Ihei Kimura

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photographer

French·b. 1908 – d. 2004·Website ↗

Known for:

street and documentary photography; co-founder of Magnum Photos

Education:

Studied painting under André Lhote, Paris; Cambridge University (briefly); self-taught in photography

Henri Cartier-Bresson spent more than five decades photographing the world with a Leica rangefinder and a 50mm lens, accumulating work that spans the Spanish Civil War, the partition of India, and the streets of Paris. He was a founding member of Magnum Photos in 1947. His 1952 book The Decisive Moment described a philosophy of photography centered on the brief, unrepeatable instant at which form and content converge.

Henri Cartier-Bresson's Gear List(3)

Leica Summicron 50mm f/2

Leica

Connection Source

JogeierWebsite

Connection note

Signature lens on the M3; he owned one of only five black-paint versions made

Product description

The Summicron-M 50mm f/2 is Leica's long-running standard lens for M-mount rangefinders, first introduced in 1953 and refined through five major versions. The current design, in production since 1994, uses a six-element double-Gauss formula that delivers sharp, neutral rendering with minimal distortion. It takes 39mm filters and weighs 242g, making it one of the more compact options in Leica's M lens lineup.

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Kodak Tri-X 400

Kodak

Connection Source

The PhoblographerWebsite

Connection note

Preferred B&W film for its reliability and tonal range; famously refused to use flash

Product description

In production since 1954, Tri-X 400 is a black-and-white film whose grain structure, broad exposure latitude, and response to push processing made it the dominant film in photojournalism and street photography for decades.

Leica

Connection note

Used a Leica M rangefinder throughout his career; the M3 was his primary camera from the mid-1950s onward.

Product description

Introduced in 1954, the M3 was Leitz's first camera to use the M bayonet mount. Its combined viewfinder and rangefinder, with 0.91x magnification, set a standard for 35mm rangefinder design that every subsequent Leica M followed.