HCB Appreciation

[snusmumriken]

Taking it at face value, I’ve always found this photo equal parts fascinating and repellent. It’s a strong photo because of the diagonal composition, the human chain caught mid-action, and the three sets of eyes directed at the camera, and for some viewers that may be enough. But surely most of us want to know who these people are (even what sex they are), and what is going on. I think HCB said that his lodgings were across the road from this brothel. It puzzles me that any customers were attracted there, but what would I know?

I suspect HCB liked it especially because it broke taboos. There seems to have been a strong element of naughty boy in his character. Also, it foreshadows Diane Arbus, doesn’t it?

 

[nikos79]

Also, it foreshadows Diane Arbus, doesn’t it?

Perhaps yes.
Although I don’t think this HCB photo subjects are so intentionally weird as Arbus ones.

If i hadn’t read the caption would never have guessed they were prostitutes I would very easily imagined they posed for a painting

 

[nikos79]

I came across this photo by Voula Papaioannou, it reminds me of a HCB photo (similar posture of a boy leaning on a stick) but cannot recall which one and I keep thinking of it, any help?

 

[snusmumriken]

I came across this photo by Voula Papaioannou, it reminds me of a HCB photo (similar posture of a boy leaning on a stick) but cannot recall which one and I keep thinking of it, any help?

Livestock market, Pamplona, Spain, 1952

 

[nikos79]

View attachment 415587
Livestock market, Pamplona, Spain, 1952

Exactly thank you! I was breaking my mind trying to remember it!

 

[koraks]

Frankly, those photos look nothing like each other except that there's a boy and a stick in both and they're both B&W.

 

[snusmumriken]

Frankly, those photos look nothing like each other except that there's a boy and a stick in both and they're both B&W.

To be honest, @koraks, I think you are creating a problem where there is none. Some connection between the two photos was apparent to @nikos79 and understood by myself - and yes, it does ‘just’ involve a young herdsman leaning on a stick. How many other cases are known where a photographer bothered to capture this subject? Both photos are worth admiring; and in an HCB thread, his one especially.

 

[koraks]

What problem?

 

[Don_ih]

Similar subjects but interesting for different reasons. The Cartier-Bresson one probably gives you more to think about than the other.

 

[nikos79]

Frankly, those photos look nothing like each other except that there's a boy and a stick in both and they're both B&W.

Yeah you are right, but it is strange how sometimes the mind makes associations..
Luckily @snusmumriken tuned to mine
I remember also in the book "The Europeans" the curator has mentioned that this photo also draws inspiration from a famous painting

 

[nikos79]

It could be like a puzzle like find the HCB photo that this photo brings to mind!
The connection doesn't have to be exactly the theme sometimes it can be very subtle even the atmosphere

 

[nikos79]

For example this Willy Ronis picture immediately brings to my mind a HCB image, although they are very different

 

[MattKing]

Well, together they make one think that a party will be happening soon

 

[nikos79]

Well, together they make one think that a party will be happening soon

View attachment 415605 View attachment 415607

 

[nikos79]

We then need a photo of some cheese to pair with the wine!

 

[nikos79]

This Andre Kertesz photo is more difficult but somehow I always confuse it with an HCB photo

 

[cliveh]

This picture of Giacometti is so simple and taken in the pouring rain, but look at the tonal geometry and timing.

 

[nikos79]

View attachment 415611

This picture of Giacometti is so simple and taken in the pouring rain, but look at the tonal geometry and timing.

The front tree trunk, which is also out of focus, is a very bold choice and kind of unconventional, I guess it is a deliberate one. Would care to hear how you think it works

 

[koraks]

In your other examples I find the parallel to be much more plausible. The one with the boy leaning on the stick in 1153 - to me, that looked nothing like HCB, so I was wondering where you were headed with the parallel. Personally, I don't see much of a parallel there. Just a coincidental overlap in subject matter.

 

[nikos79]

In your other examples I find the parallel to be much more plausible. The one with the boy leaning on the stick in 1153 - to me, that looked nothing like HCB, so I was wondering where you were headed with the parallel. Personally, I don't see much of a parallel there. Just a coincidental overlap in subject matter.

The parallel in that case was indeed weak and not much related to photographic terms.

Just in the subject “boy leaning on a stick”

Apart from that I also don’t see them having anything else in common.

But maybe …
It has more in common with this image e.g. static central placement of a totally lone figure in a vast and symmetric background

 

[nikos79]

The front tree trunk, which is also out of focus, is a very bold choice and kind of unconventional, I guess it is a deliberate one. Would care to hear how you think it works

It could be some reference to Giacometti’s sculptures the “thin”verticality?

 

[koraks]

Well, there's the photo of the double rows of trees lining the country road that recedes into the background that was posted many pages back; that was also a central composition. It has some commonality in my view with the one you just posted above. But both are quite dissimilar to the one of the boy by the Greek photog, which doesn't have that looming quality.

 

[cliveh]

The parallel in that case was indeed weak and not much related to photographic terms.

Just in the subject “boy leaning on a stick”

Apart from that I also don’t see them having anything else in common.

But maybe …
It has more in common with this image e.g. static central placement of a totally lone figure in a vast and symmetric background

View attachment 415614

Actually, this image is a good example of how Henri frames his shots so precisely. If he had centered the figure within the line of trees, the brim of the hat would be partially obscured against the darkness of the trees. By framing slightly to the left we can see from the contrast of light and dark information about the shape of the hat, even though it is only defined well for half the hat. Our brain can then tells us this is a bowler hat.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Well, together they make one think that a party will be happening soon

View attachment 415605 View attachment 415607

You haven't been to France much if you think you need a party to have red wine and a baguette over there.

 

[nikos79]

This Andre Kertesz photo is more difficult but somehow I always confuse it with an HCB photo

No guess yet?