Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism, an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the "street photography" or "real life reportage" style that has influenced generations of photographers that followed.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was born in 1908 and died at the age of 95 in 2004. He started out as a painter but was inspired by a photojournalist, Martin Munkacsi and become a photographer. Henri Cartier-Bresson achieved international recognition for coverage of Gandhi’s funeral in India. His photography took him to places around the globe, such as the United States, China, Japan and more.Street photography is capturing everyday life in a moment. It gives a chance for the photographer to show a meaning in the photographs of all of the street life around them. I feel that Henri Bresson was photography a high class young boy. This is showing that young children also have a way of acting due to the different types of classes they grow up in. This young boy looks happy, which shows that he has a good home and family life.I would describe this photograph as lively because the young boy seems to be happy in what he is doing. He looks as if he is in the upper class and very wealthy by the clothes that he is wearing and the people around him are wearing. The young boy seems to be carrying wine bottles. I think he is carrying these bottles because he gets everything he wants. He is the main focus of the image as he is in the centre and in focus. In the background there are some more children which also seem to be high class. These children are looking at the boy, I think that this shows he is poplar in the neighborhood, and is very arrogant about it. This photograph was taken in 1954 which shows that it is a very old photograph. You can tell this from the clothes that the children are wearing and that it is a black and white photograph. I feel Bresson has captured the young boy because he shows a lot of emotion in his face and body expression.This is a black and white image with a wide tonal range. I feel that the photograph is showing a wide tonal range because it is portrayed as a very happy image and there is a lot of different light in the photograph to show the different tones. I think the photograph is taken in black and white because it makes the street life more effective as the colours are all more neutral.The light source in this photograph is natural. There is one light source, which is coming from the sun above the image. . The lighting is soft but strong as it lights up most of the image.The composition of the photograph is unbalanced and weighted to the left side of the photograph. This is because at the right of the photograph there is only a building and to the right there are people, which has more detail and more excitement. The main focus is the young boy in the middle of the photograph. Your main attention is brought to the young boy in the middle because this is the only part of the image in focus. The photograph is taken at a medium viewpoint. Bresson has used a standard lens to take the photograph as you cannot see far at either sides but you can see enough to know what the image is trying to tell you.I feel that this photograph is showing the life of young people that have been brought up in wealthy families. You can tell this by the clothes that the young boy is wearing as they are in good condition and clean. Also the boy looks very happy, skipping along. Also in the background there are also other young children that are wearing similar clothes so he is obviously in a wealthy village.I feel that the strongest elements of the photograph are the tonal ranges. As it is wide and the colours are simple but effective. I think this because the tonal range shows a lot of detail and the direction of light. By having the whole image in black and white I think that it brings the audiences attention to the whole image. But by having the background of the image blurred it brings more focus onto the young boy in the middle.I have chosen this image as it feel that it shows the London life from a younger point of view. I am going to make this link into my own work by taken photographs of everyday people walking around London. I am going to make my photographs black and white to fit in with Bresson. I feel this will make my photographs look more interesting. I feel by taking photograph of feet it will show how many people will be in London going about their daily business.