Henri Cartier-Bresson, the Father of Street Photography, Would Have Been 104 Today

For obsessives of hardcore street photography and photojournalists alike, there’s one man to thank for taking photography outside of the studio: Henri Cartier-Bresson, who would have turned 104 today. Cartier-Bresson was born in France in 1908 and passed away in 2004; in between, he basically invented photojournalism, and pioneered use of cameras on the street to shoot candid portraits of the “decisive moments” of everyday life.

His biography is fascinating; trained as a painter, he ditched France for Africa as a young man, winding up in French-controlled Ivory Coast. Once there, he hunted and sold game to locals to fund his exploits. But he eventually came down with blackwater fever, and had to return to France having only taken seven (seven!) pictures abroad.

Upon his return, he quit painting and dove headlong into photography, and it was at this point that he picked up his most famous tool: a Leica rangefinder with a regular old 50mm lens (that he painted black for stealth mode). Thanks to his style and choice of camera, Cartier-Bresson singlehandedly spawned thousands of photographers obsessed with Leica’s compact (read: sneaky) size and moody look. That, and his use of black and white film (for most of his career, there wasn’t really anything else) it partly why Leica’s now hocking an $8,000 body that only shoots in monochrome.

In other words, Cartier-Bresson is one of the major reasons Leica has turned into such a coveted brand that seems to be used by people with lots of money (Hermès edition M9, anyone?) as well as serious photographers. Ironically — and, I’ll admit, possibly apocryphally — Cartier-Bresson started out with his rig because it was all he could afford. Still, with legions of people wandering around New York with giant DSLRs and massive zoom lenses, it’s always good to remember that if he could start his legend with a 50mm prime, what do you need a 30x zoom for?

Sorry, rant over. Go read the Times’ obituary to get more insight into his fantastic life, which included time as a POW in Germany, and portraits of nearly every famous person in the mid-20th century. And then get pay him tribute by getting yourself off the damn computer, going outside and taking some photos.

Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead.