henri cartier-bresson passed away on august 4, 2204 at the age of 95. he is certainly one of my all time favorite photographer in my humble opinion/knowledge one of the true pioneers in street/documentary/travel/social commentary photography. i'll try to link some good articles about his work here later.

this part of the ny times obituary is worth high-lighting:

He insisted that his works not be cropped, but otherwise disdained the technical side of photography; the Leica was all he ever wanted to use; he was not interested in developing his own pictures.

"My contact sheets may be compared to the way you drive a nail in a plank," he said. "First you give several light taps to build up a rhythm and align the nail with the wood. Then, much more quickly, and with as few strokes as possible, you hit the nail forcefully on the head and drive it in."

view some of his extensive body of work at magnum photos, the agency he co-founded with robert capa, george rodger and david "chim" seymour (see history of magnum).

also, if you only buy one photographic book in your life, make it HCB's The Man, the Image and the World: A Retrospective