Discoveries: Henri Cartier-Bresson
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Discoveries: Henri Cartier-Bresson Details
About the Author Clément Chéroux is a photographic historian and curator of the photographic collection at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He has worked on many exhibitions as well publications on photography. Read more
Reviews
For folks who are used to buying large photography books with 8X10" or larger images that make great coffee table books, you might need to be warned: this is more of a pocket-sized book. Many of the images are very small. However, this is a text that is intended more to describe and delve into the life and photography of Cartier-Bresson, not so much to display his images. As such, it does a pretty great job.A french book translated into English, readers may find it emphasizes slightly different things than many of the American takes on HCB, including descriptions of his influences and provenance. Rather than slavishly concentrating on the Decisive Moment (a term which HCB considered imperfect) and other cliches commonly connected with the great photographer, this book goes into detail about his life, experiences and techniques, as well as equipment, ethos (including the Decisive Moment) and leanings. It's an apprehendable book, focused on clearly conveying the interesting points without getting hung up or feeling dry. I can easily recommend it to fans of HCB or street photography in general, and at a price like this, why not buy it?In reference to a couple of other reviews complaining about photos being cut off in the middle when spread over two pages, there are really only a couple where I feel the composition is destroyed or significant information is obscured. Unfortunately, one of these, near the latter half of the book in a section specifically describing his composition and framing, so it does significantly diminish the point being made. It's one of the very few problems I have with the book, but it's far from being a fatal flaw.I am actually considering carrying this small book with me when shooting street (something I don't get to do often, but enjoy) in case I run into objections or defensiveness from people who don't understand what street photography is. Then I would merely pull out the book, explain that HCB was an early master of the genre, and show some of the images while explaining that I am trying to follow the same path. It's worth a shot!
