After viewing Henri Cartier-Bresson’s series of photographs, I have a better understanding of how a series of photos can tell a story. It inspired me to tell my own story with my book. This photo caught my eye because it was so interesting. A man sits and paints a woman in a magnificent dress. The viewer can see the drawing of the woman being made on the canvas which adds a whole new layer to the photograph. I like how you can only see the back of the man and his work so far. I like how you can see the woman and her facial expression. I feel like he purposely took the photo at that moment when the canvas had only the outline of the woman’s body and dress. Her face is not yet drawn on the canvas but we can see the details of her face in the photograph. This image tells a beautiful story of a young woman being drawn by an older man. Its as if it was taken way back then. I love how the photograph is black and white, yet it holds so many layers of power and emotion. After viewing this photo along with the rest of his series, I found an inspiration to tell a story of my own. I want to tell the story of the city of Bethlehem and how there is such a contrast between the way one feels on campus vs. a couple feet off campus in the residential area. I hope to one day photograph a story like Henri did in this case. I hope I can capture a story through my book of Bethlehem just as Henri did with his series.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment (Simon & Schuster, 1952), p. 19-20, Sunday on the Banks of the Seine, France, 1938. © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos.
https://www.icp.org/exhibitions/henri-cartier-bresson-the-decisive-moment
This series titled after his famous quote about capturing the “Decisive Moment” was curated by ICP to be a representative sampling of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work.