Hull Fair Photographs

Henri Cartier-Bresson Critique

This photograph is from a series of images taken in Paris by French-born street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Born in 1908 and died in 2004, Cartier-Bresson is considered the father of modern photojournalism and helped develop the ‘life-reportage’ style of photography that has inspired many after him. He first studied paintings, which helped him have an eye for composition of an image and made him heavily against cropping. But in the early 1930’s Cartier-Bresson became inspired by a Munkacsi image and decided to try and capture the world with a camera rather than a brush. He shot all of his candid photography with the same 35mm lens and I think that he has an incredible talent for capturing emotions within a street scene.

This Paris image shows two female subjects, both sat on the same bench in a cafe but far apart – in both location and lifestyle so it would seem. The woman to the back left of the image is an older female who is ‘properly dressed’ and appears middle class to upper class. The woman at the front right is a much younger woman who is dressed in what I imagine to be rather revealing clothing for the time, and has her hair covering her face so she appears nervous and shy. She also has her fingers in her mouth which gives us the impression she is not all too ladylike, or again adds to the sense of shyness. Both women have newspapers, but only the younger woman is actually reading hers, the older woman is looking across at the other in what seems like a judging manner. The back of the bench actually provides a leading line from the woman’s judging eyes down to the young lady. The image itself is overall very visually pleasing; there is a good use of reflection within the windows of the cafe which is something often used very well in Cartier-Bresson’s work and there is several leading lines towards the young lady, also in the window panes as well as the bench. The photograph is well composed, obviously taking inspiration from his paintings previously, and sticks to the rule of thirds.

The contrast of colours within the women’s clothing, the older lady being in dark clothes and the younger being in pure white, perhaps suggests that the younger subject is pure and kind whereas the dark clothing of the older suggests that she is mean and harsh. The scowl on the older subject’s face connotes feelings of spite, judging and maybe even jealousy. The overall non verbal codes of the younger subject suggests that she is very shy and conscious of herself, which is perhaps not helped by the scowling glare of the other woman. However, with the only one of the women reading the paper being the younger, this insinuates that the smartest of the pair is her, despite her aesthetics and emotions. Perhaps Cartier-Bresson wants to get across that judging others is wrong due to the lasting emotional effect it can have on those we do, and because we can often be wrong about these judgments.

In my opinion this image is very successful as it makes me think about who I make judgements upon and whether I am leaving effects on them, therefore considering if judging is immoral. As this image is candid I really trust the subject’ s emotions, creating a feeling of sympathy for the younger woman as she appears like a scared, naive, young girl whereas the older genuinely seems spiteful and pretentious so I feel nothing for her other than slight hatred. However, I feel that if the roles in this image had been reversed we would feel more sorry for the older woman as often they are portrayed as helpless and vulnerable and younger women are sometimes seen as quite threatening and strong – therefore I think it is very effective that Cartier-Bresson has captured this in an opposite light.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/08/10-things-henri-cartier-bresson-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/

Although Henri Cartier-Bresson was mainly a street photographer, I have been looking a his work for inspiration with my theme 'sense of place'. I believe that people make the places just as much as the objects and landscapes do; the feeling the place gives off can be different depending on who is there and the emotions they are feeling. Places can become hostile or happy, angry, awkward or sad, depending on the emotions and feelings of the people there.

I think this image is a good example of how people can bring give a place a 'sense' or feeling. Without the two women in this image the photograph would have no feel or emotion, it would just be an average cafe. However with the inclusion of the two subjects, the image turns into something more. Suddenly the place has a sense of judging and insecurity, you can tell that the place has become an area of hostility for the young woman. I would really like to capture the emotions of the place in my photography, rather than just the aesthetics.