Quotes from Cartier-Bresson.

After three days of writers block  mostly because of a large Mug of Coffee being spilt over my computer I have finely got  back on line. With a little bit of surfing the web I came across  all these Quote's by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Something I most Definitely was not expecting. So in an attempt to better under stand Cartier-Bresson I'm going to try and match up some photos to the Quote. In the belief that if you want to understand the photo's of Cartier-Bresson. It might serve to understand the man a little First.
_______________________________________________________________________

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

Allee du Prado, Marseille, 1932

                                                                 
As the Man was walking he stopped and turns and looks. For no apparent reason as  Cartier-Bresson was walking behind him. In this moment Cartier-Bresson was able to  Recognize the Significance of what the man was about to do just before he did it  and so was able to capture the moment.

===============================================================

“To take photographs means to recognize simultaneously and within a fraction of a second  both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye and one’s heart on the same axis.”
 Henri Cartier-Bresson

Behind Saint-Lazare Station, Paris, France, 1932

This Photo Illustrates Perfectly the Above quote. Every element in the photo had to be there to get the Final result. There is nothing in this photo that is unnecessary.  Everything Contributes to the photograph. Creating the final impression.


=================================================================

"We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth, can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory"  Henri Cartier-Bresson

Bullfight, Pamplona in 1952

   
  At the bull fight in Pamplona this could be any spectator sport a football game, a tennis game, or a horse race the point is that these people were there at that moment that time looking in the direction they are looking  something that will never ever be repeated.
================================================================
"Photography is nothing-its life that interests me"
 Henri Cartier-Bresson

Thats not something you would expect one of the world most famous photographs to say

But then without the life going on around him  and a deep interest in it. Cartier-Bresson would have had no reason to take his photos.  As in the photo above an elderly man sits alone on a bench in the rain with news paper to cover his head.

================================================================
“You are asking me what makes a good picture. For me, it is the harmony between subject and form that leads each one of those elements to its maximum of expression and vigor.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson

"Kurukshetra", Punjab (India) 1948.

  The above  photo has all the elements from the above quote a maximum of expression and vigor.  At first glance it could be thought that the subjects of the photo a fighting at the refugee camp. Giving the time this photo was taken during the partition of India. In actual fact they are doing a form of dance.

====================================================================

"This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me the essence of photography; composition should be a constant of preoccupation, being a simultaneous coalition – an organic coordination of visual elements.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Little Greek girl mounting a staircase, 1963

If you don't understand the “rhythm of surfaces, lines … ” part, take a look at the rhythm of steps going up to the girl the way they are all worn in the centre, and the shadow along the wall and the stairs above her head  in the photo above.

==================================================================