With the advent of digital cameras, people put the film aside, forgot about the word "manifest", stopped enjoying the moment of creation of the image. Photography, which had been an art form until then, began to turn into a routine available to anyone, and Photoshop allowed many photographers to consider themselves masters and artists. But it's worth looking back, and you can see the real geniuses of photography, carrying small film cameras everywhere.
Henri Cartier-Bresson is a legend in black and white photography. He was involved with art from his youth - he studied at André Lot's studio as an artist. The decision to become a photographer came after a trip to Africa, where, inspired by the works of Eugene Antje and Martin Munchachi, Henri bought his first camera.
It's very outdated design allowed only fixed objects to be shot, and the first shots of Bresson were not impressive. Only when he returned to France did he discover the Leica 35 mm. Surprisingly, being known as the "pioneer of reportage photography", Henri photographed everything with a fixed focal length of 50 mm, which is considered a portrait lens.
A year after he began his career, Henri Cartier-Bresson's first exhibition took place. It was in 1933 at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. The photographer's work then began to appear in Voilà and Photographies magazines. In 1935, Julien Levy, owner of the New York Gallery, exhibited his photographs along with photos of the famous Walker Evans and Manuel Alvarez Bravo. In 1937, Cartier-Bresson worked for the Communist newspaper Ce Soir.
In 1939, she closed down, and Henri began a creative crisis, during which he burned most of his photographs and films. The Great Patriotic War began, and Bresson joined the army, where he became a corporal of the army's film and photo division. After the capture of France by the Nazis, he was captured, from where he was able to escape only three years later. During the war, Henri did not leave a photograph, but began to work even more, attracting other photojournalists. He literally lived with the camera in his hands: he filmed the military routine, the occupation, the retreat of the Nazis. After the end of the war, Cartier-Bresson also showed himself in the film industry, making a film about the return of French prisoners of war to their homeland.
In 1947, Henri, along with Robert Capa, George Roger, David "Chim" Seymour, and William Wandivert, founded the photographic agency Magnum Photos. Participants of "Magnum" offered ready works to editors without permission to change anything in photos. It is thanks to this policy that the most talented photographers of the time joined the organization.
After the creation of "Magnum" Henri immediately left for India with his wife, where he shot Mahatma Gandhi. Then the couple traveled to Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaya, China.
In Indonesia, the photographer observed the country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands - and all this with the camera in his hands. Cartier-Bresson sent the photos to New York, where he worked with Life, Harper's Bazaar, the New York Times and many other magazines. Henri wasn't interested in the results of his work, he said, "I'm not interested in the picture in itself. I just want to grab a piece of reality. The real fame came to the photographer after the Paris exhibition in 1950. In addition, his works were exhibited in Milan, Tokyo, Cologne and many other cities around the world.
In 1954, after Stalin's death, Cartier-Bresson was allowed to visit the USSR. The works of this and the repeated visit of 1972 were included in the book "About Russia".
By his journey to a cold country, I do not understand the West, the photographer debunked myths about Russian people. The photographer shot not only the lives of ordinary people, but also such celebrities as Henri Matisse, Albert Camus, Jean Renoir, Marilyn Monroe, Coco Chanel, Louis Aragon. All of them turned out to be real and genuinely attractive.
He said that "in the true portrait you will not find any flattering colors or grotesque cartoons, but only a deep and accurate reflection of individuality. Henri Cartier-Bresson's photographs are, of course, a unique story. Each photo is a separate universe, living in the photographer himself. Henri was able to catch "the same" moment, stop for a moment the reality.
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/bc/6c/9c/bc6c9c4532b1fba50f3f5fa13909807d.jpgHe said: "For me, photography is a spontaneous impulse to constant visual attention, which can catch both the moment and eternity " . The people in his photographs are always what they really were. The photographer did not try to transform the world around him, nor to improve it, nor to blacken it. In the small rectangle of his Leica viewfinder, he saw the present and maybe a little future. The coherence and orderliness of the composition of Henri's works are amazing. He wrote: "I am most delighted with the geometry of the frame, its design. You can't shoot for the sake of structure, shapes and schemes, but when every element of photography is in its place, it's a sensual and intellectual pleasure. It's an awareness of the world order that's before you".
It's hard to shoot people who are always in a hurry and restless place, because film cameras weren't equipped with automatic focus, shutter speed and aperture settings. The photographers did it all themselves. Catching the perfect shot, quickly adjusting the focus on the right moving point, while respecting the composition and not thinking about their actions, can only be done by a genius.
"Think before or after shooting, and never during it. Maybe that's why he had time to make really good shots. Not to think means to act in the heart. Excessive reflection during the shooting turns time, the main ally of the photographer, into his opponent.
Poetry is the foundation of everything," said Henri. - Without it, the frame is empty and has no value. Many photographers, in his opinion, take the poetry of the frame absolutely wrong things, while it is impossible to catch it, because "it's like chasing inspiration. Henri Cartier-Bresson was certainly a genius in black and white photography. His photographs have won many hearts and become a cultural treasure. The life captured in the shots is attractive for its simplicity, so the works of the artist penetrate into the most intimate corners of the audience's soul.