The Museum of Modern Art

Photo courtesy of TinaPicard.com

Last month I was fortunate enough to visit the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art thanks to a lovely friend of mine from work.  The two of us tagged along on a surprisingly exhilarating tour through Bresson's breathtaking black and white photographs.  But what really brought the photos alive was learning about the rebellious photographer's history.  The bourgeois brat poo-pooed his family's lifestyle in his teen years to become a bohemian artist and capture the photo above.  This isn't your average denouement, notably so, as Bresson grew through his travels to bring a markedly critical eye to social causes.

Photo courtesy of metmuseum.org

  Photos like this one, where Bresson was sent to Shanghai to capture the ingression of communism.

Photo courtesy of smalltok.com

And this one which pictures a Gestapo informer.

Photo courtesy of fddreis.wordpress.com

And, of course, Gandhi.

Bresson's photographs evoke emotion beyond what you see on the faces in the four-wall frame.  There's history.  There's reason.  There's a story.  It's gut-wrenchingly beautiful.

Now I understand why he's known as "The Father of Journalism."