When I leave Paris for my home in Montreuil-Bellay, it is mainly like a sense of vacation... but it can also be a case of nostalgia. Among other things, most of my early photographs and those of my fathers are kept there (not enough space in our Paris apartment, there is a kind of museum of old cameras - my father's 35mm rangefinder foca from the fifties, my first twin lens 6x6 from 1958 are my preferred). But I must say that looking at some of my photography magazines from 1968 to 1974 is really making me plunge into the past. I am now in a very small room which used to be my darkroom and which has been rebuilt into a reading room with computer. I am now reading the May 1974 issue of Popular Photography. There is an astounding interview from HCB (Henry Cartier-Bresson). Just to give you an idea, here is a citation:
'The greatest joy for me is geometry, that means a structure. You can't go shooting for structures, for shapes, for patterns and all this, but it's a sensual pleasure, an intellectual pleasure at the same time to have everything in the right place. It's a recognition of an order which is in front of you.
And finally, for me - that's strictly my way of feeling - I enjoy shooting a picture. Being present. It's a way of saying "Yes! Yes! Yes!"...'
'The greatest joy for me is geometry, that means a structure. You can't go shooting for structures, for shapes, for patterns and all this, but it's a sensual pleasure, an intellectual pleasure at the same time to have everything in the right place. It's a recognition of an order which is in front of you.
And finally, for me - that's strictly my way of feeling - I enjoy shooting a picture. Being present. It's a way of saying "Yes! Yes! Yes!"...'