Why HCB uses a 50mm lens

[boojum]

I certainly am not an expert on the man, but HCB was an interesting guy who just had an eye for "the moment" - in fact he was simply brilliant. But I've never seen anything about HCB where much insight was gained about his art technique. That includes why he seemed to prefer using a 50mm lens. His answers, at least to me, were always gibberish. I recall in an interview with Charlie Rose, in response to a question something like - "where do you get your inspiration" - HCB responded with "I just press the button." Even the OP's initial remarks quoting him don't dissuade my thinking on this point.

There has been allot of talk about "cropping" in this thread, but I understand he didn't even do his own printing.

Bresson had the same printer for years and worked very closely with him from what I have read and seen. I understand completely the "I just press the button" response. I think we all have within us the ability to recognize a good image. It is just more finely honed in some than others. And I do believe that his artistic training trained his eye and that he was saying truth when he said the camera was a quick sketch pad.

He was not a large format landscape photographer but and on-the-fly in the milieu shooter. And you can be sure he did not print all he shot, either. So we all compete similar, but some are just better than others, just like everything else in life. Some of us are Shakespeares, the rest just monkeys with typewriters. That's life.

 

[CMur12]

Bresson had the same printer for years and worked very closely with him from what I have read and seen. I understand completely the "I just press the button" response. I think we all have within us the ability to recognize a good image. It is just more finely honed in some than others. And I do believe that his artistic training trained his eye and that he was saying truth when he said the camera was a quick sketch pad.

He was not a large format landscape photographer but and on-the-fly in the milieu shooter. And you can be sure he did not print all he shot, either. So we all compete similarly, but some are just better than others, just like everything else in life. Some of us are Shakespeares, the rest just monkeys with typewriters. That's life.

Well! 😡

I'm no Shakespeare, but I'm no monkey at the typewriter either!

😉

- Murray

 

[Retro-Grouch]

I certainly am not an expert on the man, but HCB was an interesting guy who just had an eye for "the moment" - in fact he was simply brilliant. But I've never seen anything about HCB where much insight was gained about his art technique. That includes why he seemed to prefer using a 50mm lens. His answers, at least to me, were always gibberish. I recall in an interview with Charlie Rose, in response to a question something like - "where do you get your inspiration" - HCB responded with "I just press the button." Even the OP's initial remarks quoting him don't dissuade my thinking on this point.

There has been allot of talk about "cropping" in this thread, but I understand he didn't even do his own printing.

Maybe he just had no patience for gear talk. You know, the kind we all engage in here on this forum? I do it too, but sometimes it just gets really tiresome!

 

[boojum]

Maybe he just had no patience for gear talk. You know, the kind we all engage in here on this forum? I do it too, but sometimes it just gets really tiresome!

We cannot read his mind. He spoke of shooting and mostly it was a "Just push the button" stuff. The trick is seeing and capturing the image. It takes very little skill to buy the gear. Perhaps that was what he was driving at after being hounded for decades about what and how. He had to be tired of it. "Just push the button."

 

[Erik van Straten]

Bresson had the same printer for years and worked very closely with him from what I have read and seen.

He had a whole group of printers working for him. He was a client of "PICTO" - services in Paris. There were "PICTO" labs all over the world. Read this:

France-Amérique
https://france-amerique.com/picto-and …

Picto and Magnum Photos: A Parallel History ​

 

[boojum]

He had a whole group of printers working for him. He was a client of "PICTO" - services in Paris. There were "PICTO" labs all over the world. Read this:

France-Amérique
https://france-amerique.com/picto-and …

Picto and Magnum Photos: A Parallel History​

Eh, bien, il ne marche pas pour moi. I'll fiddle with it some more when I get up later today. Thanks for the info, especially for me an irrepressible Francophile. I am very biased in favor of the French.

As for Bresson, I have seen him only with one printer and quite clear and demonstrative over what he wanted in those prints, well, enlargements. I assumed it was always the same printer from the congeniality and familiarity the two shared.

OK, now I have the article. Persistence and patience work for me, still. Thanks. Proost. I will read it now and get up very late, all your fault. I'm not taking the fall for this one. ;o)

 

[Out to Lunch]

You are thinking of the printer, Voja Mitrovic:

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2010/08/voya-mitrovic-part-i.html/

 

[Dogman]

We cannot read his mind. He spoke of shooting and mostly it was a "Just push the button" stuff. The trick is seeing and capturing the image. It takes very little skill to buy he gear. Perhaps that was what he was driving at after being hounded for decades about what and how. He had to be tired of it. "Just push the button."

