A recap No ordinary life lived.

Henri Cartier-Bresson preferred black-and-white to colour film, snapped poses of the rich and famous, and never used a flash. He didn't like to be photographed himself. Became a legendary photographer whose style was often described as "a marriage of contrast".
Henri Cartier-Bresson won accolades from his peers from around the world Master photography Richard Avedon described  Cartier-Bresson as the  Tolstoy of photography.

Henri Cartier-Bresson rule was to  keep things simple: " Cartier-Bresson believed a good photograph 'came to the camera" and not vice-versa. He strived to capture what he referred to as "decisive moments" — those instants when the core of a person or event is exposed and everything else melts into the background."

Aug. 22, 1908:
Henri Cartier-Bresson is born in Chanteloup, near Paris, France.

1931:
As a young art student, Cartier-Bresson leaves France for a year-long trip to the Ivory Coast. He takes up photography upon his return.

1934:
Goes to Mexico on an anthropological expedition.

1935:
Studies filmmaking in the United States.

1936:
Becomes an assistant to film director Jean Renoir for his pre-war films "La Règle du Jeu" and "Partie de Campagne."

1937:
Makes a documentary on the Spanish Civil War, Victoire de La Vie.

1940:
Cartier-Bresson is taken prisoner by Germans shortly after the start of the Second World War.

 1943:
After two attempts, Cartier-Bresson escapes from a German prison camp and joins an underground movement to help others escape.

1944:
Joins a photography group to document the liberation of France. Directs Le Retour, a documentary on the repatriation of French prisoners of war.



 1947:
Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger found the Magnum photographic co-operative.

1947-1950:
Travels throughout Asia, documenting the death of Gandhi in India, the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the independence of Indonesia.

1952:
Publishes Images à la Sauvette, also known by its English title The Decisive Moment, believed to be his definitive work.

1954:
Cartier-Bresson is the first Western photographer permitted into the Soviet Union following the death of Joseph Stalin.

1966:
Leaves Magnum, but continues to take pictures.

1974:
Abandons the camera to focus on his first love, drawing.

Aug. 3, 2004:
Cartier-Bresson dies at age 95.

 A few years Before  Cartier-Bresson Pass away he was sitting in the Louvre in Paris making a sketch of a painting, as people walked by they were taking snaps shots of him most did not know who he was and only saw a sweet looking old man sitting in front of an easel he did not appear to mind.  As he was leaving he saw a young girl asleep lying against her father with her mother he made a chopping motion with his hand  between them, then raised his  hands to his face and clicked a finger on a pretend camera.

Cartier-Bresson july 2002 at the Intrnational photo Festival. In Arles, southern France. Photo by Wolfram Steinberg