'For me, the camera is a sketch book ….'

Hi everyone

For some talented people, they sketch things, but for me, my camera is my sketch book - I am seldom without a camera of sorts. I have some favourite photographers whose style I aspire to - I have been a huge fan of  Steve McCurry  from the moment I saw his Afghan Girl years ago on the cover of the National Geographic 

I thought I would look at some of my photos through the eyes of one of the most important photojournalists  ….

For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity. - Henri Cartier-Bresson
[1908 – 2004] A French photographer. He is considered to be the father of modern photojournalism.

In a portrait, I’m looking for the silence in somebody. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Of course it's all luck. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photography appears to be a simple matter, but it demands powers of concentration combined with mental enthusiasm and discipline. It is by strict economy of means that simplicity of expression is achieved. - Henri Cartier-Bresson 

A photographer must always work with the greatest respect for his subject and in terms of his own point of view. That is my own personal attitude; consequently I have a marked prejudice against “arranged” photographs and contrived settings. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Of all forms of expression, photography is the only one which seizes the instant in its flight. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photography as I conceive it, well, it’s a drawing. Immediate sketch, done with intuition and you can correct it. If you have to correct it, it’s with the next picture. But life is very fluid; sometimes the pictures disappear, and there’s nothing you can do. You can’t tel the person, ‘Oh, please smile again. Do that gesture again.’ Life is once, forever and new all the time. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

Composition must be one of our constant preoccupations, but at the moment of shooting it can stem only from our intuition, for we are out to capture the fugitive moment, and all the interrelationships involved are on the move. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

We seldom take great pictures. You have to milk the cow a lot and get lots of milk to make a little piece of cheese. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photography appears to be an easy activity; in fact it is a varied and ambiguous process in which the only common denominator among its practitioners is in the instrument. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

What reinforces the content of a photograph is the sense of rhythm – the relationship between shapes and values. -
Henri Cartier-Bresson,

The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

The picture is good or not from the moment it was caught in the camera. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

In photojournalistic reporting, inevitably, you’re an outsider. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

I am very critical of my own photos - I aim to be better technically & study images that catch my eye to develop my skills & challenge myself.  I aspire to be a better version of myself …

Thanks for stopping by,  school's out for summer for me & my students - I look forward to the time to catch up with friends, family, chores & projects …
Dee ~♥~