I had the privilege of spending a couple of days in Paris en route to the CREA creativity conference in Sestri Levante Italy.  While in Paris, there was a marvelous exhibit chronicling the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson.  With a combination of serendipity and irony, one of the photographers we were featuring in our workshop on Images and Insights at the creativity conference was Henri.  I didn't realize until the day before I left for Paris that the exhibit was occurring and that I would have a chance to experience it.

The following photo was taken while in line outside of the exhibit.  The explanatory wall featured a timeline of Henri's life and several photos, some were self-portraits and some were taken by others.

This photo was taken from the explanatory wall featuring a timeline of Henri's life, with a selection of photos taken by self and others.

This was an absolute marvelous exhibit.  

One of my favorite parts of the exhibit is a small video that shows the "dance" that Henri makes to find the "decisive moment" that is a part of so many of his images.  He carried a small Leica camera and held it in his right hand ready to shoot whenever the moment was right.

Every salon of the exhibit was inspiring, starting with his sketches when young and going through a number of creative periods.  Some of my favorite parts were his exploration of the "golden section", the experimentation with surrealism, and his visual anthropology.  Ironically, near the end of his life he started to draw again.  The exhibit begins and ends with sketches, like bookends.

There is a wonderful book that accompanies the exhibit, called Henri Cartier-Bresson, Here and Now by Clement Cheroux.  I so loved the exhibit that I bought the book and had it shipped to me.  Ironically, I just got a notice from Amazon that the book will be available soon in the US.  Of course, the book doesn't have the little video that shows the "dance" of Henri, which is something that I will never forget.

I also purchased Henri's thoughts on photography that are in the book, "The Mind's Eye".

I encourage anyone who loves photography to see the exhibit if they are in Paris.  Hopefully, the exhibit will travel sometime in the future. He is so inspiring!