Henri Cartier-Bresson: ‘There Are No Maybes’

In 1971, Sheila Turner-Seed interviewed Henri Cartier-Bresson in his Paris studio for a film-strip series on photographers that she produced, with Cornell Capa

Q. Have you ever really been able to define for yourself when it is that you press the shutter?

A. It’s a question of concentration. Concentrate, think, watch, look and, ah, like this, you are ready. But you never know the culminative point of something. So you’re shooting. You say, “Yes. Yes. Maybe. Yes.” But you shouldn’t overshoot. It’s like overeating, overdrinking. You have to eat, you have to drink. But over is too much. Because by the time you press, you arm the shutter once more, and maybe the picture was in between.

Very often, you don’t have to see a photographer’s work. Just by watching him in the street, you can see what kind of photographer he is. Discreet, tiptoes, fast or machine gun. Well, you don’t shoot partridges with a machine gun. You choose one partridge, then the other partridge. Maybe the others are gone by then. But I see people wrrrr, like this with a motor. It’s incredible, because they always shoot in the wrong moment.

Q. Can you bear to talk a bit about your equipment?

A. I am completely and have always been uninterested in the photographic process. I like the smallest camera possible, not those huge reflex cameras with all sorts of gadgets. When I am working, I have an M3 because it’s quicker when I’m concentrating.

Do you want to read more of this interview….of course you do go here

Related articles

• The Decisive Moment and the Brain (petapixel.com)

Buying a digital SLR

This excellent article on DP Review explains why a dslr, and what to consider, essential for anyone about to buy a dslr

So you’ve decided to invest in a new digital camera and have made your mind up that you want to step up to a digital SLR, but the huge range of models on offer and endless flow of technical jargon have left you more confused than when you started? Fear not, this page will take the pain out of choosing the perfect digital SLR for you, whether you’re a seasoned shooter or a total novice.

Before we get down to business it’s worth stopping for a moment to ask the question: why would anyone want a digital SLR when compact digital cameras are so much smaller, lighter and more affordable? The answer can be summed up in two words: versatility and image-quality.

The versatility isn’t just the fact you can change lenses and add a wide range of accessories – from basics such as flashguns and remote controls to the more specialized equipment that allow SLRs to capture anything from the tiniest bug to the most distant stars. It’s also about the creative versatility offered by the more advanced controls and higher quality components.

And this leads on to the second factor; image quality. In broad daylight the quality difference between a good compact and a digital SLR is minimal; both will produce sharp, colorful results with little effort. But when you start to push the boundaries a bit more; shooting in low light, attempting to capture fast moving sports action or wildlife, or when you want to experiment with shallow depth of field (to add a soft background to a portrait for example), the advantage of a digital SLR’s larger sensor and higher sensitivity start to make a big difference. A digital SLR can’t beat a compact camera for ‘pop it in the purse or pocket’ convenience but for serious photography the SLR wins hands down. With prices lower than ever it’s not that surprising to discover that many people own one of each.

What is an SLR?

The basic physical design of the SLR has remained essentially unchanged for over half a century. The name itself, ‘Single Lens Reflex’, refers to the hinged mirror that bounces the light passing through the lens up to the viewfinder for framing then flips out of the way when you press the shutter to allow the light to hit the sensor (or film).

As the (simplified) diagram above shows, the mirror inside an SLR reflects the image formed by the lens up to the optical viewfinder (via a focusing screen and prism). When the picture is taken the mirror flips out of the way to allow the light to fall directly onto the sensor (or film), which sits behind a mechanical shutter. The mirror is also flipped up for live view operation (where the sensor is used to provide a live video feed directly to the screen on the back). 

 Read the full article here

How to Keep Your Camera Running Perfectly in the Dead of a Cold Winter

I am sure today is the coldest day of the year here in Oxford, or maybe it is the coldest day of the week, whatever it is just too cold. Cold in Oxford is not like cold in other places where it can be really cold, our cold is just….well cold. Enough, shooting in the winter has it’s pleasures but for me mostly outweighed by it’s pain so getting yourself sorted and ready to go an shoot when it is cold is really important. Batteries have a much shorter life in the cold.

Jason Row at Lightstalking has an article on this here

For those of us that inhabit Northern climes, the winter is fast approaching. I am sure many may put their cameras into hibernation for the dark days, preferring the comfort of the digital darkroom to the harsh realities of the freezing conditions, for some, outside.

However, by putting your feet up and ploughing through the summers post production, you could be missing some of the most spectacular shots of the year. Time to wrap up warm, wake the camera from it’s well earned slumber and get cold, for today we are going to take a look at some tips for winter shooting. Click Here: How to Keep Your Camera Running Perfectly in the Dead of a Cold Winter

Steve McCurry – A World of Prayer

Steve McCurry is one of the greatest living photographers he has many books here are a few

Nietzsche said about religion…
There is not enough love and goodness in the world to permit giving any of it away to imaginary beings.

