UNIT 3 / AO1 - Henri Cartier-Bresson

"To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

For UNIT 3 I have decided to put the spotlight on street and urban photograpy and to start AO1 off it would seem appropriate to look at Henri Cartier-Bresson. He is considered to be the master of candid photography and helped develop street photography. Today I'll be breaking down his images technically and produce an example photograph using his techniques.

(Esitmated capture settings: Shutterspeed - 1/60th, Film Speed - 400/800, Aperture - F.9/F.14)

This image is probably one of Bressons most defining works, It's honoured for its composition along with the grain and lighting. The reason why much of bressons work often shows so much detail in the scenery is because he shot on high speed (ISO) film, this not only created the high grain texture on the photo but gives him the freedom to shoot with a high aperture to be able to capture a higher depth of field with more of his subject in focus, the only downside being he would have had to stop down on his shutterspee however I believe it actually gives bressons more of a charm as the blur gives more of a capture-feel instead of a frozen-look.

Leap..

(Settings: Shutterspeed - 1/80th, ISO - 1600, Aperture F/7.1

Here is my attempt to recreate Bresson's techniques in my photographs. Looking back at how he would set his camera I followed to use high ISO / Aperture whilst having a slow shutterspeed and I managed to succesfully produce something with the right look and feel (see right). Again Bresson would often use high contrast film too, so to recreate that I placed my subject behind a dark background and made her dress in white, I think the contrast between colours creates a really nice asthetic and relationship between the people and their surroundings.

Overall I am sastisfied with the results I have produced, I have studied how Henri Cartier-Bresson takes his photographs and used his techniques to replicate his methods in photography.