A man looks at images, including "Harlem, 1947 (Easter Sunday)" by Henri Cartier-Bresson at right, at the opening of a Magnum photo agency exhibit on Feb. 4, 2004, at The Museum of The City of New York. (AP Photo/Mike Appleton)

INDEPTH: HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON A snapshot of a life CBC News Online | August 4, 2004 He preferred black-and-white to colour film, snapped poses of the rich and famous, and never used a flash. He also didn't want to be photographed himself. Henri Cartier-Bresson was a legendary photographer whose style was often described as a marriage of contrast. He won accolades from peers and from U.S. master photographer Richard Avedon who described Cartier-Bresson as the Tolstoy of photography. His rule was to keep things simple: Cartier-Bresson believed a good photograph "came to the camera" and not vice-versa. He strived to capture what he referred to as "decisive moments" – those instants when the core of a person or event is exposed and everything else melts into the background. Aug. 22, 1908: Henri Cartier-Bresson is born in Chanteloup, near Paris, France. 1931: As a young art student, Cartier-Bresson leaves France for a year-long trip to the Ivory Coast. He takes up photography upon his return. 1934: Goes to Mexico on an anthropological expedition. 1935: Studies filmmaking in the United States. 1936: Becomes an assistant to film director Jean Renoir for his pre-war films "La Règle du Jeu" and "Partie de Campagne." 1937: Makes a documentary on the Spanish Civil War, Victoire de la Vie. 1940: Cartier-Bresson is taken prisoner by Germans shortly after the start of the Second World War. Cartier-Bresson is seen in this July 2002 photo at the international photo festival "Rencontres de la Photographie" in Arles, southern France. (AP Photo/Wolfram Steinberg) February 1943: After two attempts, Cartier-Bresson escapes from a German prison camp and joins an underground movement to help others escape. 1944: Joins a photography group to document the liberation of France. Directs Le Retour, a documentary on the repatriation of French prisoners of war. 1945: Rumours of Cartier-Bresson's death reach the U.S. and the Museum of Modern Art begins to prepare a posthumous showing of his work. Cartier-Bresson would later go to New York to help finish the show. 1947: Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger found the Magnum photographic co-operative. 1947-1950: Travels throughout Asia, documenting the death of Gandhi in India, the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the independence of Indonesia. 1952: Publishes Images à la Sauvette, also known by its English title The Decisive Moment, believed to be his definitive work. 1954: Cartier-Bresson is the first Western photographer permitted into the Soviet Union following the death of Joseph Stalin. 1966: Leaves Magnum, but continues to take pictures. 1974: Abandons the camera to focus on his first love, drawing. Aug. 3, 2004: Cartier-Bresson dies at age 95.