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DECISIVE MOMENTS – HENrI CarTIEr-BrESSON

at ateneum art museum 23.10.2015–31.1.2016

Brussels, Belgium, 1932. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / magnum PHotos

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CONTENTS:

PagE 2 WElCOME TO aTENEuM!

3 HENrI CarTIEr-BrESSON, PHOTOgraPHS. BaCkgrOuND INfOrMaTION.

5 POINTErS 1–20, IN THE ClaSSrOOM Or IN THE MuSEuM.

6 I STarTErS: PrEParE fOr THE VISIT IN THE ClaSSrOOM.

aSSIgNMENT 1: WHaT IS a PHOTOgraPH?

aSSIgNMENT 2: CarTIEr-BrESSON’S PHOTOgraPHS aND CurrENT MEDIa PHOTOgraPHS.

aSSIgNMENT 3: #raTkaISEVaHETkI (=DECISIVE MOMENT) PErSONal ExHIBITION.

THE DECISIVE MOMENT aND PrESS PHOTOgraPHEr SaMI kErO & aSSIgNMENT 4: THE jOurNalISTIC IMagE

10 II MaIN COurSE: THE MuSEuM VISIT

aSSIgNMENT 5: DO WE SEE THE SaME PICTurE?

aSSIgNMENT 6: fraMINg THE PICTurE.

aSSIgNMENT 7: CHIlDrEN IN THE PaST aND TODay.

12 III DESSErT: afTEr THE MuSEuM VISIT

aSSIgNMENT 8: a PICTurE Of a NaTural PErSON.

12 PraCTICal INSTruCTIONS

WElCOME TO aTENEuM!

This education package has been prepared for you who come with a group to the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition in the Ateneum Art Museum. The package consists of background information, 20 assignments with clues, and 8 other assignments. We have prepared the pack-age particularly with primary level 6th graders in mind, but it can also be adapted for other grade groups and even for adults.

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) was one of the world’s most famous photographers. He photographed people and events all over the globe for six decades. This extensive retro-spective exhibition is on the 2nd floor of the museum.

You will get most of your museum visit if you study the pictures of Cartier-Bresson and these assignments beforehand. Some of the as-signments can also be completed during the mu-seum visit or afterwards in class. Sixth-graders in comprehensive schools in Helsinki can visit the exhibition and attend an introduction to the exhibition free of charge. This is made possible by cooperation with Helsingin Sanomat and the City of Helsinki Education Department.

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PHOTOgraPHS, BaCkgrOuND INfOrMaTION

The programme of autumn 2015 at Ateneum Art Museum features a superstar from France. Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004), who has also been called the father of photojournalism, was one of the most important photographers of the last century and a founder of the Magnum Photos photo agency.

Henri Cartier-Bresson witnessed and cap-tured in photographs many of the turning points

of 20th century history, from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War to the liberation of con-centration camp prisoners in World War II. Cartier-Bresson was in China when Mao Tse-tung marched into Beijing (Peking). He photographed Mahatma Gandhi in India only a few hours before Gandhi was assassinated. His photographs have moulded the image of world history for several generations.

Photography was for Henri Cartier-Bresson a tool for telling stories about life, to capture on film important, surprising and decisive moments. The key to photography for him was perfect and exact timing. The photographer

had to be constantly on the alert. The camera was for Cartier-Bresson like a sketchbook in which he recorded fleeting moments fast and spontaneously. The development of communi-cations technology facilitated the dissemination and influence of news images.

Cartier-Bresson’s exhibition contains nearly 300 photographs spanning the artist’s entire long career. It is organised in cooperation with Magnum Photos and Fondation HCB.

HENrI CarTIEr-BrESSON

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PlaCe de l´euroPe, gare saint lazare, Paris, FranCe, 1932. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / magnum PHotos

“making a photograph means recognising, all at once and in a fraction of a second, an event and the exact organisation of the visually perceived forms that express and signify that event. it means aligning the head, the eye and the heart along the same line of sight. it’s a way of living.”Henri Cartier-Bresson

THE SECrET Of THE DECISIVE MOMENTHenri Cartier-Bresson only took black-and-white photographs. He used a 35mm Leica with a 50mm lens. The camera was quite small, which allowed the photographer to move easily among people. Cartier-Bresson did not want to disturb his subjects with a flash, nor did he crop his pictures afterwards. He had a solid feel for com-position and great sensitivity to situations. The concept of the “decisive moment” is associated specifically with Cartier-Bresson’s work. He often took dozens of photographs of a subject and with a keen eye selected the one to be published. Today, in the age of the digital image, snapshots are part of everyday life – we can remove failed shots from the camera instantly. In Cartier- Bresson’s day, each picture was exposed on film and could only be viewed after the film was developed.

