When talking about decisive moments in photography, I instantly think of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. The former is the one who created this term and published a book after it, while the later is Cartier-Bresson's predecessor, but also a reformer, when taking photos of those right moments.
Both Cartier-Bresson and Frank have a good, especially Cartier-Bresson, who has been trained in a classical art tradition and his work shows compositional techniques quite conventional to the cannon of 19th century painting. His pictures of decisive moments have a very classic and artistic touch, yet Frank's photos look more visceral in nature.
If Cartier-Bresson has a more of an artist's eye, then Frank tends to have a outsider's eye. At least that's what I feel after seeing pictures from his "Americans." Unlike Cartier-Bresson, Frank does not give too much attention to composition. He likes to hang out with artists and writers such as Jack Kerouac, who inspired him, Frank always remains as an outsider when he is taking pictures—the aloofness makes him able to capture the right moments. For example, I read from a New York Times article that mentioned when Frank was on the road shooting for "Americans," he was once arrested by the police. When he was in custody, Frank saw a young black women in the same room, and the expression on her face was, according to him, very impressive. Frank said he had the urge of taking a picture of her, but the police took his camera after he was arrested.
If there's anything that I share in common with Robert Frank, that probably would be the outsider's eye. Being a foreigner could be an advantage, when trying to capture some moments, you see the views people who lived here long tend to ignore, and you're always curious, but not too involved as to lose judgement.
Both Cartier-Bresson and Frank have a good, especially Cartier-Bresson, who has been trained in a classical art tradition and his work shows compositional techniques quite conventional to the cannon of 19th century painting. His pictures of decisive moments have a very classic and artistic touch, yet Frank's photos look more visceral in nature.
If Cartier-Bresson has a more of an artist's eye, then Frank tends to have a outsider's eye. At least that's what I feel after seeing pictures from his "Americans." Unlike Cartier-Bresson, Frank does not give too much attention to composition. He likes to hang out with artists and writers such as Jack Kerouac, who inspired him, Frank always remains as an outsider when he is taking pictures—the aloofness makes him able to capture the right moments. For example, I read from a New York Times article that mentioned when Frank was on the road shooting for "Americans," he was once arrested by the police. When he was in custody, Frank saw a young black women in the same room, and the expression on her face was, according to him, very impressive. Frank said he had the urge of taking a picture of her, but the police took his camera after he was arrested.
If there's anything that I share in common with Robert Frank, that probably would be the outsider's eye. Being a foreigner could be an advantage, when trying to capture some moments, you see the views people who lived here long tend to ignore, and you're always curious, but not too involved as to lose judgement.
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