Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 09:19 PM 1/30/98 +0100, you wrote: >The style of picture taking of H C-B is no secret, at least not since the >spade of recent books, telling us exactly how and why this suberb Leica >phoytographer took his pictures. One might be inclined to state that he >invented the art of Leica photography. But they would be wrong. Cartier-Bresson himself said "Kertesz taught us to see." He was blown away by an Andre Kertesz exhibit, and that was one of the things that turned him onto photography. Kertesz was doing it long before there was Leicas, and he was an early adopter of it. That's beside the point, though. >The 'decisive moment' as usually interpreted does not exist, not as a >theory nor as a practice. I don't agree with that at all. That's like arguing that if you take lots of pictures, you'll get one as good as his. Well, maybe in a couple thousand years, or so. But you are right, there's no secret. He talks about it himself. He anticipates moments, and waits for those special moments where all elements come together to make a significant picture. When he's shooting, sure there are a lot of misses. But he gets more hits than the average bear. >The reason for H C-B not to bracket is not his ability of calculating exact >exposure values, nor his strategy of waiting and taking that one fabulous >photo. His contact sheets show a different world. That's right. I have a story about that. Guido Mattoni hired Cartier-Bresson to shoot a story on Portugal for Epoca Magazine (Italy's equivalent of Life back then). By the way, Guido told me this story personally. He said Cartier-Bresson went to Portugal and shot two rolls of Ektachrome for the magazine. Yes, two rolls. And out of 72 frames of film, there was 70 that could be used in the magazine. Maybe the magazine's standards aren't as high as Cartier-Bresson for what he would call his best work, but at least they demand film exposed carefully enough to be technically competent. Not bad for a guy with a meter in his eye. ========== Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch You're only young once; you can be immature f'ever