Henri Cartier-Bresson quotes - page 2
This book [Zen in the Art of Archery], by Herrigel, which I discovered a few years ago, seems to me fundamental to our profession as photographers. Matisse wrote similarly about drawing: set a discipline, make rigor a rule, forget oneself completely. And in photography the attitude must be the same: detach oneself, do not try to prove anything at all. My sense of freedom is the same: a frame that allows any variation. This is the basis of Zen Buddhism, the evidence: that you go in with great force and then you succeed in forgetting yourself.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Nobody at Magnum decides for the other what he should do and everyone is free to tell someone else: "Well, what about this story? I don't like it for this and that reason - because of this picture.” It is extremely fruitful to have somebody to talk to as an equal. This give and take is a most profitable thing because we keep learning from each other. I keep learning from the younger members just as I learned from Bob [Robert] Capa and Chim [David Seymour] how to make picture stories. Cornell Capa, for instance, has a very keen journalistic sense; and as for the other photographer, each makes his own contribution. Everybody in Magnum has full freedom; there's no doctrine, there is no school, but there is something that unites all of us very strongly - I can't define it; it may be a certain feeling of freedom and a respect for reality.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
A contact sheet is so interesting, because you see how a photographer thinks. He comes closer and closer to a subject, corrects it, looks at it again, and then with tiny movements turns around until it is in exactly the right and exact relation to him. Contact sheets may be compared to the way you drive a nail into a plank. First you give several light taps to build up a rhythm and align the nail with the wood. Then, much more quickly, and with as few strokes as possible, you hit the nail forcefully on the head and drive it in.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
I think cynicism is the worst thing because it kills everything. There's no more honesty, no more poetry, no more freshness. Cynicism is the worst thing - a kind of smart person who's got all the answers. This is death. It kills creation. There's no love, no tenderness, nothing at all left. There's no hatred even, nothing. Equally dangerous is the detached attitude that says, "Everything is fun!”.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
There are photographers who invent, others who discover. Personally, I am interested in discoveries, not for the trials or experiences but to capture life itself. I flee from the dangers of the anecdote and the picturesque, which are very easy and better than sensational, but quite as bad. To my mind, photography has the power to evoke, and must not simply document. We have to be abstract, just like nature.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Photography has fulfilled my adventurous side: it is a real trade. I behaved like a thief in every country where I went, in China, in Africa, in America... all things considered, our trade is situated somewhere between pickpocket and tightrope walker... yes, we steal from people, we take something that belongs to them: their image, their culture.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Occupation: French Photographer
Born: August 22, 1908
Died: August 3, 2004
Quotes count: 44
Wikipedia: Henri Cartier-Bresson
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