Henri Cartier-Bresson's was an early user of a 35 mm, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the street photography or life style that was coined The Decisive Moment that has influenced generations of photographers who followed. He did not like developing or making his own prints and showed a lack of interest in the process of photography in general, He also published a book called 'The Decisive Moment' which then inspired many other photographers in their work and gave a sense of what street photography was supposed to be in Henri's views.
Photography is nothing, it's life that interests me.--Henri Cartier-Bresson. |
Bresson's way of working and how he composes his images isn't through cropping, but through framing, which involves him waiting for the right moment to capture an image. therefore he would wait and stare at the same thing for a very long time, his method of taking photographs shows that he has the patience to wait for the right moment.
During the lesson we analysed an article about the work of Cartier-Bresson, and how his ideas have influenced photography and if it still applies to how people will take photos nowadays. Initially we predicted that the article was expelling how/what Bresson's ideas influenced photography, but then exploring the other side, of ideas being outdated, developed, etc. The subtitle questions the whole concept - "its the book that changed photography" started off with a bold statement but brought dan very quickly by "but why republish...after 62 years...when it cements such out of date ideas?" They are praising him for his work, but they're not appreciating his work, as it seems so outdated as nowadays there are so many new ways towards approaching photography. |
His work contrasts with Henri Cartier-Bresson as his way of working isn't the same, it's the complete opposite as he doesn't wait around for the right moment, he's constantly running around looking for the 'indecisive moment'. He also takes photos quickly, and takes multiple images, he has no particular way of working just does what he wants. Waplington doesn't wait for the moments, he creates one, as moments of creating could be prepared or not prepared. He often changes the camera to capture different images in different qualities, textures, and quantities. He is interested in environment, rooms, interior, and issues. For example, his work 'Living Room' which he spent four years documenting the daily lives of two working-class families on a council estate. Rather than embracing the contemporary photographic conventions of social realism, Waplington chronicled the lives of these families in saturated color, capturing an intimate narrative with poignancy and an unexpected humour. "In many ways, this makes the work a far more affecting critique of poverty. Living Room is a tender and poignant debut title, wonderfully documenting the physical and physiological dysfunctionality of families enduring the plight of economic deficiency."
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