If Henri Cartier-Bresson was alive today would he shoot film or digital?

If Henri Cartier-Bresson was alive today would he shoot film or digital?

  • Digital

    Votes: 108 60.7%

  • Film

    Votes: 34 19.1%

  • None of the above. He quit photography to be a painter - admin choice added

    Votes: 36 20.2%
  • Total voters
    178
  • Poll closed .
He'd use a D40x in silent mode, with an AF Nikkor 35/1.8 DX. And he'd shoot circles around all the posers with M9's and 50 'Lux ASPH's.
 
I think the question is would he have become a photographer at all ...
he might prefer to expess himself in another medium maybe made movies something like Avatar.
I ticked the third option ;]
 
With all the discussions around the "decisive moment" He will remain a painter so one will bother him on His view of the World.
 
peterm1 said:
Oh for goodness sake.

I know this is for fun but this question is like "If red were blue and the sun shone at night and the moon were made of green cheese what colour would it be at midnight in September?"
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Since green falls in the middle of the EM spectrum, even if the colors were inverted green cheese would still be green... (going for humor here)
 
diagularax said:
I've seen that done by admin before and wasn't impressed Nick.

Play them at their own game and delete the thread! :D
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Nah - it's cool. This is just a silly poll posted for fun. Though I have to admit to being a tad surprised by it. Nothing anyone posts, does on the intertubes is ever worth elevating your blood pressure over - ever. Life's too short... Carry on :)
 
"He would be painting" responses are even sillier than the discussion itself, given the proposition that HCB is "in his prime today taking pictures."
 
JSRocket... LOL, what the hell is that.. maybe I should return the lumix I bought for my wife today and reconsider...:D
 
But I will say, kidding aside, and of course you can never prove it, if HBC was alive today he probably would shoot digital, probably would chimp, probably wouldn't shoot a rangefinder... And as f16sunshine estutely points out, would most likely upload to Flickr and get lost there... semilog also is correct that he might be tooling around with a Nikon D40 and a 35/1.8 prime. I don't think the X100 because he clearly preferred the 50mm focal length.

To others who think he'd be scratching at his coffin - I don't think he'd "hate digital", I think he'd embrace it. He was a prolific shooter, and digital is conducive to this and more economical.

Same applies to those who say he'd "go back to painting"... (see above). Why would you think this?

To those who think this is a silly question - it is. But there is some merit behind the silliness. Many people who were inspired to whatever degree by the great street shooters of the past wanted to "make pictures like them"... and rushed out to buy the exact same equipment - still available. But it wasn't about the type of equipment used - ever. He selected what he thought was best suited among the contemporary product choices. He didn't choose to shoot with old technology, again, most certainly available in his day.
 
Sean Moran said:
Are you sure about your logical assertion, Roger? (All counterfactual conditionals are true). I'm not entirely convinced. Take the counterfactual conditional 'If HCB were alive today, he would be an American'. That's surely not true.
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It's still true - since he isn't alive today, you can make all sorts of wrong assertions and the whole statement is still true. It's true by virtue of the precondition not being met, not by virtue of the assertion being correct.

"If HCB were alive today, he would be an American" is no different from "If 2+2 equalled 5, HCB would be an American", or in fact from "If HCB had been Norwegian, he would be an American". All true.
 
NickTrop said:
Nah - it's cool. This is just a silly poll posted for fun. Though I have to admit to being a tad surprised by it. Nothing anyone posts, does on the intertubes is ever worth elevating your blood pressure over - ever. Life's too short... Carry on :)
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Yes sir! And to be truthful... Having an admin who actual is willing to stick a spoon in the pot for the humor of all is a damn fine thing.

BTW I voted for the painter bit... :)
 
I suspect he would be shooting what he used to shoot, simply because it is familiar. Whether better or worse than the alternatives, it would work for him and that would be the deciding factor.
 
My answer may come across as mean (I'm not in the greatest mood right now) but I really don't care what he would choose...what he does/did has no direct connection with what I do or what I use...
My response is directed at the Thread Title...
If Henri Cartier-Bresson was alive today would he shoot film or digital?
 
CameraQuest said:
because he did do just that.

Stephen
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Yeah - but he didn't do that because photographic technology changed... Not completely up on the life/times of HCB, he was old, perhaps he couldn't get around all that well (required for what he did), was content to stay put (as required by that particular medium) - and paint. Guessing, of course.
 
If he were still alive today I suppose he would continue with his drawing and painting.

Cartier Bresson retired from photography in 1972!
 
NickTrop said:
Yeah - but he didn't do that because photographic technology changed... Not completely up on the life/times of HCB, he was old, perhaps he couldn't get around all that well (required for what he did), was content to stay put (as required by that particular medium) - and paint. Guessing, of course.
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he did an interview, with the NY Times as I recall
in it he was not too fond of photography at that time in his life at all.

Stephen
 
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