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1. What thing in the picture caught your atten-tion first? Why do you think it is that way?

2. What is going on in the picture?3. What do you think might have happened

before the picture was taken? What might happen after the picture was taken?

4. If you had to give a title to the picture, what would it be? Find out the title that the photographer himself gave to the picture: what does it tell you?

5. Look at the persons in the picture: What can you tell about them by looking at their face, expression, gestures, pose or clothes? What do you think they could be thinking at the moment the picture was taken?

6. What is the status of the people from bygone ages in the picture? How can you tell?

7. Can you tell where and when the picture was taken? Give your reasons.

8. Recent history: How is the change in everyday places, fashion and lifestyle visible in the pictures?

9. What does it mean to pose for a picture?10. What is beautiful

(and the opposite: what is ugly)?11. What is everyday life?

How is it visible in the pictures?12. Can photography make the world a better

place? How?13. How is a photograph affected by being black-

and-white? Does a black-and-white photo-graph contain more tonalities than a colour photo (contrasts between light and dark,

light and shadow), or do you think it is dull and grey? Is it possible for a black-and-white picture to be joyful, funny and colourful?

14. Is there something in the picture that reminds you of your own life? Can you see something familiar in it?

15. Camera angles: How are the objects and the people positioned in the picture? Are they shown directly from the front, or from a low or a high angle?

16. How is the picture framed – how has the photographer positioned the subject inside the picture? What do you think there can be beyond the frames of the picture?

17. How has the photographer used lights and shadows – how do they affect the mood of the picture?

18. Was the picture taken for some particular purpose – propaganda, advertising, lobbying, something else?

19. Does the picture tell something about the photographer? Does it tell you something about the photographer’s attitude or opinions? Can you tell whether the picture shows:

a) how things really are, b) how the photographer saw the situation, or c) how the photographer would like things to be?

20. In the Ateneum: What does it feel like to be in a museum?

PICTurE MaTErIal, aDDITIONal INfOrMaTIONThere is a great deal of visual material on Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as information in English that can be used in the classroom. Two online sources in particular should be mentioned:

• The website of Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson: www.henricartierbresson.org

• The website of Magnum Photos, the photo agency Cartier-Bresson co-founded with colleagues in 1947: www.magnumphotos.com

For school groups, we also recommend the “Pimiö, darkroom” exhibition at the Finnish Museum of Photography, which is open until 31 January 2016. The experiential exhibition ap-peals to the senses and serves as an introduction to the world of the photographs under the guid-ance of professional and amateur photographers.

Pointers 1–20, in tHe Classroom or in tHe museum

Select one picture for study, either from this package, from online material, or from the ex-hibition. Use the picture to discuss some of the following questions:

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I STarTErS: PrEParE fOr THE VISIT IN THE ClaSSrOOM

assignment 1: WHaT IS a PHOTOgraPH? Place: School.

Aim: To discuss the questions of what a pho-tograph is, how it shows the world, what is true and what is interpretation. Why have people taken photos in the past? Why are they taking photos now?

Activity: Ask each student to bring to class one photograph that is important to them per-sonally. The picture can be one that they have taken themselves, a family photo, a passport photo, a picture cut out from a magazine, down-loaded from the Internet, or a postcard. Ask stu-dents to consider the following themes (this can be done individually or in pairs, and be discussed later in a group or as a text assignment). You can also bring to the classroom examples of different types of pictures beforehand.

Is a photograph always true? What is the connection between photograph and reality? Is a photograph a copy of life – always accurate and truthful? Can a photograph lie?

How do we classify photographs? Consider the purpose of different types of photographs (class photo, family photo, passport photo, ins-tagram, advertising photo, photoportrait). How can you tell which type of photograph you are looking at?

How can we tell a news photo from an adver-tising photo? What are the differences?

assignment 2: CarTIEr-BrESSON’S PHOTOgraPHS aND CONTEMPOrary MEDIa PHOTOgraPHS.Place: At school, in small groups. You will need lots of newspapers and possibly also netzines.

