I visited MOMA on Friday for the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition. There were hundreds of his photographs taken over his entire career, beginning in the 1930’s. He had an uncanny ability to capture the essence of a situation with detail and rich texture in black and white. “The decisive moment” was his term for that window of time that a photographer needs to be open to in order to fully capture a scene.
Although he photographed many celebrities, politicians and artists, I am most amazed at his ability to find beauty in the most ordinary and banal of scenes. Here are a few examples. I want to go back to the exhibit because I could imagine staring at his photos for hours on end… they are that beautiful.