- Why is he famous?
- Why is his work significant in Photojournalism?
- Find and upload to your blog some work of theirs
- What Camera/Technique did he use
- 1933 Paris, iconic image shot
- Photojournalism born during war
- Henri Cartier Bresson-godfather of photojournalism
- had great patience
- broken wheel-europe jumping into the unknown
- leica (50mil lense)-launched in germany, created a new style in photography
Henri Cartier Bresson is widely viewed as the godfather of modern photojournalism, his most iconic shot was taken in 1933 in Paris. It was a casual shot of a young man leaping over a puddle on a normal day. Probably just a random photograph taken out of impulse, but due to the broken wheel and Jewish writing in the background, it is seen as a prediction for the horror of the oncoming world war. It is highly regarded as the greatest photo of the 20th century.
His work is significant in photojournalism as he would often spend hours following his intended shot just to be sure what he was capturing was perfect. He spent a year in Africa, training as a hunter, to learn a technique that would aid him with such a task. Such a level of dedication was something the photographic world had never seen. I will again reference my answer to the first question, with the importance of his photograph in Paris being the main part of his significance.
Cartier Bresson had one of the original Leica cameras, developed in Germany in 1933 using a 50 mil lense. He would of had to be very rich to get hold of one of these as they were incredibly limited, but it was no doubt the key to a huge part of his success. This was down to the greatly reduced size and weight of the machine, and also the reduced sound. Each of these would have been revolutionary to a budding photographer. Cartier Bresson was forever searching for the decisive moment, a perfect moment in time defining the image, this camera would of been ideal for helping him achieve that.
