

[__--]

Someone posted here an english-language audio piece last week in which he said he was influenced by and loved the surrealists, but that his own work was not surrealist.

...Where does the author of this article get the idea that HCB was a Communist? The title splashes this view yet never elaborates. It's a well written piece that sums up much about HCB's life, though the title is off the mark. The artist described himself as an Anarchist in this fine interview. http://youtu.be/4ZSZLzGNPBQ

This article has a good discussion on HCB's relationship to both surrealism and communism, while this New Yorker article has a short, critical evaluation of his photography.

Anyone who doubts HCB's greatness as a photographer only has to look at his book The Decisive Moment, which used to, and may still be, available for download somewhere on the web and which has a concentration of great photographs that can hardily be matched in any other one photography book. Nevertheless, the New Yorker article linked above suggests certain limitations in his oeuvre that is made up for by, say, the less lyrical Robert Frank, and nevertheless does not negate the quality of his best work.

It's worthwhile to look at any (great) photographer with a critical mind and not try to make anyone into a saint (as some do with Salgado). Finally, it's also worthwhile to consider the many subsequent photographers that were strongly influenced by HCB, such as Eggleston and Alex Webb, to name just two.

—Mitch/Paris
Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems
[Download link for PDF file for book project]

 

[Rodchenko]

I'm sure there were plenty of jokes.

 

[DNG]

OK, I said earlier, that he took 600+ photos a day.. I found the small article from an Art Student that was invited by HCB to spend a few days with him, and HCB would prepare 12 or more self loaded cassettes the night before.. so closer to 400 photos a day.
I am assuming this is a normal [average] day out with a camera for HCB.
Also, he could afford to shoot as much as possible in a day, he was financed by his parents early on.

Here is the Link MY TIME WITH HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON

I am still looking for the Youtube Interview where HCB mentioned his "Man Jumping Puddle" image was shot blind shoot through a hole in a wood fence.
He had to judge the timing, and had 1 chance to get what he wanted.

 

[Landberg]

"Cartier-Bresson was a Surrealist Communist!"
And why is that a bad thing?

 

[DNG]

I did find a small tidbit on Derrière la gare de Saint-Lazare

LINK HERE There was a plank fence around some repairs behind the Gare Saint-Lazare train station.
"I happened to be peeking through a gap in the fence with my camera at the moment the man jumped"

In an interview, he remembered that the gap was not large enough to allow the VF to have a view.. so, just enough for the lens to poke in..

Sounds familiar ...with many construction walls today.. a few holes are drilled so passers-by can "Peek" through to see the construction going on.

 

[airfrogusmc]

But he also said he saw the posters in the background and then waited for something to happen.

 

[NY_Dan]

Behind the Iron Curtain!

 

[DNG]

I agree, David. I imagine that he probably averaged one or two rolls a day, perhaps even less.

I would respectfully disagree..

1) he spent hours a day taking photos... at 2 rolls per hour as the Art Student stated, and, his time with HCB would seem typical for someone who spends that kind of time during a Day out to shoot.

He was [not] concerned with film cost. I know a few reply's interjected their doubts, because [they] could not afford it. HCB came from a wealthy family that financially supported him in the beginning. That allowed him to travel and shoot as much as wanted to.

I believe he shot 10-14 rolls a day. that is only a 5-7 hour day.
he then mailed them to his friend [whom he trusted] in Paris to develop and print them.

Look, in our digital age.. how many of you shoot in excess of 300 photos in a 3-4 hour period on the streets? HCB shooting a similar number is not a strange concept, it is typical for a serious SP that spends 3 or more hours a day on the streets.

Too many here want to believe [every photo] was perfect or at least he had a 90% keeper rate.... Really.. more like 10-20% per roll. I'd say no more than 30% at on a good day.
He even said in a YouTube interview that much of his great images are luck... because, if you miss the moment by a faction of a second, you have nothing, it is a wasted frame.

He was just a man with a camera.

He had a good eye for composition and framing from his Artist background.

He developed his timing and anticipation of the subject movement.

 

[DNG]

But he also said he saw the posters in the background and then waited for something to happen.

Yes, he did mention that... He wasn't sure what would happen, but he did see people jumping over that puddle. He had to aim the lens the best he could w/o a VF, and I guess look through another gap to get the timing right.

That is why it is important to know your lens fov [in your head]
He used a 35 and 50 mainly.

 

[DNG]

@NY_Dan....

 

[airfrogusmc]

"To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event, as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression." Henri Cartier-Bresson

"For me, content cannot be separated from form. By form, I mean the rigorous organisation of the interplay of surfaces, lines and values. It is in this organisation alone that our conceptions and emotions become concrete and communicable. In photography, visual organisation can stem only from a developed instinct." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

[__--]

I would respectfully disagree..[blah-blah-blah]

Why all this passion and contention about exactly how much he shot? There are some books like the huge Magnum book of contact sheets, from which anyone can get an idea of how he worked. That can be compared, for example, with what we know about Robert Frank: 28,000 shots in two years that resulted in his 80-photo book, The Anericans; with the fact that Eggleston said he doesn't bracket because "it's to difficult to select" the best picture and [blah-blah-blah] — continue however you will. All that matters is how you or any photographer wants to approach his or her work.

I am, however, amused by amateurs posting statements on their machine-gun like approach, on how with their new camera have shot "xx,xxx shots in "y" months...

—Mitch/Paris
Chiang Tung Days
[Direct download link for pdf file for Burma book project]

 

[noimmunity]

I saw this thread yesterday and knew it would end up in mythology, cynicism and disavowal.

One thing I will say is that the notion of the "decisive moment" carries with it a lot of the baggage of its era--assumptions that are shared equally by the isms of the 19th and 20th centuries*. The attempt to immunize Henri's "art" from his "politics" doesn't work any more than trying to use the man's political positions to "decode" his art.

*For a good philosophical analysis of these shared assumptions, see Jean-Luc Nancy, The Inoperative Community (La communauté désoeuvrée).

 

[Sparrow]

The French bourgeois, the Hungarian Jew and the American suburbanite went into a bar...

There has to be a joke in there, somewhere.

... sadly Henri wouldn't have time for that sort of thing ... six-hundred shots a day don't take themselves you know

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

There are too many isms in this thread and the problem is that isms change their meaning over time.

Regards, David

 

[__--]

Actually, as usual, there are too many one-liners instead of real discussions — including the post I am writing now. [Yawn...]

Mitch/Paris
Tristes Tropiques
[Direct download link for PDF file of book project]