A Salute to the Masters: Ducks (A Tribute to Henri Cartier-Bresson)

This article is dedicated to arguably one of the most famous street photographers in the world, Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004). On this occasion, I felt obliged to write a tribute to this great artist whom I consider the “Mozart of Photography.” His photos are inimitable, and to try to reproduce his innate sense of composition, harmony, and choice of the right moment is but an illusion. So I chose an unusual way to pay tribute, the only way possible for me. Take a look!

This article is dedicated to the most famous street photographer in the world, the great artist *Henri Cartier-Bresson*. I consider him the “Mozart of Photography,” quoting the same words of the great Italian photographer Ferdinando Scianna. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Cartier-Bresson’s death, and so I wanted to write a tribute to him to mark the occasion. I had thought about writing this article several months ago, but I’d always postponed writing it because I could not find the right images among my photos. In fact, the photos by Cartier-Bresson are inimitable because of his attention to the composition, the harmony of the scene, and the choice of shooting at the precise moment. Everything seems to be harmonious and in the right place – a precise pictorial composition.

After several weeks of hesitation, I found an interesting note about Cartier-Bresson’s life: he liked to test new lenses by taking photographs of ducks in urban parks. (See J.M Dirac, ed. (1962). Cartier-Bresson Interviews and Notes. Paris. p. 122). Because he never published these images as he considered this practice as his only superstition, I finally had the idea on what to write for this article. It solved my problem on choosing which pictures to use for my tribute!

A few days ago, I used a rangefinder camera, my trusty Zorki 6, to take a series of photos of ducks in the lake (except for the first image, which was taken with an SLR camera) .

All these photos were taken in Como, in northern Italy, at the lakeside promenade.

With patience and perseverance, I waited for an opportunity to find a good number of ducks gathered together. After a few days of failed attempts, I found this large group of ducks (and pigeons) that have emerged from the lake to pick up pieces of bread thrown by some tourists. After they have eaten all the bread, they returned to swimming in the dark waters of the lake.

The first photo of this series is the only one taken at the “decisive moment”: while I was walking along the lake promenade, I immediately noticed a group of ducks crossing the street, uncaring of pedestrians. Always give precedence to the little creatures!

A Salute to the Masters is a series dedicated to great photographers that I like. I posted other tributes for Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Helen Levitt, Ernst Haas, Stephen Shore, Gabriele Basilico, Robert Adams, Thomas Struth, J.H. Lartigue, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Frank, Gianni Berengo Gardin, André Kertész, Willy Ronis, Brassaï, Rodchenko, Dan Graham, Henry Grant, William Eggleston, Dennis Stock, Juergen Teller, Martin Parr, Peter Mitchell, Mario Giacomelli, David Burnett, Michael Williamson, Bernard Cahier, Harry Gruyaert, Bruno Barbey, Paul Strand, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Lothar Rübelt and Izis Bidermanas. I especially love street photography and urban architectural photography.

written by sirio174 on 2014-11-01 #lifestyle #lake #duck #ducks #italy #como #henri-cartier-bresson #regular-contributor #a-salute-to-the-masters