"Photography is not like painting," Henri Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. "There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative," he said. "Oops! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."
French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) is by many considered the father of modern photojournalism. He was a master of candid photography and at capturing “the moment”.
Often times, what may look like a photographer’s lucky break has taken careful planning. For example, in the photo Behind Saint-Lazare Station, Cartier-Bresson framed the shot first – i.e. he selected the background, including the big puddle – anticipating what might happen when someone needed to cross it. He then waited for a person to walk/jump into his picture. And: Voila!
Use Cartier-Bresson’s photos (as seen in class) for inspiration as you go about capturing “the moment(s)” in your subjects’ lives.
