Think about the photo before and after, never during. The secret is to take your time. You mustn't go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick.
Henri Cartier-BressonYour eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.
Henri Cartier-BressonPoetry is the essence of everything, and itโs through deep contact with reality and living fully that you reach poetry. Very often I see photographers cultivating the strangeness or awkwardness of a scene, thinking it is poetry. No. Poetry is two elements which are suddenly conflict โ a spark between two elements. But itโs given very seldom, and you canโt look for it. Itโs like if you look for inspiration. No, it just comes by enriching yourself and living.
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