A photograph that made me think – the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson

by

Edward Homer – L1 Photography student

Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the first photographers to have an effect on me and my work. One of the founding members of Magnum and viewed by many as the father of modern photojournalism, his work is revered from here to Timbuktu and back again. Everyone can say they know his work and the people that can’t will recognize at least one of his photographs. He’s from what I would consider the ‘golden age of photography,’ and he was mixing with other greats like Robert Capa, David Seymour and Walker Evans, and still stood out.

The photograph I have picked is not his most famous piece, (Behind the Gare, St. Lazare) I’ve picked a photograph that on closer inspection, seems to have no name, but just that it was taken in Hyeres, France, 1932. This photograph is important to me because it was the first photograph I saw with the power of movement in it, the blurred cyclist whizzing past, but the main mystery for me is the steps that Bresson is at the top of, why is he there? Did he see the cyclist coming and run up them? Did he stay up there for hours waiting for something or someone to come past because he thought the buildings and steps frame the road well? did he just want to take a photo of the steps, or was he just at the right place at the right time?

As an image it is not shocking. It is not a record of a national disaster or of a war or of anything that is important at all, its just a photograph of a guy off doing something on his bike and this for me is interesting, prominent and visually superb. Bresson didn’t need to use the shock and oar tactics of war or blood to make an image. He travelled around taking images of everyday life, everyone in the world has seen a bicycle, so why did he find it important to take a photo of it?