Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French humanist-photographer. He was an avant-garde in street photography and capturing a decisive movement. Bresson started professional photography in 1932. He was also a founder of Magnus photos in 1947.

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)

The title of the photo is ‘Behind gare Saint Lazare’. I found this photo on 100 photos times website. I chose this photo for a few reasons because I enjoy the composition of the photo, how the water creates an effect of symmetry, the method behind taking the photo.

With the photo or video, you are examining when was it produced (date)?

Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, France in 1932

How was the photo or video authored?

This photo was taken by a 35mm Leica camera with no flash. The Leica camera was the idea for the time as it was lightweight, good size handheld and had a medium shutter speed.

The photo uses the method he was famous for capturing decisive movement. The photo was taken through a fence of a train station where he saw the components of the photo come together for a brief moment and clicked his camera.

How was the photo or video published?

The photo was never published in the newspaper he works for at the time. This photo was published through print media. From my research, the photo was first published in Bresson’s book The Decisive Moment in 1952. This photo took around 20 years to be published as analogue photos before printing need to be developed, took time and had to be perfect. The publishers of the book were a New York company called Simon and Schuster.

How was the photo or video distributed?

Behind gare, Saint Lazare was first distributed through Bresson’s book The Decisive Moment. The original 1st edition of his book only had 10,000 copies. Since then multiple copies have been made even the 60-year anniversary edition of the book has been released. This photo has also been distributed through multiple art galleries such as MOMA. The negative is also on display at the museum of fine arts in Houston. The photo was also featured on Time 100 Photos prints. This photo has been distributed on the web in the digital age and can be found on multiple websites.

References: 

Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1932,Behind gare Saint Lazare, photograph, accessed April 2019, <http://100photos.time.com/photos/henri-cartier-bresson-behind-gare-saint-lazare>