[pauco]

Henry Cartier-Bresson, legendaryfrench photographer & originator of the "decisive moment." has died in south east france aged 95. Cartier-Bresson shot 700,000 b&w pictures. He took his first shots with a box brownie, & bought his first 35mm leica in 1932. he founded magnum photo''s in 1947 along with Robert Capa, David semour & George rodger. These to me were the true men of b&w photography. I just thought this was worth a report on the forum.
bert.

[christineredgate]

Thanks,Bert,I am sure there will be some of the old type genuine photographers out there who will remember this very talented man.

[scampo]

Well, I don't know whether I would call myself an "old type, genuine photographer", Christine... but I hope the lots of people have heard of the name Henri Cartier-Bresson. After all, he was easily the most famous photographer of the 20th century. However, he died on August the second, rather than today.

Photography certainly has changed with the advent of auto-everything and, especially, digital cameras. When I first started, which wasn't so very long ago, I had a separate exposure meter, initially a flash gun with bulbs, and a bit of kit for measuring distance with (no it wasn't a tape measure!). The good old days!

[Dave B Smith]

I can qualify partially, the "old" type of photographer, and yes I'm very familiar with his work and accomplishments. Certainly one of the most important figures in photography and he inspired many of today's photographers. We owe a lot to him.

[Adey Baker]

He did it all with a standard lens, just waiting for everything to fall into position and then he captured the 'Decisive Moment.'

He proved the old adage: A picture is worth a thousand words.

Every photographer can encapsulate a situation in one photo, from time to time, but H C-B did it all the time! - his 'On the banks of The Marne' sums up France in one shot better than any travelogue of Paris with the Eifel Tower, berets, piano-accordian music, etc!

[Gashead]

Hasn't the 'decisive moment' been exposed as a posed photo? Certainly he got the russians to go back to the reichstag the following day to photograph the raising of the flag.

[christineredgate]

Originally Posted by scampo

Well, I don't know whether I would call myself an "old type, genuine photographer", Christine...The good old days!

Sorry,Steve,perhaps the word"old" should have been omitted It was your birthday ,was it not,a few days ago

[Leif]

Originally Posted by Gashead

Hasn't the 'decisive moment' been exposed as a posed photo? Certainly he got the russians to go back to the reichstag the following day to photograph the raising of the flag.

Was that not the Russian/Georgian photographer Korda IIRC?

I think HCB was known by everyone with more than a passing interest in photography esp. photo-journalists.