One more about HCB

[jeff voorhees]

How about the photo of the black and white dogs mating on the sidewalk? Does anyone suppose he staged that? Obviously no one here knows if he staged his work or not.

[Troll]

I don't believe that HC-B staged any of his photographs. His writing

clearly indicates that he has no interest in staged photographs, and

there is no authenticated record of anyone "catching" him doing so.

On the contrary, people who have seen his contact sheets report that

they show him zeroing in on the final composition. (If you think

that HC-B may have been an asshole, you should read the Jim Hughes

Biography of Gene Smith.)

[andrew n.bra hrefhttp]

<I> people who have seen his contact sheets report that they show him

zeroing in on the final composition</I><P>

 

Apparently in his glory-days, HCB would burn through film like there

was no tomorrow. click-click-click-click just to get one good shot.

Makes you wonder if this "decisive moment" business was just marketing.

:?)

[douglas k.]

The "decisive moment" likely came while he was scanning his contact

sheets as much as it came while shooting.

[djphoto]

No, it's not marketing. It's using the camera as a sketchpad, circling

the subject, so to speak, and selecting the best frame(s) after the

fact. Yet, each frame is exposed intelligently, seeking to narrow in

on the essense of the subject, not machine-gunning as with a modern

motor-driven camera exposing film almost at random.

 

<p>

 

If you think this is easy, try to get results like HC-B's. If you want

to be a one-shot photographer, get a 4x5.

[matteo]

"people who have seen his contact sheets report that they show him

zeroing in on the final composition"

 

<p>

 

who saw the contact sheets? I'm asking, it's not ironic or something.

I know that Bresson is very strict about showing contacts and stuff,

even the people at Magnum don't have the chance to review them

Oh, and he threw away most of his Thirties work after the war, he

kept only the negs that could fit in a round tin cookie box. The

debate on the supposedly staged shots was born exactly because

Bresson doesn't really show the stuff.

[b_va]

For an interesting article concerning "staged shots" see the current

Aperature article re: Capa's spanish civil war shot of the falling

soldier.

[preston_merchant]

Don't forget that the "decisive moment" is his American publisher's

re-wording of "images a la sauvette": images on the run.

[philip_woodcock]

I remember reading somewhere that Eve Arnold said that the most

dissapointing moment in her life was seeing HCB's & Capa's contact

sheets and seeing badly designed images until HCB pointed out to her

that 'history doesn't design well either'(Magnum - Russell Miller)

 

<p>

 

My opinion is that even if you don't stage a photograph you do (if

you have time on your side) perfect it. In this day of instant media

the editing process of history has become less important. At the

height of HCB, Capa, Smith et al the photo story had the benefit of a

long and careful editing process thus ensuring that the message or

story was given precisly.

 

<p>

 

Sometimes you get the picture in one shot, sometimes it can take a

bit of work. HCB regards the Leica as a tool not a label, he sketches

by taking photos in the same way he would use pencil and paper and

THROW away sketches he didn't like.

[roger]

Preston, he also used many times the expression "instants decisifs".

[jay bee]

Brooks - is there a link available for that Aperture article you're

referring to?

 

<p>

 

Thx

[Troll]

He uses no tricks, no formulas, no gimmicks, without tampering with

either the people or the events. He never poses. He never

arranges. If observed, he instantly breaks off action. He adds no

photographic lighting, but uses light exactly as he finds it. In

effect, he is the theoretically ideal photographer who sees without

being seen, records without impinging on his subjects. Schwalberg,

Bob, Cartier-Bessson Today, Popular Photography, May 1967.

[b_va]

This is as close as I can get you as the article is not on-line, good

luck!

 

<p>

 

<a href="http://www.aperture.org/view.php?

view=viewPublication&ID=121">

 

<p>

 

BVA

[b_va]

Oops, that label should read Aperature Magazine Issue #166

[preston_merchant]

I think HCB got on board with the phrase "decisive moment" (in

English or French) after it caught on in the US. It's not that the

phrase isn't descriptive of or appropriate to his philosophy and

style--it's just that it came to him somewhat by accident.

[jeff voorhees]

I did not think of this when I posted the original question, but in

the book "Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art" (weighty tome

indeed...), the author, Jean-Pierre Montier says, "As a stealer of

fire, the photographer makes a career out of always remaining

invisible, or at least, like a thief at the fair, of not being spotted

while he pilfers."

