Originally posted April 24, 2024 on my Substack
Natalie Merchant and Henri Cartier-Bresson
A long time ago I was watching Natalie Merchant’s entrancing video of her song “Wonder,” and I realized I had completely misinterpreted a quote from my favorite photographer.
The quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson, as I knew it then was:
“After a certain age, you got the face you deserve.”
Bresson was a famous, pioneering photojournalist (1908-2004) who captured many haunting, incredible portraits.
Being a little snarky by nature, I had always thought this was a backhanded slap against people like our former president, who were not born ugly, but whose sins and hatreds leave a mark on their faces. (Note: I wrote this in April 2024 when he still was a “former president.”)
After misunderstanding the quote for 30+ years, I watched Merchant’s video and realized that getting the face you deserve is just as true for people who deserve beautiful faces. I’m not talking strictly traditional beauty—from all my years of photography, I have photographed many people with lines, scars, or untraditionally beautiful faces, who have earned faces worth deserving. In the video, somehow Merchant and the women and girls all look like they are carrying their own light.
This came back to me recently as I’ve been adding Merchant to my recent playlists again and developing an even deeper love of her music.
Because I did some searching, I was techno-magically referred by Instagram to a new podcast called “The Great Creators” and it’s a recent episode featuring a long, heartfelt conversation between the podcaster Guy Raz and Natalie Merchant.
She comes off here as a thoughtful, gentle person (with a steel backbone nonetheless.) [Podcast here or click the image above] I think she is exactly the person who shines through her music.
Regarding the song “Wonder,” there is another YouTube video you might want to watch. It will fill you with both joy and pain as Merchant talks about many of the people the song has touched. In particular, are two sisters she befriended who were afflicted by a terrible genetic disease. Merchant says here “I had written the song about them, I just hadn’t met them yet.”
Cartier-Bresson Understood
I did eventually discover that the quote I had heard back in Photo-J school was incomplete and that, in full context, Henri Cartier-Bresson knew better than me.
The full quote is below:
She said, “Oh my wrinkles” and I told her it’s your own interesting thing, your wrinkles, after all it depends how they fall. Which is true, it’s life, it’s a mark of life. It depends how people have been living and all this is written on their face. After a certain age, you got the face you deserve I think.
To see more of his work, here is a good link:
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