Henri Cartier- Bresson, Image analysis

Image Analysis - Henri Cartier-Bresson


Henri Cartier- Bresson is a famous street photographer from the 1900s. He is known for his black and white, well composed street photography where he follows compositional techniques strongly and used them to convey different emotions in his imagery. 



For example in this image, Henri uses the "fibonacci spiral" or "golden spiral" to convey a sense of depth. His subjects are seeming to be the children but the main subject is actually the geometry its self in the spiral, the children just act as an aid to the naturally occurring lead in lines of the spiral as we start from the first face and follow the spiral "upwards". Our mind naturally follows the spiral all the way to the centre and sometimes we ignore the children due to the strong geometrical shapes.





This photo is from early 1900s  from Henri. The image follows the rule of thirds with the foreground being the main focal point with the two children on the wall, the middle being the lonely child and background being the never ending wall. Lead in lines of the wall and the blocks of floor force you to look into the background of negative space, this creates a sense of loneliness which aids the loneliness of the children and how by climbing the wall, they are trying to escape that.






Here is another lead in line from Mr Cartier- Bresson, his high vantage point creates the sense of elevation and makes us look down on the image. The geometrical shapes and lines of the railings lead us in and the arch frames the rest of the image and directs our attention. It gives a sense of rest as the streets below have people working and he photo is taken higher up as if we are just watching over them.







Henri Cartier-Bresson uses geometric and organic shapes to draw our eyes into the images. He has a strong sense of composition and can convey emotion and feelings through his photography. He uses black and white (mainly because its old film) but this does not divert our attention and he incorporates people within his shapes yet they are not necessarily the main subject.