HCB's Film

macfred · Jan 7, 2019

AgX said:
"For this reason he almost always used Kodak Tri-X (400ASA) film. Almost every half hour I passed him a cassette of fresh film and made notes for the exposed cassette which he had just handed to me."

+1! Ishu Patel’s report about his work for H.C.B. is absolutely worth reading!

CropDusterMan · Jan 7, 2019

I understand he was ultra-guarded about anyone seeing his contacts

Alan Johnson · Jan 7, 2019

I have the 2006 paperback " Henri Cartier-Bresson the man the image & the world - a retrospective" pp 431. At the back is a postscript by HCB thanking those involved in its production.
It notes:" Contrary to the impression that Cartier Bresson wandered the streets of the world discovering his photographs through a serendipitious conjunction of intuition and luck, the evidence at Magnum Photos shows that he researched, planned and positioned himself to take advantage of major eventa, and then worked extremely hard to photograph them with great thoroughness"
I daresay he would have been careful in his choice of film therefore.
It is not mentioned in the book as far as I can see,

Lachlan Young · Jan 7, 2019

Alan Johnson said:
It notes:" Contrary to the impression that Cartier Bresson wandered the streets of the world discovering his photographs through a serendipitious conjunction of intuition and luck, the evidence at Magnum Photos shows that he researched, planned and positioned himself to take advantage of major eventa, and then worked extremely hard to photograph them with great thoroughness"

CropDusterMan said:
I understand he was ultra-guarded about anyone seeing his contacts

From what I recall, a number of his contact sheets show him steadily working out a number of his iconic images across several frames - finding a background/ setting, then waiting for people/ events to arrive at compositional points in the frame. Not unlike a film director doing multiple takes to get the one perfect shot.

foc · Jan 8, 2019

miha said:
Tri-X: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/09/09/my-time-with-henri-cartier-bresson-by-ishu-patel/

A great read and thanks for sharing.
One thing that stood out to me was how nice HCB was. He took time to introduce his assistant to some of his important subjects, treating him with respect (not master / servant).

John Koehrer · Jan 8, 2019

macfred said:
Probably long johns in fine-rip quality ... Those were the days.

Don't forget the trap door on the back.

So just to be within the subject of the OP.
FWIW Tri-X was introduced in 1954

baachitraka · Jan 9, 2019

miha said:
Tri-X: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/09/09/my-time-with-henri-cartier-bresson-by-ishu-patel/

I am from India too but what a lucky guys he is to learn from HCB.

HCB's Film

macfred

CropDusterMan

Alan Johnson

Lachlan Young

foc

John Koehrer

baachitraka

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