Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

I have chosen to look in detail at the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. I like Cartier-Bressons work as he takes photographs of controversial topics that occur in everyday life. He looks into topics such as homophobia and war which were common in the 19040's which was when these controversial topics were most common in society.

 The first picture that i have found of Henri Cartier-Bresson is this on that shows a man sitting on another mans lap in the middle of the street. I like this photograph as being gay was considered illegal until quite recently so by him taking this photograph and showing that it is in a public place would have been strange and would have angered many people. I also like this photograph as due to it being in black and white is show the different tones of the surroundings and the people in the photograph.

 The second picture i have selected of Henri Cartier-Bressons sis this one that shows the faces of a lot of children standing on a spiral staircase. This photograph is good as it shows the different tones on the children's faces, as it is in black and white, which also shows the form of their faces. As well as this, the way he is looking up through the middle of the staircase, it shows that there is a circle in the middle of the spiral.

 The third picture i had found of Henri Cartier-Bressons is this one that shows children playing together in, what looks like a street, with people passing in the background. I like this photograph as it shows the different tones of the people and the shadow caused by the sun she the form on their faces. As well as this he shows shape in this photograph as there is squares on the wall.

The final picture of Henri Cartier-Bresson that i have chosen to write about is this one that shows a man standing front of a line of soldiers holding guns, whilst he is holding a flower. This would have been another controversial topic, was was very common then and not seen the be bad, but this shows a change in society as people want peace rathe than war. I like this picture as the man is closer to the camera and the light, so he seems lighter than the soldiers, as well as this his face is not blurry but the pattern on his top is, drawing more attention to his face.

Influence and summary:

It is apparent that throughout Bressons work that their is a running theme of controversial topics. Henri Cartier-Bressons work has inspired me to pay more attention to the meaning behind the photograph. I am inspired by how he captures very controversial photographs but still focuses on aspects such as tone and form in all of his photographs. As well as the meaning behind the photo, i like his use of tone and lighting in all of his photos and want to pay more attention to it in any photos take in the future. Henri Cartier-Bressons work influenced me to look more into the sales that re present in my photographs, as in most of his photos there is shapes present in the background, especially in the penultimate photo of his that i had evaluated.

Straight images - studio back of head

Studio back of head- work diary

Evaluation of Session;
When we were told to shoot portraiture in a studio i was looking forward to be able to use the lighting to show form on the face, in order to get a good picture. However when we were told that we could only shoot the back of heads i was unsure of how to make the photograph good, which is why i don't think i took any good photographs. That said, i think that by only taking the photo of the back of heads, it draws more attention to the background as if the photo was taken of the person face, the attention would be drawn mostly to the persons eyes.

 I think this is the best of the photographs i took in the studio for this topic as the lighting behind the camera is making his hair seem brighter against the dark black background. As well as this his head is in the middle of the shot so that where all of the attention is.

This is another photograph that i had taken in the studio. This photograph is one of the best i had took as his head is in the centre of the shot and doesn't blend in with the background so all of the attention is on the head.

Progression;
If i were to go back into the studio to re-shoot this topic, i was make sure that their head is in the centre of the shot and yo can see the texture of their hair. As well as this i would make sure that they are far enough away from the background so there is no shadow cast onto the background.

Back of head landscape- Work diary

Evaluation of session;
When we were told that we would be shooting back of head portraits against a landscape, i was interested in, by slightly unsure of how to make it a good picture. When we went out to shoot i found it quite simple to shoot but when i retired from taking photos i found that i didn't take many good ones as the head was rarely ever in the centre of the shot and there was a lot of wasted space around them.

 I think this is one of the best photographs that i had taken during the session as the head is in the centre of the shot so there is not a lot of wasted space around the outside. I also like this picture as there is a good contrast between the red and pink background and the persons all black clothing.

This is my favourite of all of the photographs i took during this session because although there i quite a busy landscape in the background, with a lot of metal bars, the attention is still mainly ion the boys head in the middle as his blond hair stands out against the silver of the metal bars.








Progression;
If i were to go out and shoot back of head landscapes i would try to shoot with their head in the middle of the shot and without a lot of wasted space. I would also try to find more interesting backgrounds as most of mine are quite plain and simple.

