A picture can paint a thousand words, or so the phrase says. Perhaps so. On a long office day, editing my back catalogue, a 5×4 slide starts talking about memories. In 2001 my world, like many other people’s, was turned upside down. On an isolated farm in Northumberland some Read more…
A collection of writing by the epitome of the reportage photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson; The Mind’s Eye, Writings on Photography and Photographers. Henri Cartier-Bresson is perhaps(anyone else for Robert Doisneau?) the most influential photojournalist the world has ever known. A co-founder of Magnum, civilised observer and skilled artist. The Mind’s Eye Read more…
A short how I do it film this weekend. I am, at heart, a monochrome photographer. It is how I learnt the game with a home made enlarger in a spare room. It is still often how I visualise an image. Nowadays of course, with digital cameras we make our Read more…
Now, I’ll admit to a little bias here. Henri Cartier-Bresson remains an inspiration to me. He and many of his contemporaries like Lee Miller, Robert Doisneau, Bill Brandt and Eve Arnold combined great technique, visual awareness and a deep sense of our shared humanity. And they allowed the stories they told to speak.
Notwithstanding my personal bias, this is a sumptuous colection of portraits; the first to be drawn entirely from the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson. The ferocious aquiline face of Samuel Beckett glaring off leftward challenging you, open the book, see what he cares.