HCB Appreciation

nikos79 said:

Thanks will check it out

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Watch Stalker (my faourite film).

cliveh said:

Watch Stalker (my faourite film).

andrei tarkovsky stalker - Google Search

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Sharing our "favorite film" reveals a lot.
Mine is probably "The Ruling Class"

nikos79 said:

Didn't he do both in one film?

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Andrey Rublev.

MattKing said:

Sharing our "favorite film" reveals a lot.
Mine is probably "The Ruling Class"

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Mine's probably "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"
But appreciating Tarkovsky takes a certain education and familiarity with the language of cinema to truly love his work.


Now that I think about it, the same goes for HCB too. I don’t think someone who isn’t familiar with photographic art will fully appreciate him, especially his early surrealist works. Most will try to resort to something obvious: the subject, the meaning, what’s happening in the image, focusing on the facts and missing the geometric elegance that makes HCB so unique.

Alex Benjamin said:

Andrey Rublev.

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Andrey Rublev, ah yes! I remember seeing it when I was a student. The first half hour I was totally bored and ready to leave the cinema, but then it turned into an almost transcendental experience. It shook me completely, I never felt anything like that again in a movie theater. I really need to dive deeper into Tarkovsky.

nikos79 said:

Didn't he do both in one film?

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The Wizard of Oz.

nikos79 said:

We are not talking about isolated and unrelated technical professions here and moreover HCB was not speaking from ignorance.

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For all we know, the butcher might have installed a sink in his daughter's room over the weekend and Mr Khan might dabble in photography in his spare time. I think it's a very good analogy.
Keep in mind also that the color work HCB did happened (was apparently forced, even) in a period when the technical possibilities were vastly more limited than they are now. That's one more reason to take whatever he said about color photography with a generous helping of salt.

nikos79 said:

"color has laws, and I cannot master them under the constraints of fast, uncontrolled, real-life photography"

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If that's the case (and I frankly don't think that's a complete and accurate interpretation, but let's assume it is), then there's even more reason to disregard what he said as it's a highly personal/individual view that has no relevance for any other person by definition.

What's next, we should discuss whether HCB preferred his potatoes fried or cooked, and try to infer something from it? Start a "HCB re-enactment" troupe?

Sorry to be so seemingly cynical about this, but in my view, when taking inspiration from someone's work, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to focus on aspects that were explicitly out of scope of that body of work. To understand and appreciate what HCB did well, we only need to look at what he did well. We don't have to consider what he didn't do, which at best results in anecdotal and idiosyncratic observations, and at worst results in jumping to unwarranted conclusions. HCB made a very clear choice for himself within the boundaries of his own interest, preferences for way of working, technical abilities and subject matter he focused on. Only if someone were to replicate his work, it might make sense to also try and replicate these considerations for limitations in scope. And frankly, I don't think there's a whole lot to be gained in trying to replicate someone else's photography, nor do I have the impression that anyone involved in this thread is aiming to do so.

koraks said:

What's next, we should discuss whether HCB preferred his potatoes fried or cooked, and try to infer something from it? Start a "HCB re-enactment" troupe?

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How else are we going to continue this thread? We’re only on page 39 so far.

We're gearing up for the decisive moment!

koraks said:

Start a "HCB re-enactment" troupe?

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OK, but I'm not playing Robert Capa this time. Took me out of the game way too early.

But you did a great job at the final scene!
We have some roles left but they involve wearing a dress and chain-smoking Gauloises; are you game?

koraks said:

But you did a great job at the final scene!
We have some roles left but they involve wearing a dress and chain-smoking Gauloises; are you game?

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Well... I was kind of hoping for something that would be a change from real life...

koraks said:

What's next, we should discuss whether HCB preferred his potatoes fried or cooked, and try to infer something from it? Start a "HCB re-enactment" troupe?

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I think he said something like "A fry may be cut in the mouth, never cropped in the plate"

Well, I might agree with him on that one.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alberto Giacometti installant son exposition, galerie Maeght, Paris, mai 1961. Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos

Well played, @cliveh.

That’s just wonderful, isn’t it? A great example that if the composition is right, sharpness pales into insignificance. There are two or three HCB portraits of Giacometti, and each one makes you feel you know exactly what Giacometti was like.

PS - I can make nothing of this upside-down, though.

snusmumriken said:

A great example that if the composition is right, sharpness pales into insignificance.

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Exposure, also. That looks like it was a nearly hopeless negative.

koraks said:

But you did a great job at the final scene!
We have some roles left but they involve wearing a dress and chain-smoking Gauloises; are you game?

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I am in! Would be so nice to dress up in some Victorian dress (tail coat) with spats and top hat and a duell with, say Sebastian Selgado at 6 in the morning.

Another opinion on color.

snusmumriken said:

PS - I can make nothing of this upside-down, though.

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That's because a sculptor must obey gravity

nikos79 said:

Another opinion on color.

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But who is that?

Don_ih said:

But who is that?

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Hehe I left it intentionally as a riddle.
Some small hint: He was also a painter and photographed in color as early as 1910

nikos79 said:

Hehe I left it intentionally as a riddle.
Some small hint: He was also a painter and photographed in color as early as 1910

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Lartigue?

nikos79 said:

I left it intentionally as a riddle.

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You could quote any number of irrelevant people, though. I don't know what the point is.

You'll notice, for instance, he says "truth is still in colour" when Cartier-Bresson would obviously consider a different idea of what that "truth" is supposed to be - and no one having to do with colour.

snusmumriken said:

Lartigue?

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Exactly! From his book a life in color