Re: [Leica] A more interesting question

["Dave Fisher" <tekapo@golden.net>]

Ed, let me jump in with nod of agreement to you and a pre-emptive strike to
anybody else here. It seems to have become fashionable of late to ridicule
HCB, because he didn't do his own printing, or his weak portrait work and
sketches. Frankly I find most of this ridiculous, but then perhaps I'm
focusing too closely on the massive body of work he did that made his name,
and not the trivialities of the envious. Are there better photogs? Probably,
but for me that's beside the point. Cartier-Bresson was the first
photographer that sat me up and take the medium seriously. I got interested
in photography because I was obsessed with movies. I planned on going to
film school, and figured that learning how to use a manual camera would be a
good preliminary education. That was my sole motivation for still
photography, simply an elementary schooling in optics and composition.
Cartier-Bresson's images changed all that. I found his work to be true
communication, and I couldn't help but be inspired by his shooting style and
the sense of freedom. This in turn got me checking out all kinds of
documentary photographers, and I've been hooked ever since. Certainly,
there's a power and mystique in his photographs that is difficult to
duplicate today. Cultures change, and with them, so too does our physical
environment and the consciousness of subjects when a camera is pointed
toward them. But should I hold these arguments against HCB? Absolutely not.
As I say, there may be better photogs out there, but Cartier-Bresson was the
guy whose work turned me on to the medium and provided me direction. We are
all indebted to him, and it's rare that I ever go back to his stuff and fail
to remain impressed.
- ------------------------------------------------
DGF PHOTOGRAPHY
http://home.golden.net/~tekapo

> From: Ed Buziak <ed.buziak@camera-and-darkroom.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] A more interesting question

> My personal choice "for the century" would be Henri Cartier-Bresson
because
> his
> photographs give me much pleasure and inspiration... and because the
> subjects are
> not there any more. He caught them in an instant before they were gone.