Weekly Inspirations #2 Henri Cartier-Bresson
The Father of Photo-Journalism
Died: August 3, 2004
This week we celebrate the father of Photo Journalism, Henri Cartier Bresson. He is quite possibly my favourite photojournalist of all time. His approach towards taking your photo “The Decisive Moment” has inspired countless photographers all over history.
He travelled without bounds and hesitations documenting the greatest events of the 20th century, the Spanish Civil War, captured by Nazis, the liberation of Paris in 1944, the fall of imperialism and the rise of communism, the assassination of Gandhi and the fall of the Berlin wall.
I certainly have learnt many great principles and lessons from his teachings that I try to apply in every aspect of my work.
5 things I’ve learnt from Henri Cartier-Bresson
1. The Decisive Moment.
Henri was an epitome of patience and timing. He would wait for hours for that perfect person to walk by his shot or for the perfect moment to happen. He wouldn’t compromise his shot for the convenience. He believed that every place and shot has a decisive moment. All you need to have that shot is patience and quite a bit of luck.
2. Your lens as an extension of your eye
Henri, when shooting for himself, only shot with a 50mm lens. He did this because he believed in the idea that you should be so used to your lens that it becomes an extension of your eye.
3. Travel
Henri believed in travelling to get his shot. To be inspired by the world. He certainly didn’t shy away from any conflict. He photographed all over Africa, Asia, Europe and America. He was one of the first and only photographs given free reign in Russia after the fall of Stalin.
4. Get it right in camera
Once the picture is in the box, I’m not at all interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks
Henri rarely worked on his photos. All he did was give his photos to trusted developers. He was even adamantly against cropping of photographs believing that everything should be perfect once the shutter has closed. If something wasn’t right about the photograph, he would disregard it or at the very least not even take the photo.
In this modern age, this simple principle has been slightly lost. We live in an age of photoshop, masks and retouching, which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing. However one thing I’ve learnt through shooting events with quick photo turn overs is that getting it right in camera is important.
5. Be Humble
Henri was a shy person who disregarded the notion that he is a famous photographer. He hated photographs of himself. Partly because he wanted to be unrecognised whenever he photographed in the street. He was never about the fame or prestige of being a photographer, rather, he was always truly about the story.
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Check out his my favourite photographs of his.
It is an illusion that a photo is made with the camera, it is made with the eye, the heart and the head
Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know the intuition when to click the camera
Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes a precise moment in time.
Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling before my eyes.
As far as I am concerned, taking photographs is a means of understanding which cannot be separated from other means of visual expression. It is a way of shouting, of freeing oneself, not proving or asserting one’s own originality. it is a way of life.
For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to give a meaning to the world, one as to feel involved in what one frames through the view finder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity , and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.
To Take a photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in a face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.
To take a photograph means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organisation of visually perceived forms that give it meaning.
It is putting one’s head, one’s eye, and one’s heart on the same axis.
I believe that, through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us.
Photographs + Henri Cartier-Bresson
Words + Carbon Journal
Liked what you saw? This is just no.2!
For more inspirations visit
Weekly Inspirations #1 Louise Dahl Wolfe