Thursday, June 20, 2013

Henri Cartier-Bresson

I’m always amused by the idea that certain people have about technique, which translate into an immoderate taste for the sharpness of the image. It is a passion for detail, for perfection, or do they hope to get closer to reality with this trompe I’oeil? They are, by the way, as far away from the real issues as other generations of photographers were when they obscured their subject in soft-focus effects. - Henri Cartier-Bresson - on technique. "American Photo", September/October 1997, page: 76

For us the camera is a tool, the extension of our eye, not a pretty little mechanical toy. It is sufficient that we should feel at ease with the camera best adapted for our purpose. Adjustments of the camera – such as setting the aperture and the speed – should become reflexes, like changing gear in a car. The real problem is one of intelligence and sensitivity. - Henri Cartier-Bresson - February 22, 1968., The World of Henri Cartier-Bresson by Henri Cartier-Bresson  

If God had wanted us to photograph with a 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 camera, he would have put eyes on our bellies. - Henri Cartier-Bresson - Told by Doisneau in interview, see section under picture of man with gun 

It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. - Henri Cartier-Bresson 

The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and [Edward] Weston are photographing rocks! - Henri Cartier-Bresson - said of Ansel Adams during the Depression of 1930s. "People on People. The Oxford Dictionary of Biographical Quotations", edited by Susan Ratcliffe, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2001

Collected on: http://www.photoquotes.com/showquotes.aspx?id=98&name=Cartier-Bresson,Henri 

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