Around the time I got my first "serious" camera (an Argus C3) I became a fan of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of 35mm photojournalism. It was he who originated the phrase "the decisive moment" to describe what the camera sees during the brief blink of the shutter when a great photograph is made.
I suppose he is the Godfather of the movement. There's hardly a photographer who has gone out with a 35mm camera in hand in search of those elusive available light black and white images who hasn't trod a path originally beaten by Henri or one of his colleagues from the Magnum Photo Agency.
I had been back in L.A. only a few days after spending 2 years at the Naval Photographic Center in Washington DC when I found myself working on the crew of a television documentary on Southern California shot by CBS's London Branch. I was delighted when a one day job suddenly turned into three weeks of employment and was knocked on my behind when I learned that the soft spoken, distinguished looking gentleman who was directing the film was in fact the man himself:H C-B. My hero soon became my mentor.
His lessons were simple: don't spend a lot of time studying other photographers. Go to museums. Study the masters. And get a job in daily journalism as a news photographer with a paper or television crew. Develop the eye of a painter and the speed and reflexes of a journalist.
In this picture he was directing a camera crew led by the brilliant French cinematographer Jean Boffety and shooting 16mm film footage with a Beaulieu camera. The picture above was taken when Henri, with his hawk eye, had spotted a SOLD sign along a desolate stretch of the Pacific just above Big Sur. He is the figure with the movie camera filming it. Behind him shooting a still is CBS associate producer Christine Ockrent who has become a successful television journalist in France. Overlooking it all is CBS producer Bill Mc Clure.
While I do have a few shots that show off Henri more clearly, he has throughout his life preferred anonymity. He is much more comfortable letting his pictures speak for him. Whenever you get a chance to look at an exhibit of his work or buy one of his books - do it. There is no better lesson in photography available.
Sadly, we lost Henri in August of 2004. In addition to his amazing photographs, he has left us The Henri Cartier-Bresson Institute in Paris. It's worth a web visit; just click on the link.
