Henri Cartier-Bresson quotes - page 2

You have to have some psychological insight, you have to know the people and you must work in a way that's acceptable to them. There you must smile - never laugh, because that's considered making fun. Smile, take your time, and never come bursting in with your own personality. You have to lie low. Of course you can push and perhaps raise your voice a notch, but like a sensitive emulsion, a sensitive plate. Approach gently, tenderly, and never intrude, never push. Otherwise, if you use your elbows, it will work against you. Above all, be human! (Henri Cartier-Bresson)
I believe creative work needs communication. So it's extremely encouraging to be with a group of people who form a community and to know that you're not isolated, although as individuals we must always work in an inner silence. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Nobody at Magnum decides for the other what he should do and everyone is free to tell someone else: "Well, what about this story? I don't like it for this and that reason - because of this picture.” It is extremely fruitful to have somebody to talk to as an equal. This give and take is a most profitable thing because we keep learning from each other. I keep learning from the younger members just as I learned from Bob [Robert] Capa and Chim [David Seymour] how to make picture stories. Cornell Capa, for instance, has a very keen journalistic sense; and as for the other photographer, each makes his own contribution. Everybody in Magnum has full freedom; there's no doctrine, there is no school, but there is something that unites all of us very strongly - I can't define it; it may be a certain feeling of freedom and a respect for reality. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
This book [Zen in the Art of Archery], by Herrigel, which I discovered a few years ago, seems to me fundamental to our profession as photographers. Matisse wrote similarly about drawing: set a discipline, make rigor a rule, forget oneself completely. And in photography the attitude must be the same: detach oneself, do not try to prove anything at all. My sense of freedom is the same: a frame that allows any variation. This is the basis of Zen Buddhism, the evidence: that you go in with great force and then you succeed in forgetting yourself. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
A contact sheet is so interesting, because you see how a photographer thinks. He comes closer and closer to a subject, corrects it, looks at it again, and then with tiny movements turns around until it is in exactly the right and exact relation to him. Contact sheets may be compared to the way you drive a nail into a plank. First you give several light taps to build up a rhythm and align the nail with the wood. Then, much more quickly, and with as few strokes as possible, you hit the nail forcefully on the head and drive it in. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
I hate looking at photography books or illustrated magazines. This is not because of contempt. I'd rather look at contact sheets: that is where you can sense the individual. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
We had a certain idea of our work, a respect for others, and above all, [we were determined] not to be paparazzi. For the photographer, curiosity is essential, the terrible counterpart is indiscretion, which is a lack of restraint. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
I think cynicism is the worst thing because it kills everything. There's no more honesty, no more poetry, no more freshness. Cynicism is the worst thing - a kind of smart person who's got all the answers. This is death. It kills creation. There's no love, no tenderness, nothing at all left. There's no hatred even, nothing. Equally dangerous is the detached attitude that says, "Everything is fun!”. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
There are photographers who invent, others who discover. Personally, I am interested in discoveries, not for the trials or experiences but to capture life itself. I flee from the dangers of the anecdote and the picturesque, which are very easy and better than sensational, but quite as bad. To my mind, photography has the power to evoke, and must not simply document. We have to be abstract, just like nature. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Photography has fulfilled my adventurous side: it is a real trade. I behaved like a thief in every country where I went, in China, in Africa, in America... all things considered, our trade is situated somewhere between pickpocket and tightrope walker... yes, we steal from people, we take something that belongs to them: their image, their culture. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Photography is solitary work. There is emulation. It is interesting to know what other people do. Even so, writers do not read everything that is published. A painter does not look at everything. You have to choose. It's reality, it's life that is important. We shouldn't be sniffing around each other all the time, looking.... (Henri Cartier-Bresson)
Think about the photo before and after, never during. The secret is to take your time. You mustn't go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Of course it's all luck. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Sometimes a single event can be so rich in itself and its facets that it is necessary to move all around it in your search for the solution to the problems it poses - for the world is movement, and you cannot be stationary in your attitude toward something that is moving. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
If there is one point, it's humanity, it's life, the richness of life. The thing is simply to be sensitive. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
How do you make your pictures? - I don't know, it's not important. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
The picture-story involves a joint operation of the brain, the eye and the heart. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Memory is very important, the memory of each photo taken, flowing at the same speed as the event. During the work, you have to be sure that you haven't left any holes, that you've captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson
During the work, you have to be sure that you haven't left any holes, that you've captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late. View quote
Henri Cartier-Bresson