Yesterday I was out wandering around taking pictures. I hadn’t been down to the Jefferson Memorial in a long time so I made my way over, walking around the West side of the tidal basin. After spending a few minuets watching people and taking a few pictures I headed back around on the East side to complete the loop and head home. While walking I looked back across to the Jefferson Memorial and remembered that Henri Cartier-Bresson had taken a photo somewhere around here. It’s ridiculously nerdy, but I love it when people recreate or re-photograph scenes from well known photos. I wrote about one of my favorites in this post. Blake Andrews wrote about another one here. I did a quick search on my iPhone and found the picture. Walking along the path, I used the photo to try to find the same spot. Below is Cartier-Bresson’s photo and my quick iPhone shot of the scene. I took a couple more with my Leica to get as close to the same composition as possible. I think he shot mostly with a 50mm, but I had my 35mm yesterday so it’s probably not going to be exact. Also, it looks like he shot his in the morning while mine was in the afternoon. I’ll post one of those when I get my film back. Like I said…ridiculously nerdy.
Washington, DC, 1957, Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos
Washington, DC, 2011