The first 7 blog entries here tell the story of how I became a photographer and how my career evolved in the years 1968 to 1983. Readers may navigate the chapters of this story from these live links. Each chapter has a link to the next chapter:
- Cartier-Bresson And Me: Part 1
- Cartier-Bresson And Me: Part 2, First Beginnings
- Cartier-Bresson And Me: Part 3, Foundations
- Cartier-Bresson And Me: Part 4, On The Road With The King of the Blues
- Cartier-Bresson And Me: Part 5, The Plastik People of the Universe
- Cartier-Bresson And Me: Part 6, Christian Science Monitor, 1-man Show in Krakow @ ZPAV
- Cartier-Bresson And Me: Part 7, Conclusion
Further links to Charles Sawyer's photos and writings:
- "Biography of a Photograph", a tale that starts with a small miracle on my venetian blinds
- Josef Sudek at Roudnice Gallery (a catalogue)
- Charlie's Archives: Photos of Blues Greats
- Savoy Blues: Writings and Photographs
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 7, Conclusion
May 10, 2018
•
Leave a Comment
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 7
MOMA and Beyond
With all this personal history long behind me in May, 2010, I traveled to New York City to see a huge retrospective of Cartier-Bresson’s work at the Museum of Modern Art. Although I had ceased being a photographer almost 20 years prior, the chance to see the the master’s work again was irresistible....
Read the Full Post »
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 6
May 10, 2018
•
Leave a Comment
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 6
Re: The Christian Science Monitor
The fiasco with failing utterly to publish my piece on Pavel Zajicek and The Plastic People and similar experiences convinced me that neither the timeliness of a story, nor the quality of my writing and photography mattered in finding opportunities to publish my journalism. Even whe...
Read the Full Post »
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 4
May 10, 2018
•
Leave a Comment
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 4
Cartier-Bresson’s great skill in knowing when to press the shutter was matched by his luck with launching himself in the era of the big picture magazines. Particularly after World War II his photographs appeared in the pages of Life (1948-1963), Paris Match (1949-1962), Saturday Evening Post (1948-1951), and Der Ster...
Read the Full Post »
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 5
May 10, 2018
•
Leave a Comment
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 5
Re: The Plastic People of the Universe
I did some satisfying photojournalism, combining my photos with the copy I wrote myself, most of which went from editor to editor looking for a home.
One story can serve as a case study to illustrate the obstacles I faced. In 1977 I went to Prague on official assignment for Ha...
Read the Full Post »
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 3
May 10, 2018
•
Leave a Comment
Cartier-Bresson and Me: Part 3
Cartier-Bresson’s aesthetic was well documented, most fully in the introduction to his magnum opus The Decisive Moment. There he explained that his art consisted of freezing the composition captured in the frame with a precise choice of the moment when the shutter is fired. He gave me the notion that the frame marker...
Read the Full Post »
© Charles Sawyer