Absolutely wonderful! I'd seen this about 4 months ago for the first time when it was shown among a gathering of photographers here in Phoenix. Its always wonderful to be able to gain the kind of insight the film offers into the mind of the photographer.
Among some of the people watching the film when I saw it were some old timers who had direct accounts of what it was like in the darkrooms where Cartier-Bresson's negatives were developed and printed. Cartier-Bresson basically never changed his shutter speed and aperture combination and photographed under all sorts of drastically different lighting conditions with one primary setting. He reportedly had little knowledge or concern for the relationship between film exposure and development and for good reason. He didn't develop or print his images. It is said that once his rolls were received they went into the dark room to be developed and if you were walking anywhere near the darkroom as the rolls were being developed all you could hear was the darkroom technicians cursing the name Cartier-Bresson! He did not make it easy on them and its is said that many of his images simply could not be salvaged through salvage techniques or expert printing. It's just funny to hear accounts which describe the less then spectacular results of his "decisive moment".
Thanks for posting this, its a wonderful documentary for people to see!
thanks for that Phil - loved it.
on the subject of street photography, any of you seen this film from 1981? Joel Meyerowitz at work in Manhattan:
http://www.in-public.com/news/2011/3/1981
enjoy,
Thil
This looks really interesting! Haven't seen it before. Watching it now. Thanks!
