The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression... In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif.
Henri Cartier-BressonA photograph is neither taken or seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.
Henri Cartier-BressonTime runs and flows and only our death succeeds in catching up with it. Photography is a blade which, in eternity, impales the dazzling moment.
Henri Cartier-BressonFor me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.
Henri Cartier-BressonAnd no photographs taken with the aid of flashlight either, if only out of respect of the actual lightโeven when there isn't any of it.
Henri Cartier-BressonI'm always amused by the idea that certain people have about technique, which translate into an immoderate taste for the sharpness of the image. It is a passion for detail, for perfection, or do they hope to get closer to reality with this trompe I'oeil? They are, by the way, as far away from the real issues as other generations of photographers were when they obscured their subject in soft-focus effects.
Henri Cartier-Bresson