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A VISIONARY REALITY
Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1908–2004
BY CLIF GARBODEN
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In the late 1960s, when newspapers such as the Boston Phoenix were being invented, the reigning style among alternative photojournalists could be summed up in two rules: no flash, no posing. Or, to put it positively, we practiced available-light candid photography. The primary inspiration for this cult of 35mm shooters was French photojournalism pioneer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who, though nearing 60 at the time, was in the streets of Paris training his Leica on the student revolt there. Cartier-Bresson, who died, at age 95, on Tuesday, August 3, set a demanding standard for his followers — an approach that required them to recognize and define content, composition, purpose, lighting, nuance, and photography’s mechanical technicalities as a coherent whole in an instant. Earlier 35mm experimenters had sought similar results by shooting movie film and singling out the "decisive moments" (Cartier-Bresson’s trademark term) at leisure in the darkroom. Cartier-Bresson edited in real time, his mind seemingly faster than his shutter as he snatched enormous meanings from blurs of small gestures. His photos — from genre scenes and informal portraits to close-range coverage of coronations, street skirmishes, and state funerals — were, to put it simply, as true to the experiences being documented as the medium would allow. He turned photojournalism into an art form by inventing a new way of seeing that was uniquely the vision of hand-held photographers. With Cartier-Bresson, news photography ceased to be a manipulative medium and became, perhaps for the first time, credible documentation. Was there room for artistic interpretation? Absolutely. But from the natural lighting (or lack thereof) to the unrehearsed actions being recorded, there’s no question that Cartier-Bresson’s photographs showed us the better part of what really happened.
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