Studio form- straight images

Portraiture- Definition post

Dictionary definition;
- The art of painting or taking portraits.

Describing words;
Black and white, detailed, close-up, landscape, colour

In this portrait we can see that the background isn't straight black as the person in the photograph is wearing all black and has dark hair, so you wouldn't see her properly. As well as this we can see that the photographer has taken the lighting into consideration to crate shadows on her face and neck to emphasise on the form of her face.

In this portrait we are able to see the form of his face through the shadows created by the light shining onto the right hand side of his face. In the centre of this photograph we can see his neck, which draws attention to his tattoos but because his eyes are very dar compared to the rest of his face, it also draws attention to his eyes.

In this portrait the model looks very washed out as she has a very pale face, blonde hair and not a lot of makeup on in front of a light grey background. Even without a lot of makeup the lighting shows the form of her face created by her cheek bones and jaw line and her eyebrows stand out the most as they are dark in comparison with the rest of he photograph.

In this portrait the photographer is taking a close-up of the man's face in colour, by doing this it is allowing us the see all of the wrinkles ad hairs and other small details of the mans face. As the man eyes are close to the centre of the photograph is draws attention to his face rather than looking more that the background.

Own definition;
Portraiture is taking a photograph of a face or back of the head, usually from the shoulders up.

back of head landscape straight images

Portraiture- Image bank

Portraiture is when a photographer takes a picture of a person, usually from the shoulders up, as shown in the above photographs. When looking at portraitures images it is apparent that the photographer looks closely at form to create shape and depth of the ace, as well as lines and small details to make sure they are noticeable of not noticeable in some cases. With portraiture, if it is of the front of someones face the main focus would be the eyes as its near the centre of the face and that where the focus mainly is during a conversation with someone, this is why some portraiture photographers use the back of a persons head rather than the front so the focus is on the background as well as the person. In the third photograph we can see the back of a person head against a plain background. The use of the plain background stops any attention being drawn away from the details of the person like their earring and nape piercing. As well as this it makes the different tones of the persons head more noticeable as they contrast with the lighter tones of the background.

Shape- work diary

Evaluation of session;

When we were first told that we would be going out to shoot shape, i didn't think it would be as difficult as the other formal elements as shape can be found anywhere. When we actually went out to shoot i found it was the easiest of the final elements to shoot as there was a lot of man made shapes, but not a lot of natural shapes, which made it quite difficult to get a diverse range of photographs.

This is my favourite of all of the photographs i had taken in the shape session as it shows the shape of the arrow and the rectangular shape of the bricks. The arrow shows us how different shapes can have different meanings and uses to help us.

This is another photograph i had taken for shape. This shows a square drain that has multiple square tiles on, giving the drain texture. I like this photograph as it also uses form to sow that the squares on the drain are three dimensional. However, i don't like that the lines are not straight, so i would have have edit the photo a second time, to ensure the lines are all straight. This photo was slightly influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson as i like his use of shapes in the background of his photographs.

Progression;
If i were to go out and shoot shape again i would try to take more photos of natural shapes as the majority of the photographs i had taken during that session were of man-made shapes. I would also take more photos that contain more than one different shape, as most of mine were just of one shape.

Shape- straight images

Photojoiner- Straight images

Shape- definition.

Dictionary definition;

The external form, contours, or outline of someone or something.

Describing words;

Square, circular, triangular, rectangular, round, angular, irregular, regular.

Four annotated pictures;

In this photograph shape is shown as the grapes are spherical. This image shows how shape can be found everywhere and that shape can be natural as well as man made.

This image shows how objects of one shape can come together to form another shape., in this example it is pencils coming together to form a circle in the centre.

I like this image as it shows how shape can be created for the purpose of photography.

This image shows hey that has been shaped into a circle. I like this image as is very simple, as circular hay bales are not uncommon but they show how shapes can serve a purpose, we can see from this that it has been made into a circle not for artistic purposes, but to help.

This image shows the shape inside of a beehive, we can see that inside each hole is a hexagon shape. This shows to us how different shapes are formed naturally and have been developed by animals to serve a purpose. 

Own definition;

Shape is the outline of an objects with no regard to the colour or texture.