Aim: To learn about Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photographs and present-day news images, and to analyse them.

Activity: First study Cartier-Bresson’s pic-tures at the website www.henricartierbresson.org. Then study Finnish newspapers and their photographs in small groups. Select one or two articles or news stories that carry a photograph. What does the photograph tell us? How has it been used? What information are we told about it? How is the picture linked to the text? What is similar in the newspaper picture and the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson?

assignment 3: #raTkaISEVaHETkI (=DECISIVE MOMENT) – PErSONal ExHIBITIONPlace: At and around school. Cameras are need-ed and a way to print the pictures.

Aim: To encourage students to take snap-shots and observe their surroundings. To prepare

students for the museum visit and give them a hands-on feel for the thematics of snapshot photography.

Activity: Take snapshots at or around the school about some thing or situation that you find interesting and that involves one or more persons. Remember to make sure that you have permission from the people to photograph them. Print the photos and use them to create a small exhibition together. Find a place in school or nearby where you can put the pictures on display.

Discuss to find a suitable theme, title and hanging for the exhibition. Do you want the exhibition to have texts as well (consider what would be a suitable font size and how the text should be placed relative to the pictures), and do you want to have an opening ceremony (whom would you invite, what do you want to tell them about the pictures when they come to the open-ing or during the exhibition)? Also discuss, what is an art exhibition and what it takes to organise one.

Hint: You can share your snapshots via the Ateneum Instagram page #ratkaisevahetki (=decisive moment), where we are collecting “decisive moments” of Finnish photographers under the hashtag #ratkaisevahetki

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tHe deCisive moment and Press PHotograPHer sami Kero

a gOOD PrESS PHOTO HaS BOTH INfOrMaTION aND fEElINg

Photojournalist Sami Kero has worked as a photographer for the Helsingin Sanomat daily since 2005. Although most of his work takes place in Finland, he has also travelled on photo assignments to several crisis areas around the world. We asked him to describe an ordinary day in the life of a press photographer, and also what makes a photograph a good picture journalisti-cally. During the interview, Kero also gives a few pointers for taking candid photographs.

Can you describe your ordinary working day?

When I’m in Finland, I work three shifts in the paper, morning, day and night. Before going to work, I check the assignment list for shooting gigs. I usually have two or even up to four gigs per day.

A shooting gig can be anything. The basic as-signment gives me a date, place, topic and angle. Sometimes the instructions are clear and precise, sometimes they just hang in the air. For example, if the topic is online job searching, I might take a picture of someone at a computer, looking for

work online. Or if the news story is about con-gestion on the railways, I would want to have a train and lots of people in the picture.

The most common assignment is a portrait, taking a picture of an expert or some other per-son associated with a news story. I often accom-pany the reporter and listen to them doing the interview. Quite often something happens on

site, there might be some sort of an event, and then the news story is created on the spot.

I try to wrap all this up in a single picture that relates to the story or the person, a photo that joins together the text and the picture. I often edit and upload the photos while still on assignment, sometimes even directly from the camera. I always send in a few alternative shots.

Helsingin sanomat 18.7.2015. PHotograPH By sami Kero.

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One basic rule is to take pictures from different distances, both near and far as well as vertical and horizontal. That makes it easier for the newsroom editors to create an interesting and balanced layout.

What about when you are working abroad? You have worked in many crisis areas around the world, documenting earthquakes and wars.

It’s different when you work abroad. You can be sent out to a crisis area at just a few hours’ notice. That’s what happened to me after the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan.

There are lots of things on international assignments that you must attend to: there’s travelling and waiting, and access to locations can be really difficult. But in principle the work itself is the same as here in Finland: you take photos of people and their life, you show and tell what is happening. My own opinions or world-view matter very little. However, when you work in a crisis situation, you must make sure that by taking photographs and publishing them you are not making the people’s situation any worse. There are also cultural differences. In Afghani-stan, for example, taking photos of women is a very delicate matter, particularly for a male photographer.

Sometimes you can barely manage to take a single photo in some disaster area, for example. That’s why it can seem ridiculous to me when

gle. Observation, message and idea, those are the three basic elements of a good picture. I believe that when the photographer is open-minded and interested, that comes across in the photograph. A good press photo contains information as well as feeling, the photographer must put both their heart and mind into it. That is also what makes this work so challenging. A press photograph can be about a single moment or a situation, some-thing unique. It can also have great light, great colours or exciting contrasts, pitting something very small against something very large, such a tank against a person. A photograph can also contain hints of other visual cultures, such as the movies or fine art.

