Henri Cartier-Bresson Critical Analysis

This documentary photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson shows a direct observation of people casually walking up and down a set of stone stairs. He documents the people walking past as well standing or congregating near the bottom of the stairs, going about their business. The photographer must have taken a series of photos in this location so it gives a sense that a locations atmosphere can change over time, some of the people are quite close to the edge of the photo, thus creating a decisive moment, because you’re unlikely to see them again; he sets out to capture this in his series of photographs.

I think that the photographer composed his images in a way that shows an area that at some point in time can be quite isolated, but also at some point be very populated; he does this by photographing a certain area and framing some of his subjects very close to the edge of the scene so it creates a decisive moment. The decisive moment gives the image a very natural feel, is shows the subject in a contrived way. Bresson must have used a film camera to capture the subject and used a darkroom enhancement; this gives the image its very smooth look. I like this image for its bold feel, because the image is in black & white it shows elements of contrast in the dark and light spaces of the image. The atmospheric aspects of the image show it to be time consuming and busy, the subjects are rather spaced out so the photograph is clearly a decisive moment.

A quote that inspired Cartier-Bresson:
'There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment' - Cardinal de Retx, 17th century