Happy Birthday, Henri
August twenty-second was the anniversary of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s birth in nineteen-oh-eight. It was a hot day in Los Angeles lo these hundred and one days later, but I figured I better do something to celebrate the man.
I decided to head downtown and bring a camera with me. I figured I’d go back to my roots, such as they are, and take the Canonet, even though Henri was a Leica man. With my rangefinder I vowed to avoid photos of three things: Cars, doors, buildings — basically the things I always shoot. The point was people. I made it my mission to run through two rolls of film taking only shots of people. I am not good with people. So, this was a challenge.
I soon realized that I wasn’t looking to imitate Cartier-Bresson or shoot in his style. This was not about “street photography.” I just wanted to find a moment, a face, a gesture, something. There was for me no searching for a decisive moment. I was looking for a face of my own.
I wasn’t choosy. Anytime a moment even suggested itself, I focused as best I could and fired. As a result, I had two rolls of mostly blurred shapes and incomplete subjects. It was a study in raw amateurism from a man who is far from mastering his technique. I walked for miles, sunburned and sweaty in the later summer afternoon. I shot my two rolls. I saw many things I wish I could have captured.
And, still:
Here’s my Los Angeles face: He was waiting on a very crowded street corner. I ducked behind someone walking the opposite way and tried to take his photo, miraculously apart from everything and everyone around me. He saw me anyway, and raised his hand to ward off my criminal camera. This gesture, this reflexive negation is Los Angeles to me, everyone is so self-aware, everyone is eager to put up barriers. Or, this is how I have been imagining it. Still, you can see his terrified eye behind his hand. Pierced and fearful.
Sir, it is just a camera.
Does this mean my walk was a success?
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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 4:47 am
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Great story Mick. I like what you set out to achieve and I really like this image. The composition is great (especially that thing in the wall, is it a hydrant?). I prefer not knowing that he was putting up his hand to ‘block’ you as I think his expression is one of exasperation or pain. You succeeded in two ways, one was getting this shot, and the other was challenging yourself to do this in the first place.