Photographs can contain different levels of storytelling. Sometimes I have hidden details in my pictures that some viewers notice and can understand. The basic message remains the same, but it gains one additional reading.

Henri Cartier-Bresson did not crop his pictures once he had taken them. What do you think about editing photographs?

For me, the file that you get from the camera is not taboo in the sense that you shouldn’t touch it at all. Sometimes I straighten a picture that came out tilted because the shooting situation was so hectic. But you can neither add or delete any-thing in a press photo afterwards – readers must be able to trust that the picture conveys things

academics speculate endlessly about why the photographer took precisely that kind of a picture.

How do you find your own decisive moment? How does one take a good candid photograph?

Since I specialise in press photography, I always try to create a situation or an event in the photo. When I’m taking a picture of a person, I may ask them to do something that they are familiar with, like their work.

For instance, consider the press photograph included in this package: because we were mak-ing a story about guest marinas, the photo would have to include a harbour, a boat and Thomas, the German boater interviewed by the journalist. Those were the basic elements. I was just wrap-ping up, when I noticed a dog in the next boat and decided to wait. A moment later Thomas returned to his boat, and I kind of stole this picture.

Often the subject of a good photograph is not thinking that someone is taking their photo, they are focused on what they do. The most popular press photos have a furry animal in them, some-thing up in the air, or a person in a funny pose. This picture has two of those elements.

A good press photo contains new information and also some surprising element that makes the viewer see the world from a slightly different an-

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truthfully. However, the camera is never perfect, it too makes mistakes. It can distort shapes so that you have to make some minor corrections. Although the technology has developed contin-uously, no Japanese engineer has been able to invent a camera that would record reality as it is. We always need humans to make the necessary corrections. What comes out of the camera is not absolute truth.

Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the most famous press photographers in the world. How do you see his legacy?

First of all, the way Cartier-Bresson composed his pictures remains a starting point for practi-cally all amateur photographers. He has a very strong position in the history of photography. And taking photographs in the way that he did is a fine way to learn photography.

Before Cartier-Bresson’s time, news photo-graphs were staged, they were taken with large, clumsy cameras and often with a flash. New, smaller cameras with greater lens speed enabled a more factual photojournalism in which the sit-uation is not manipulated by the photographer.

Finally, would you have any hints for students on how to take a good candid photo?

If your subject is a person, take your time and wait for the right moment. The likelihood of

assignment 4: a gOOD PrESS Or CaNDID PHOTO

Place: At school, prior to the museum visit. You will need newspapers.

Aim: To encourage students to think about the impacts and meaning of pictures in the media. To give students a close-up idea of media images.

Activity: Browse the newspapers in small groups, looking specifically at how photographs are used in the stories. Then read the interview with Sami Kero (you may also watch his inter-view from the link) and answer the following questions in a group:

•Whatisagoodpressormediaphotolike?•Whatshouldyoutakeintoaccountwhen

taking a photograph of people?•Concludebydiscussinginclass.

getting a good photo increases if the person is doing something. Take photos from different distances, you can start by being very close.

Always remember what I consider the most important thing in photography: if you are interested and excited yourself in the shooting situation, that will show up in the result!

Link to Helsingin Sanomat website where Sami Kero tells about taking a photograph in a crisis area abroad (in Finnish): http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/a1415594594576

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assignment 5. DO WE SEE THE SaME PICTurE?Place: In Ateneum Art Museum at the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition. In small groups or pairs.

Aim: To study the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson, to learn how to observe more carefully, to develop critical thinking and inter-action, and to consider cultural differences in different times. To encourage students to form their own opinion and teach them to realise that we can all see one and the same picture in our own way. To encourage students to find a link between the pictures and their own life.

Activity: Together with the group, select one picture in each gallery, and then discuss it. You can use the following pointers as selection crite-ria (the teacher can deal out the questions to the group):

•Apicturethatcontainssomethingfamiliar, such as an event, a place, a person or an emotion. •Apicturethatcontainssomethingmysterious.•Apicturethatyoufindbeautiful. What makes the picture beautiful? What kind of beauty is it? •Apicturethatisannoying.•Apicturethatpleasesthemost.•Apicturethatshowsaworldthatno longer exists. How can you tell?•Apicturethatdepictsadifferentand strange time, place and life.