How to Recover Deleted and Corrupted Photos from Your Memory Card

From those very nice people at Lightstalking comes this tutorial on recovering lost images. Having had this happen to me 4 times I know this is a very stressful experience so any help with recovery is worth reading about

One of the very worst things a photographer can suffer is the loss of images from a memory card. It is a feeling that kicks you in the stomach, even if they just some quick family shots, for professionals it can literally be a disaster.

There can be a number of reasons that images are lost from memory cards, faulty cameras are amongst the rarest of these. The most common causes are faulty memory cards and operator error.

Faulty memory cards are most often associated with buying cheap unbranded cards or either knowingly or unwittingly buying fake cards. Operator errors tend to stem from accidentally formatting the card, deleting all instead of one image and removing the card whilst the images are still being written.  READ MORE HERE

Click Here: How to Recover Deleted and Corrupted Photos from Your Memory Card

The Ultimate Guide for Buying Your First Digital SLR

“Let’s assume that you’ve been shooting with your “point and shoot” for a while now, and you’ve taken some pretty nice snapshots. But maybe you are starting to feel a little limited by what the camera is capable of doing. You’ve read up on photography, and there are things you want to work on. You feel it is time to step up!

This guide will help you to understand some of the basic features of Digital SLR cameras (DSLRs), and hopefully help you find one that fits both your needs and budget.”“…..more

TtV photography: how to create vintage-style photographs

This is a really cool idea and a way of using your old camera with your new

Angie Muldowney demonstrates how to create unique, vintage-looking photographs with all the convenience of a digital camera in The Guardian, full article here

“I love taking pictures using the Through the Viewfinder technique. If you’re unfamiliar with TtV photography, it means using a digital camera to take photos through the viewfinder of a vintage twin-lens camera. Yes, there are lots of apps on smartphones these days that can instantly apply filters to achieve similar results, but by using this hand-crafted contraption you can create images that are totally unique. No one else’s dusty old viewfinder will be exactly like yours. What’s more, it means a lovely old camera gets a second lease of life!”

You should have a look at Angie’s site here

Photobooks – affordable collectibles that are soaring in value

Rare editions now sell for tens of thousands, but collectors on a limited budget can invest in emerging photographers byAdam Dewar at The Guardian

This is a very interesting article about owning and collecting photobooks. I do think books should be looked at rather than kept in plastic sleeves and never handled simply because they will increase to greater values if un-blemished but it is nice to know that treasured books will have some value in the future even if I never realise the profit.

“At first glance they may look like overpriced coffee-table books, but photobooks are highly collectible works of art. In recent years, a boom in the market has seen prices skyrocket. At a dedicated auction at Christie’s in London last year, signed early editions of influential photobooks such as Robert Frank‘s The Americans and Henri Cartier-Bresson‘s The Decisive Moment sold for £43,250 and £13,750 respectively.”.………..more

The Photo Assistant’s Story

This is a really great blog called Confessions of a Mad Photo Assistant by Madphotoassistant. The story told is all about lighting and Annie Leibovitz, here is the start of the article

“I went a little crazy this week and went on a personal mission to research the lighting setups and creation of popular images of today. It is something I love to do in general, so I completely lost myself in the project. Not only did I unearth some of the most breathtaking lighting setups of undeniably amazing photographs, but I was also pleased to find that some of my favorite images were very simply shot. Since this blog has been born, I couldn’t wait to share some of the results. In this blog entry I’ll take you through and compare various lighting techniques of Annie Leibovitz, Patrick Ecclesine, Jill Greenberg, Dave Hill and Martin Schoeller. Strap on your seatbelts boys and girls, it’s gonna be a long but thrilling ride. So without further ado, let’s dive right in shall we?

And who better to kick off our journey than the legendary Annie Leibovitz…”  want more…..you know you do

Fuji X100

Yesterday I taught someone on a 121 course. The camera being used by this student was the new Fuji X100. This is a surprising camera, retro in styling, and very nice too, but so up to date in technology. By far the most interesting thing about this camera is the new viewfinder system it uses. A hybrid optical viewfinder, large and bright, and an in viewfinder heads up display of the exposure details and a whole host more. I think this is a major breakthrough in the serious compact/rangefinder type camera and I hope a technology that will be incorporated in many cameras in the future. A full and excellent review is available on the dpreview site which is a must for anyone looking to buy a camera, lens or printer here is a link to the review

The X100 is a very handsome camera that evokes, if not copies exactly the early Leica range finder cameras. If you want something that looks and feels like a real camera from the past with the caché of looking like a Leica and have nearly £1000 to spend this is for you.

pictures courtesy of DP Review

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