loving memories in black and white

In family and friends, photography, travel on May 28, 2009 at 11:33 am

black and white

The last post was about color. It was brief and impressionistic. I had more to say, especially about some of the great artists I mentioned, but I got distracted with thoughts about the past.

Over the past two days, I’ve been looking at more old photographs and thinking about time spent at home (wherever that might be) and in far away places with strangers, friends and mostly family. When done well, the best of these photographs have captured special moments in time. The images are loaded with meaning for me. Today, these images continue to stimulate a torrent of memories from my past. They are single moment’s captured that, as Henri Cartier-Bresson said so elegantly, satisfy the heart, mind and eye.

To take photographs means to recognize — simultaneously and within a fraction of a second — both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye and one’s heart on the same axis. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

The last post was about color. It was brief and impressionistic. I had more to say, especially about some of the great artists I mentioned, but I got distracted with thoughts about the past.

Over the past two days, I’ve been looking at old photographs and thinking about time spent at home and in far away places with strangers, friends and family. When done well, the best of these pictures capture unique moments in time–a shot of my lovely wife on my 30th birthday on a warm Austin afternoon, a summer vacation with my pensive brothers in Vienna, an aimless afternoon in Boston, and a forgotten alley in New Mexico. All of these are loaded with meaning or simple beauty.

Today, these images continue to stimulate a torrent of memories from my past. I’m glad these instants are captured forever in photos. And, as Henri Cartier-Bresson said so elegantly, photographs should satisfy the heart, the mind and the eye. I look forward to more satisfying shots, more memories, and more inspiration from moments and masters like Cartier-Bresson.

Speaking of inspiration, it’s time to lie back and reflect on a few of the many brilliant photos from the master himself.