Sheila Turner-Seed's interview with HCB

[Micah]

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/henri-cartier-bresson-living-and-looking/?hp

"The most difficult thing for me is not street photography. It’s a portrait."

"[My] best pictures were in that book, 'The Decisive Moment.' I took them when I was 20. Immediately, after a fortnight. The first day I started pictures. It’s in that book. That’s why teaching and learning is nothing. It’s living and looking. All these photography schools are a gimmick. What are they teaching? Could you teach me how to walk?"

"I don’t know if photography is an art or not an art. I have no idea of all this."

Tomorrow the NYTimes presents the second half of the interview, "in which Mr. Cartier-Bresson discusses his distaste for color photography and the liberties taken by Robert Capa in bookkeeping in the early Magnum days."

A DVD of the Cartier-Bresson interview, with his photos, is available from the International Center of Photography’s online bookstore.

 

[zuikologist]

Nice one, thanks. Interesting reading and nice backstory.

 

[Micah]

Yes, the Kickstarter aspect is very interesting.

 

[Micah]

In part 2 of the interview ("There Are No Maybes") Cartier-Bresson discusses why he prefers 50mm lenses, why he doesn't like color, how the magazine industry [had] declined, etc.

There's also an audio clip:

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/cartier-bresson-there-are-no-maybes/

 

[Ronny]

Take a look on this film trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnudz6-6acw

 

[ironhorse]

This really is a wonderful interview. I have always liked his work and I am equally impressed with the way he is able to explain himself as an artist.

 

[Sam Kanga]

Hcb

Hcb

I was a photography nut in my early teens, and devoured everything in print at the time. Saw a photo by HCB and it changed my way of thinking about photography.

In my opinion, his best work didn't need captions - I thought that was great! (there were a few other photographers that that applied to as well). Almost everything else I was seeing was boring, prosaic, he showed me you could be subtle, aim for poetry.

You can't try to be subtle, it has to come from the subconscious.

To keep this comment short, and not turn into a dissertation, I'll stop here.

Thanks
Sam