Tuesday 9 February 2016

Exam Photographer Research - Henri Cartier-Bresson

The exam paper has highlighted photographers who are relevant to each subject. In personal opinions the named artists were: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fay Goodwin and Martin Parr.
I briefly looked into these three artists and quickly discovered that Henri Cartier-Bresson was the only one who I was interested in and the most relevant to the topics I wish to explore in this exam.
When studying documentary photography, I had already produced artist research on him, so in order to research him with relevance to my exam, I looked more in detail into some of his work to find some appropriate examples.

When Henri Cartier-Bresson would talk about “The Decisive Moment” he said sometimes it would be spontaneous but others times he had to be patient and wait for it. Regardless he was very methodological when he would go out and shoot, and would only keep his images if every element of his image (people, background, framing, and composition) were perfect.

ACAPULCO, Mexico—A market, 1963. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
I think this image is quite powerful as it captures so much emotion and personality. I think this helps the observer to really feel touched by the image and feel a connection with the situation the picture portrays. With this picture, Bresson stated: "You mustn't want, you must be receptive. Don't think even. The brain's a bit dangerous."

NEW YORK CITY—Downtown, 1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
I really liked the way this one has a very obvious and strong connotation of loneliness. This has been done through the denotations and only one person, an empty street, leading lines shown through an alley way. I think this picture could have been even more emotionally involved if we could see the persons face, This would really document the persons feelings and emotions in a way that has been exposed to us.

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