Henri Cartier-Bresson on photographic technique

I have recently finished reading Henri Cartier-Bresson’s The Mind’s Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers (New York: aperture, 1996). It is full of thought-provoking ideas and quotable quotes, so here are some of his views on photographic technique (taken from his 1952 work The Decisive Moment):

Technique is important only insofar as you must master it in order to communicate what you see.

[O]nly the results count, and the conclusive evidence is the finished photographic print

It is enough if a photographer feels at ease with his camera, and if it is appropriate to the job he wants it to do. The actual handling of the camera, its stops, its exposure-speeds and all the rest of it are things which should be as automatic as the changing of gears in an automobile.

In other words, photographic technique is embodied knowledge. It is not something that can be learned from a book. It can only be learned by taking a camera out and practising.

I am constantly amused by the notion that some people have about photographic technique – a notion which reveals itself in an insatiable craving for sharpness of images. Is this the passion of an obsession? Or do these people hope, by this trompe l’oeil technique, to get to closer grips with reality? In either case, they are just as far away from the real problem as those of that other generation which used to endow all its photographic anecdotes with an intentional unsharpness such as was deemed to be ‘artistic.’

For Cartier-Bresson, the point of photography was to communicate what you see not to create a pin sharp 2D rendering of it. But try telling that to some of the judges at camera club competitions or to the photographic know-it-alls who will tell you that Ansel Adams, for example, was let down on this front by inadequate equipment.

Fr Alexander Men (1935–1990)

Thirty years ago today Fr Alexander Men was assassinated while on his way to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. This murder has never been solved. 

A controversial figure in Russian Orthodoxy because of some of his views (he accepted the reality of biological evolution and favoured ecumenical dialogue with non-Orthodox churches), Men nevertheless became an influential presence in Soviet religious life during one of the most challenging periods for Christianity in Russia.

In spite of the restrictions on religious activity, he pioneered new methods of reaching believers and seekers alike in order to make Orthodox learning accessible to lay people and intellectuals who had been cut off from their religious heritage. His parish at Novaya Derevnya became a model of active Orthodox community life, attracting young people, university students, and professionals who travelled significant distances to participate in worship and hear his preaching.

In 2021, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), one of the foremost theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church, suggested that in spite of his controversial view he might be a candidate for canonization:

Father Alexander Men was an outstanding preacher, catechist, and missionary of his time. His life took place in difficult conditions, when the Church was deprived of the opportunity to preach outside churches. He also preached in his church, where he served as a priest until the end of his days. He preached through books, and in his later years, as new opportunities opened up, he preached in secular audiences. His death was tragic. I think that if it is proven that it was a martyr's death, he can be canonized as a martyr.

Grant, O Lord, eternal rest unto Thy departed servant Alexander and make his memory to be eternal!