A blog post of two parts. First we will look at this photo called “Mega Beard” and secondly we will look at what is street photography is it Henri Cartier Bresson or is it Robert Frank? Two massive names that are similar as in genre but their approach is completely different. What is the difference, who is right, does it matter?
Part 1 Mega Beard
Unposed as in a Candid Photo, he was completely unaware and enjoying his cig, just a walk by photo shot from the hip. A “street Portrait” but not the “can I take your photo” style. The Mega Beard drew me in initially but on it’s own for me, it’s not enough. It was the lighting and the cig that added the finishing touches and the concrete background and air vent gives it that urban twist, there is no mistaking this man is in a city environment.
Who would take such a photo? Robert Frank or Henri Cartier Bresson? I’m leaning more towards Robert Frank but equally it has a sort of Cartier Bresson tinge about it, which brings us nicely onto Part 2.
Part 2 What is Street Photography? Is it Henri Cartier Bresson or Robert Frank?
First off lets see what each has to say on how is a picture taken? Crucial stuff!
“a joint operation of the brain, the eye and the heart” Henri Cartier Bresson
“it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye” Robert Frank
So who is right?
Are we losing sight of what street photography is?
There are murmurings in the street photography community by some leading lights that we are losing sight of what street photography is all about and it’s roots
These murmurings state that street is moving more towards the aesthetic and less towards documenting the current times that we live in. It’s gone all shadows, silhouettes, blue hats against yellow wall, just arms sticking out of doors, composites, set up situations that never really happened and loads of those damned umbrellas!
They say it seems to be heading to the fine art, abstract, modern and geometric end of the spectrum, “pretty pictures” that would look good in an art gallery or hanging on a living room wall. This they say is not “pure” street photography.
My view and the Ten Street Photography Sub genres
My view is Street Photography has split into sub genres including Unobtrusive as in Robert Doisneau; Intrusive as in Bruce Gilden; Raw Style as in Weegee; Street Portraits as in Robert Frank; Fine Art as in Andre Kertesz, Fashion as in Joshua Woods, Geometric as in Henri Cartier Bresson, Smart as in Humour/Satire as in Garry Winogrand; Abstract as in Saul Leiter; Modernism as in Matthew Wylie.
These ten categories have been obtained from this excellent blog post at Expert Photography Blog talking about the 10 Different Types of Street Photography
It is inevitable that with the increasing number of street photographers the original form of street photography would split into sub genres, each as valid as the other, it’s called specialising, moving with the times and progression.
Henri Cartier Bresson V Robert Frank?
I would say there are two main modern Street Photography camps, those who say Robert Frank is the true master of Street Photography with his ground breaking book “The Americans” others will counter with Henri Cartier Bresson and his book “The Decisive Moment” is where Street Photography is at and he is the Grand Father of the genre. He came before Robert Frank!
My take and yours may differ is Robert Frank is 60% documentary and 40% art whereas Henri Cartier Bresson is 60% art and 40% documentary.BUT they do cross over at times.
Robert Frank is more on a macro level, more down to earth and earthy, more controversial, gritty, he is an observer at street level and he likes to get right into and be part of the action and lift out what he sees.
Henri Cartier Bresson works more on a cerebral level, precision is key, he has a loftier, more distant and global view on the street, his photos have a more dreamlike and magical quality about them, leaning more towards the arty. Backgrounds were important in his work, they were intentional not accidental. He employs advanced compositional techniques that most can’t even comprehend or see in his photos, all in a split second. There is one photo in the video below that hints at this.
I would say Robert Frank is one strongly defined and very focused photographer. Henri Cartier Bresson is more a dozen photographers rolled into one. Who is better is merely subjective but whichever one you admire and are influenced by will influence your view on what street photography is and how you fit into that genre.
The New York View?
Most of the New York Street Photographers as revealed in “on street” interviews by the excellent Paulie B You Tube Channel lean towards the Robert Frank end of the spectrum. To them subject and the moment are more important than backgrounds, lighting and composition. If you can get all 5 great but subject and moment is king to these people. They mostly seem to shoot Leica M6 film cameras with a 28mm Elmarit and Portra 800 Colour Film and shoot from 2-3 feet away approach.
The Tokyo View?
At the other end of the spectrum from what I can see from Void Tokyo the Tokyo Street Photographer Collective founded by Tatsuo Suzuki, they seem to shoot more Black and White and Digital and leaning more to the artistic side as in Henri Cartier Bresson or more locally Daido Moriyama.
Me personally I am firmly in the Cartier Bresson camp, where the mind, heart and soul all say hit that shutter button. Robert Frank was all about taking photos with the Heart as in by feeling. That’s the big difference I think between the two masters.
Two different approaches, two different ways of seeing things, same camera, same genre….each is valid.
Conclusion
On this blog I would say I lean towards Abstract, Geometric, Unobtrusive and the Fine Art end of the Street Photography spectrum. However as witnessed by the Mega Beard photo above I do shoot in a more documentary style but 99% of these will feature in hard copy form either a book or a zine, we are talking years in the future. They will make more sense in those formats seen together rather than individually on something like say Instagram or even here on WordPress.
So you could say I’m in both camps both Cartier Bresson and Robert Frank, but if pushed to choose just one……. it’s Henri Cartier Bresson every time, his work resonates with me, whereas with Robert Frank, as superb as his work is….it just doesn’t resonate with me on any level. It’s just one of those things, but I do not deny the power of his photos and his place in photographic history.
On a final note though if I had a chance to go down the pub with either one of these two for a couple of hours….it would be Robert frank every
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