“For landscape, you often need a telephoto (I usually use the 135mm) so that you can rid of the uninteresting foreground. The depth of field of a telephoto lens in minimized for action pictures. I don’t work much with a wide-angle lens. There are so many things in the same plane that it makes it difficult to compose.”
‘Photography Is Very Difficult, Interview with Richard L. Simon (ca. 1952)’ in Henri Cartier-Bresson, Interviews and Conversations 1951-1998, p.22 (2017)
35mm lens
Cartier-Bresson on using a flash
“Oh, definitely no flash! That is not the light of life. I never use it, I do not want to use it. Let us remain within the real, the authentic! Because authenticity is perhaps the greatest virtue of photography.”
‘A Reporter, Interview with Daniel Masclet (1951)’ in Henri Cartier-Bresson, Interviews and Conversations 1951-1998, p.11 (2017)
Cartier-Bresson on which lens and aperture to use
“Naturally I take full advantage of the possibilities of different lenses, but I don’t carry a suitcase full of them: an Elmar 50mm, a wide-angle 35mm, and an 85mm − these are my tools, with, of course, the latest, the f/1.5, for night photography. I take advantage of these various depths, I open or close the shutter, or I leave a full aperture: it depends on my needs.”
‘A Reporter, Interview with Daniel Masclet (1951)’ in Henri Cartier-Bresson, Interviews and Conversations 1951-1998, p.13 (2017)
Crafting Pixels 