Henri Cartier Bresson: The Bicycle and the Golden Rule Stuart Morris
In this paper I will be talking about the photo Hyeres, France 1932. The specific image I am referring to is his priceless shot of a man bicycling down a road. This image reminds me of the time I spent in france as a young boy. Walking the streets, unaware of the true location and seeing images and shapes blur past me as I observe. Cartier-Bresson s vision of imagery and photography is, in my eyes, one of the greatest visual display of composition and understanding of a medium. I believe that it takes tremendous skill to learn, properly, how to master one s medium. It is plain to see that Henri Cartier-Bresson was a true master of his camera even from a young age and that his was the best for numerous reasons. In this paper I argue that Henri Cartier-Bresson is the master of photography. Bresson starts his career as a photographer after he returns from a trip to Africa. He returns to France at the age of 23 and decides that he is to be a photographer for the rest of his life. A bold decision to decide at such a young age. Although this is a great decision, it was a highly prolific, and optimistic vision for his, to be, long life ahead. Cartier-Bresson began to view his life through a lense, day by day. He snapped photo after photo, learning the form and his medium. He put his whole self into his passion and vision. One year after his return from Africa, he shoots a true masterpiece. The man on the bicycle. A man on the bicycle rides down the street. Due to the shutter speed being slow, probably between 1/30th to 1/60th of a second, the man appears blurred. A shutter speed of this caliber is viewed as a slow speed. The fraction refers to the speed in seconds of how long the film negative is exposed to light and the image is recorded. The framing of the image is truly remarkable.
Cartier-Bresson photographs this side street from an elevated angle looking down at a 30 degree incline. An interesting view and height. I have noticed that changing the elevation of an image can have an impact on the composition of the image. Due to the nature of how humans see, the camera aims to emulate the nature of vision. However, when the height is changed, the viewer may be forced to see an image in a different way. This causes a deeper connection between the viewer s eye and the photographer. I believe that Cartier-Bresson was innately aware of the technique. He uses it very successfully. Moreover, Cartier-Bresson creates a composition that, with intention or not, follows an interesting law of mathematics and displays the rule of thirds ingeniously. We view the street from the top of a spiraling staircase. Based on the rotation of the case of stairs, we can see another mathematical harmony appear. This equation is known as Phi. More commonly referred to The Golden Rule of mathematics. This is an irrational number, similar to Pi. The number is 1.618033988749895 Essentially the number is a divisibility of squares. (See Figures 03 and 04). Cartier-Bresson s photograph fits oddly well into this mathematical equation. It is surprising. Many things in nature also follow this law. For instance, the pattern that seeds in a sunflower make and the orientation of petals around a rose flower both follow the same rule. There are many examples of natural beauty that align themselves with the golden rule. This image, whether intended or not, follows this perfect rule of natural beauty, thus creating an innate and pre-established sense of natural likeness for humans to perceive. As the stairs descend, the eye is drawn back to the biker. The curvature of the street resembles Earth s horizon. This could possibly represent the cycle of days in contrast with the people who inhabit the planet. And as the stairs descend ever deeper into the Earth, the meaning of each step
becomes deeper as well. The spiral almost has the ability to suck us into the image. Although the man on the bicycle is the focal point, somehow the darkening gradient of the steps draws my eye. I get an uneasy feeling while looking at this image. I have a sense of incompleteness as if the stairs need to be traveled down. They are asking me to walk down them but the moment is forever frozen in time and they will never be traveled across. This is called The Decisive Moment Capturing a moment ensuring the beauty and weight of the situation are conveyed in harmony and with equilibrium. Cartier-Bresson used the term himself in 1952. The decisive moment is less a technique than it is an ideal. The premise is to be able to capture the situation and retain balance of imagery and content. The method is difficult to master. One must spend hours and hours staring through the viewfinder. It is my opinion that this ideology is more practically mastered via a film camera. I believe that the process and time it takes to see your photo is and becomes more gratifying. There is more intention in taking the exact right photo. I have seen another image in this location; a recreation. This image was taken much later in time. Years and years after the war. The staircase is verbatim the same. To me it is incredible that this moment in time can be captured and received generations later. Cartier has faced the test of time and come out on top. And yet this image does not so much ask us to consider a fresh perception, conveyed through the unique sensibility of an observant photographer, as just the opposite: to marvel at his magical ability to discover in the real world and to deftly record in a photograph such a perfect incarnation of cliche, Galassi writes. I believe that Galassi also sees the brilliance and captivating genius that Cartier-Bresson is able to capture in a single second.
His photography is undeniably prolific and precise. He was widely regarded as the best photojournalist of his generation. There are several reasons why Henri Cartier-Bresson is seen as a master photographer. He has the ability to capture imagery that physically speaks to the viewer. He also captures images in a manner of great skill. He knows how to frame an image, and knows the exact right time to press the shutter release. He has scholarship and publications written about his work, and each author reveres his work as top of the line quality. He had the eye and the vision to create such work, and coined the term decisive moment in which he captures a situation and the image of the situation on a perfect balance. His work has lasted ages and will continue to be taught and admired for generation to come. He had a great talent and eye for composition. He will be missed as his life s work lives on and carries his name with it.
Cartier-Bresson Hyeres, France 1932 - Original Image (Fig. 01) https://photohistory.wikispaces.com/file/view/bike_rider.jpg/126342589/448x297/bike_rider.jpg Cartier-Bresson Hyeres, France 1932 - Rule of Thirds breakdown. (Fig. 02) http://focusfoto.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/escola-focus-henri-cartier-bresson-bicycle-2.jpg
Cartier-Bresson Hyeres, France 1932 - Mathematical Breakdown - Phi (Fig. 03) https://snapadikt.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/hcb-bicycle.png The Golden Rule - Phi (Fig. 04) http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/054/153/original/golden-ratio.jpg?1372115963