"Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye" (2003)

Hello fellow photographers,

  I hope everyone's project is going smoothly.  Anyway, I watched this documentary on Henri Cartier-Bresson, exploring his life and work.  It tells the story of how his photographs shaped the emerging field of photojournalism. This is one documentary you won't want to miss!  Here is my response to the documentary:

Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs are from all over the world such as the United States, France, Germany, etc.  He was always interested in the actual shot.  He never enlarged the photo because he liked the original shot.  In my opinion, his images are so powerful and mysterious.  He focuses on capturing the perfect moment in time and place.  Other photographers in the documentary have learned a lot from looking at Cartier-Bresson's photographs.  One mentions that there is a mysterious link between the people and the things around them because his photographs, people are doing some kind of action.  In my opinion, one picture that I was attached to was the photograph of the children playing in front of the Berlin Wall.  There is this sense of innocence surrounding the reality of violence relating to the Berlin Wall.  

 

While running through his photographs, there is a musical feel to them.  Piano music is playing in the background throughout the documentary and there is one point where he is pretending to play the piano while look at his photographs, which was pretty interesting to me.  It is interesting to me because of the way he moves his head while look at the photographs; it is similar to how a person plays the piano.  The hands moving across each page of photographs relates to the hands moving across a piano.  It reminds me of the years I spent playing the piano as a young girl.  

 

Here is a quote from photographer Arthur Miller: "America is a place of extremes.  If you look at these extremes, it can be tragic."  Looking at his photographs taken in the United States, we are being reminded of our history and culture.  In my opinion, a lot of us may forget about our history and photography is an excellent reminder of that history.  Cartier-Bresson photographs every aspect of extremes Americans faced throughout history such as the Great Depression, World War II, segregation, etc.  I agree with what Miller says because it is both tragic and powerful to look at these photographs and be reminded of American history.  

In conclusion, Henri Cartier-Bresson is probably the most influential photographers in photography because he increased the emergence of photojournalism as well as inspired a lot of upcoming photographers of his time.  His photographs have a structure to them.  He expresses his love of geometry through the discovery of lines and rhythms.  He believes that geometry is the foundation that makes a good photograph.  I agree with him because there is sense of perspective in his photographs as well as imaginary lines.  In all, Cartier-Bresson is telling us about himself when telling about the world through photography.