
FRANCE. Paris. Place de l’Europe. Gare Saint Lazare. 1932. – Henri Cartier-Bresson
Another good episode in my opinion, the episode was entitled “Right time, Right place”. The episode begins with delightful footage of Henri Cartier-Bresson “pouncing” at the streets of Paris in the 1940s. It was all about being in the right place at the right time, the decisive moment, getting in close — in the popular imagination this is photography at its best, a medium that makes us eyewitnesses to the moments when history is made. But just how good is photography at making sense of what it records? Is getting in close always better than standing back, and just how decisive are the moments that photographers risk their necks to capture? Set against the backdrop of the Second World War and its aftermath, The Genius of Photography – Right Place, Right Time examines how photographers dealt with dramatic and tragic events like D-Day, the Holocaust and Hiroshima, and the questions their often extraordinary pictures raise about history as seen through the viewfinder. It discussed the fact that although there were many photos of the atrocities in Europe, but where there was total devastation in Hiroshima far less were taken.

FRANCE. Normandy. June 6th, 1944. US troops assault Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings. – Robert Capa
I found this episode very moving, mainly because of the fabulous images showing the scenes from this time. Although I have seen many photos, it seems to hit me every time, such haunting images, raw with emotion.

FRANCE. Normandy. June 6th, 1944. US troops assault Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings. by Robert Capa