“At the moment of shooting (composition) can stem only from our intuition, for we are out to capture the fugitive moment, and all the interrelationships involved are on the move……. It very rarely happens that a photograph which was feebly composed can be saved by reconstruction of its composition under the darkroom’s enlarger. The integrity of the vision is no longer there”
~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
(1908 - 2004)
This most elegant of Henri’s images was the first image of his that registered in my consciousness at an early age and was mainly responsible for my life long passion for his work and which also led me unwittingly at the time to my career in photography. It packed (and still does after all these years) an emotional punch to the heart. It is both the gesture and the look combined that gives it such force.
