One interesting thing to me that was pointed out in this film was Cartier-Bresson's variety in his subject matter. The majority of his pictures shown were of people, yet the diversity of these people was vast. Some were celebrities while others were every-day farmers. Cartier-Bresson had this knack for capturing people in their natural state. No one was ever posed including the movie stars he photographed. People didn't look all that different even when they were from different cultures. What this showed me was that Cartier-Bresson had a love for people of all nationalities. He was very open to different cultures. Though of French origin, he did not make the French out to be better than everyone else.
I was also fascinated by the way the US was depicted by a French artist. All his pictures shown of America focused on run-down, difficult scenes. As compared with pictures from Mexico, the United States seemed to not be a whole lot better. Cartier-Bresson was concerned about America and viewed it as a dying country. This showed me that not only do Americans make assumptions about "others," but people from other countries also make assumptions about people from different cultures. Photographers have the ability to choose which parts of a society to capture to depict their viewpoints.
I found this movie to be insightful. Getting a better understanding of the world through a person from a different culture is a part of learning to be less ethnocentric. Also, to view the works of a great artist who, according to the Washington Post, "helped to reinvent photojournalism after World War II," is educational in itself. His love for people of all nationalities is evident through this film which displays his art and unique style.
Sources:
"Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye"
Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/museums/photogallery/bresson/essay.htm
I thought it was interesting to see how the opening was showing him putting the print in the developer at the beginning with the red light and they it jumps to him pulling it out of the rinse in the light. They choose not to show the whole process and if they would have pulled up the lights at the beginning the image would emulsion would be exposed and the image would have gone black.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to learn that he was friends with Matisse and assistant to Renoir
It seemed that the photographers were most concerns about content ("showing motion and expression" he also mentions mathematics often) and expression instead of now it seems that we worry about lighting, color match and composition. Photographer is a different world now that it is digital.
It was amazing to see all the places he has been (Mexico City, China, Brittan, Russian, Indonesia, and more were mentioned in the film). A lot of his work reminded me of Steve McCurry's work, who was just recently in Canton and has his work in the Joseph Saxton Gallery. McCurry was also shooting in film photography, but he had color film. McCurry also captured amazing emotion, which to me are much more memorable.
Photo by Steve McCurry posted at theindiaphile.com
It was astounding to see all the famous people Cater-Bresson had meet and photographed. For example he was there when Gondi was dyeing, he had an amazing photo of Marilyn Monroe, and he had also photographed Francis Bacon.
It was also fascinating to see that he became more interested in painting and drawing towards the end where he was not getting out shooting very often. (his storage systems was amazing too!)
Box Office Sales of "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye"
ReplyDeleteOpening Weekend
$9,134 (USA) (15 January 2006) (2 Screens)
Gross
$25,347 (USA) (29 January 2006)
$9,134 (USA) (15 January 2006)
Weekend Gross
$6,831 (USA) (29 January 2006) (2 Screens)
$9,134 (USA) (15 January 2006) (2 Screens)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369523/
Quotes by Henri Cartier-Bresson from "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye"
ReplyDelete"I am just interested in the shot."
"Aim well, shoot fast, and scram."
"You cannot live for photography but do photography because it fills you with life."
"Geometry is the foundation of photography"
"When taking pictures, the eye registers the image and the camera does the work."
"I capture not the silence, but the movement after speech has ended."
This site, http://www.magnumphotos.com/ captures international photographer's work include artists such as Dominic Nahr, Muammar Qaddafi, Paul Fusco, Herbert List, Alec Soth, and Alex Webb. Henri Cartier-Bresson is the co-founder of Magnum Photos, established in 1947. It continues to flourish today as its statement is to “chronicle the world and interpret its peoples, events, issues and personalities.” Fifty pictures of Bresson’s are viewable in his portfolio, each clearly titled and dated. The majority of these photos are included in the documentary, making it easy to reflect upon the images flashed on the screen from the film.
The life that Henri Cartier-Bresson had was very impressive. This documentary movie gives us footage from an interview with Henri himself, some of his family, friends, and colleagues. Through these interviews we find several things that Cartier-Bresson saw and used as part of photography. Here is a list of some of them that were mentioned in the documentary:
ReplyDelete• He was interested in the shot himself, rather than the developing process of the films, which explains the fact that he even simply did not know how to enlarge the pictures he took.
• In order to be a good photographer, he suggests for people to have a lot of patience and sense of observations.
• Photographs should have a mysterious feeling to them by shooting the people and the things around them.
• A person or a simple object by themselves cannot speak out to the world, but the two combined can create a great message to portray to the people looking at the photo.
• Photography is all about seizing and feeling the moment, beating the time and waiting for that one moment that will have the whole meaning behind it by the feel of a person.
Henri used all of the above as part of his style for photography. The vision and means he had throughout his life by the art of photography were able to give him the opportunity not only to shoot pictures of his family, but also to world events. Some of the major events that he was able to shoot were the following: The Liberation of Paris, symbolizing the end of The Second World War; the Building and the Fall of the Berlin Wall, symbolizing the rise and fall of a tremendous era in the modern world’s history; the death of Gandhi by actually being by his dead bed; the end of colonialism in Indonesia.
It is not accidental that according to Wikipedia, Henri Cartier-Bresson is considered to be the father of modern photojournalism, who was 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 who followed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson
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ReplyDeleteCountry:
ReplyDeleteSwitzerland
Language:
English, French, Italian
Release Date:
12 July 2007 (Germany)
13 January 2006 (USA)
22 May 2003 (Switzerland)
Run Time: 72 min.
Directed by: Heinz Bütler
Produced by: Heinz Bütler, Wolfgang Frei,
Agnes Sire
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369523/