Could be. When his methods of working included one camera and one focal length (sometimes two), there wasn't a lot to discuss in regards to image capture.

I like the quote from Elliott Erwitt when asked what he was thinking while taking a certain photo--"Thinking? Photography isn't about thinking. It's about seeing."

 

[raydm6]

I’d like to think he was more of an intuitive shooter rather than analytical - although I’m sure that played a part at times as well.

 

[Ororaro]

A 50, in the end, is always where it’s at.

28mm photos and wider very quickly become super boring once you view a few of them. The wide thing absolutely has to be mixed with narrower images. A full book of 28mm images? Forget it. And 35mm is somewhat there also, but much less.

Same for 75/85mm images. A few of them seen together and it quickly becomes gimmicky, the need for a wider view is needed.

So, quickly, a 50mm fov is where its at. Never boring, and why would it be? This is how we basically see the world (between 35 and 50).

For a round trip around the world, and for more inpactful images than a 35, I’d choose 50mm without hesitation. The images speak for themselves with a 50.

 

[Rikard]

I’d like to think he was more of an intuitive shooter rather than analytical - although I’m sure that played a part at times as well.

Actually I don't think that there ever has been a photographer more rigorously trained in the theories pertaining to composition. But still, an amazing eye.

 

[Erik van Straten]

I certainly am not an expert on the man, but HCB was an interesting guy who just had an eye for "the moment" - in fact he was simply brilliant. But I've never seen anything about HCB where much insight was gained about his art technique. That includes why he seemed to prefer using a 50mm lens. His answers, at least to me, were always gibberish. I recall in an interview with Charlie Rose, in response to a question something like - "where do you get your inspiration" - HCB responded with "I just press the button." Even the OP's initial remarks quoting him don't dissuade my thinking on this point.

There has been allot of talk about "cropping" in this thread, but I understand he didn't even do his own printing.

He simply had only the full negative printed. If he did not like it, he threw the print away. He kept the negative; all his negatives are now in the Magnum archives.

The prints were all made by Picto. They are all split-grade prints. Gassmann, the founder of Picto (in 1950), invented split-grade printing. The quality of the prints have largely determined Cartier-Bresson's success.

 

[Jonathan R]

50mm? This is why.

Please tell me that 'review' is a joke. Surely?

 

[raydm6]

Please tell me that 'review' is a joke. Surely?

Yes. It is. I think he was borrowing a little from Spinal Tap.

 

[Ororaro]

Please tell me that 'review' is a joke. Surely?

Once you are a master, you go back at the beginning.
That video is not a joke but a master rediscovering everything.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Please tell me that 'review' is a joke. Surely?

I think so, and I hope so.... But when I think of some of the "serious" YouTube reviews I've seen, I'm not so sure!

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Once you are a master, you go back at the beginning.
That video is not a joke but a master rediscovering everything.

Um, maybe like Beethoven, deaf and going mad from syphilis, and filling his last works with raucous cosmic laughter. Or something.

 

[Jonathan R]

Once you are a master, you go back at the beginning.
That video is not a joke but a master rediscovering everything.

I looked at some of his other videos. His 'professional' review of the re-launched M6 as a 'hybrid' digital+film camera is a good joke. Part of me worries that some viewers might think it really is hybrid; the other part thinks 'if they're really that stupid...'

 

[boojum]

You are thinking of the printer, Voja Mitrovic:

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2010/08/voya-mitrovic-part-i.html/

Bingo! I think that you are right. My memory of Bresson and a printer is one of a colloquy, a collaboration of gifted artists who understood each other deeply and were intent on solving the same problem. Thanks. And the article itself is wonderful and a reminder of just how important the goodwill of others is in our lives. On RFF alone the community has shared much with me that has allowed me to learn a bit and accumulate a lot of great gear which I am struggling to learn how to use better. None of this would have been possible with out the goodwill of others.

 

[boojum]

I looked at some of his other videos. His 'professional' review of the re-launched M6 as a 'hybrid' digital+film camera is a good joke. Part of me worries that some viewers might think it really is hybrid; the other part thinks 'if they're really that stupid...'

Exactly. Half the world is lower in IQ than average, 100. Some folks need everything explained to them. And then they argue with the explanation. Dry humor can be lost on some folks.