Discuss: What is it in the selected photograph that gives rise to the thoughts or feelings men-tioned above? Let the discussion be free: do not try to find a “correct” interpretation, but encour-age each other to discover different thoughts and ideas. You might find out how enriching it is when different people see pictures in their own way.

Discussion back in the classroom: What thoughts and discussions did the pictures inspire?

assignment 6. fraMINg THE PICTurEPlace: In the museum or at school. Discussion in pairs.

Aim: Investigative learning: to observe framing and its effects and develop the students’ analytical visual literacy skills. The aim is for students to understand that every photograph is the result of choices.

Activity: Working in pairs, select either the picture on the next page, or if you are in the ex-hibition, a photograph that interests you both. Discuss the effect of framing in the picture. Why do you think the photographer has framed the picture in just this way? How does the compo-sition affect the mood of the picture? What do you think the photographer has left outside the frame? Finally, present the picture and your conclusions to the rest of the group.

assignment 7. CHIlDrEN IN THE PaST aND TODayPlace: As a group assignment either a) at school, or b) first in the exhibition and later in the classroom. Involves storycrafting and picture making.

Aim: Discussing the change in the role of chil-dren, improving the skills of interactive storytell-ing, listening to other people’s views, and accepting them.

Materials: Pen and paper or a computer for writing the story, materials and tools for creating pictures in the follow-up assignment.

Activity: Look at Cartier-Bresson’s pictures of children in the Ateneum or online at school. What do the pictures tell us about the children at work and leisure? Select one photo. At first, calm the situation by having everyone look at the picture in silence for a few moments. Then use storycrafting to create a story about one of the children in the photograph. Select one student to serve as a clerk to write down the story. Start the storycrafting by hav-ing one student begin: “Once upon a time…” One student at a time, everyone in the group adds one line to the story, and these are written down verba-tim. Keep looking at the picture. When the story is finished, the clerk reads it aloud and everyone can alter their own line if they wish.

Follow-up assignment, at school: The jointly crafted story is read aloud once more, and everyone makes a picture inspired by it. Finish the assign-ment by looking together at all the new pictures.

II MaIN COurSE: THE MuSEuM VISIT

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Hyères, FranCe, 1932. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / magnum PHotos

You can revisit the themes of the exhibition after your visit to the museum. Study the pictures of Cartier-Bresson in the classroom using the on-line resources of Fondation HCB and Magnum Photos mentioned above.

assignment 8. a PICTurE Of a NaTural PErSON

Place: At school. In small groups, conclusion with the whole class.

Aim: Discuss the process of taking a pho-toportrait, the sitter’s and the photographer’s role, and the genuineness of the situation.

Materials: Mobile phone cameras or regular digital cameras. A computer and video projector for looking at the pictures together.

Activity: Study Cartier-Bresson’s photo-graphs on the websites mentioned above. What do you think about the people in the pictures? Are they trying to show off or are they being themselves? Observe the faces and expressions in particular. What do they tell you?

Take pictures of one another while posing as little as you can. Think about what a natural per-son looks like, someone who does not try to look different in a photograph. Is there such a thing as a neutral expression? How can the photographer earn the sitter’s trust? You can rehearse portrait taking by first putting on an intense expression

(such as a basic emotion: hate, love, happiness, surprise or fear) and then its opposite.

To conclude, talk about the assignment and compare the pictures.

PraCtiCal instruCtionsWElCOME TO aTENEuM!You can tour the museum with your group by yourself, although we always recommend booking a tour with one of Ateneum’s expert guides. There are tours of the exhibition, and also introductions of the exhibition in the Ateneum Auditorium. More information on the Ateneum website.

Please read also instructions for school groups:

http://www.ateneum.fi/en/schools

III DESSErT: afTEr THE MuSEuM VISIT

Texts and editing: Ateneum public programmes/Satu Itkonen. Photos: Pages 1, 4 and 11 Henri Cartier-Bresson © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum PhotosPage 7 Helsingin Sanomat 18.7.2015, photo: Sami Kero.Translation Finnish–English: Tomi Snellman, Finnish–Swedish: Barbara Cederqvist.Graphic design: Osmo Leppälä / St.MIR

Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish National Gallery 2015.

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