[john_alfred_tropiano]

I personally believe HCB staged most of his photographs.

His "decisive moment" was a marketing ploy. I do like some of his

photos but I think there are many other photographers out there who

are consistently better at their profession, for example Edouard

Boubat. What exactly is it about HCB that people love so much? Is it

his arrogance? Comments welcome.

[jason]

How much film is exposed..?Does it really matter.National geographic

sends out photographers with truck loads of film and print about 10

per story.Pete Turner kept like 96photos of his 1st Africa trip,out of

like 10,000exposures.HCB did an essay on Japan,which i saw in USCamera

many years ago.In 3+ months he shot about 300rolls.Thats `~100 per

month,say 3 per day....that is not motor-wind photography!I try to

shoot less but sometimes like yesterday,@ St Patricks Day parade here

in mind freezing Toronto,i shot about 5~8 frames of a kid with Irish

flag foreground and marchers in the background.Each shot was

framed,new vitas kept opening up..In about 2 hours,before and during

parade shot 3 rolls.Stopped as out of film....It seems there is a

growing dislike and hate for this great artist.NO tricks,no umbrella

flash,no retouchers,digital manipulations...A basic Leica,50mm

sometimes the 35 and occassionally the 90mm.The difference in concept

is that he is a great craftsman,knowlegeable about

art/paintings,pursuer of the human condition,and above all the

definitive photographer FOR ME!Go really look at his photos,choose one

try to read it!The women praying in the Himalayas.....think of the

era,the meaning and relevence to to-days news.Next on the hate list

will be Ansel Adams,too pure.Unfair advantage as the Creator asked him

to record the Earth before the people arrived...

[dennis_couvillion]

I love HCB's pictures. What I'm still trying to get a handle on is

his technique for getting people to act natural in front of the

camera. I simply don't believe HCB was strictly a stealth

photographer. He himself said how important it is to get to know

your subject. People had to know he was taking their picture. If

he's a genius, part of it may lie in his ability to get people to

just keep on doing what they were doing while he snapped a few shots.

 

<p>

 

I don't believe his shots were "staged" in this sense: I don't

think, for example, that he thought "wouldn't it be great to take a

picture of a child holding two wine bottles." However, I think it's

quite possible he saw the boy with the wine bottles and asked him to

run past him. Staged? Re-enacted? Whatever, it is a little

different from what everyone has read about his technique. In short,

I just don't think you can believe everything you read about famous

people.

 

<p>

 

I still wish I could take pictures half as good as his, regardless of

his technique.

 

<p>

 

Dennis

[kristian dowling]

I second the yawn. Let's leave old HBC alone. It can be argued

that all photogrpahers will stage a photo or two in their careers,

and if so, who cares? As long as he isn't harming anyone, and

people enjoy the shot, I don't see and problem. Plus you'll never

really know will you?

 

<p>

 

Speculation and assumption are all time killers and will get us

knowwhere (bad spelling)?.........or maybe back to the previous

threads? Let's stop while we're ahead now.

[andrew n.bra hrefhttp]

<I> What I'm still trying to get a handle on is his technique for

getting people to act natural in front of the camera</I><P>

 

Don't forget that the world has become much more hostile and paranoid

towards "street photographers" than it was in HCB's heyday<P>

 

For example, in France you will get yelled at now if you try to take

the kinds of photos HCB et. al. did back 40 years ago. In parts of

Sydney, hell you'd get beaten up! Wish it was otherwise, but it's a

fact of life now. Candid "street" photography has now become a

dangerous hobby. Mind you, this is what makes it for me so interesting

and so much <U>fun</U>! :?)

[allen_chardin]

As a young photographer I heard of HCB and wondered at the awe with

which he was talked about by other photographers. I looked at some

of his pictures and quite honestly I wasn't that impressed. They all

seemed cold and for all their seeming spontaneity there was a staged

quallity to them that was at odds with HCB's own words regarding his

work and photography in general. As for HCB himself, have you ever

read any interviews he has given or any of his thoughts about

photography or art? What pompouse bullshit. HCB is so full of

himself. He has an inflated sense of his own influence and talent.

He was one of the more "artistically" inclined Magnum photographers

according to photography annals. That is, he wanted to make Magnum

less journalistic (Capra) and more refined and artistic (like him, I

suppose). I think HCB would have been a fine art critic. He talks

about art and photography in a way that is obtuse and ultimately

irrelevent and inconsistent.