Born in 1908, Henri Cartier-Bresson was destined to capture the 20th century, 100 transformative years in the history of the human race. From the crumbling relics of old Empires to the dramatic ideological tussles between fascism, communism and democracy to medical and technological advancements and great social change, the photographs from this century have added to the body of information that has helped define our understanding of what went on. Moreover, images, in their silent compose; have shaped how we see history.

Cartier-Bresson was not only one of the photographers helping to capture history through a lens, but a pioneer, an important witness to seminal events including the Spanish civil war, the liberation of Paris in 1944, Mahatma Gandhi hours before his assassination and the dramatic victory of the communists in China. Without his presence, his ability to capture what he described as the "decisive moment", there would be something lacking in our consciousness of what went on.

He was, therefore, one of the founding fathers of photojournalism, an intuitive photographer whose camera indeed was an extension of his eye. Much like a writer will profess that he is born to sit in front of a typewriter, an artist destined to always be with a brush and a palette and a musician who is unable to express himself properly without an instrument, Cartier-Bresson was meant to take pictures.

It wasn't just history that the Frenchman captured, but of life itself, of friends and strangers and celebrities throughout the age. From a subtle portrait of the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti looking like one of his famous sculptures to a staircase with a cyclist zipping by to a sleeping couple on a train to a man flying across a wet street, his reflection caught on the watery floor, Cartier-Bresson was doing more than just taking pictures, he was recording the strange, multifarious condition of human life.

"In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject," he once said. "The little human detail can become a leitmotif." This feat however, extrapolating or generating meaning from what may appear ordinary is a talent that is both innate – i.e. the idea that one is "born to do it" – and learned through hard work. We could all take images of staircases, of me sitting on the grass, sleeping traders caught in a moment of helplessness and of bridges, but without patience, intuition and understanding of the human condition – perhaps empathy is a more appropriate word here – our pictures would invariably lack depth. Our picture with a brick wall with graffiti would not radiate any meaning; Cartier-Bresson’s version however, would have us enraptured.

The astonishing thing about much of his iconic imagery is their sincerity – many were captured on a standard 35mm film against natural light. It’s a lesson that is as powerful today as it was then – we don’t need to go wild with the latest, most advanced, feature crazy digital camera whose processor can power a substation. As great as those cameras are, it is no substitute for the artistry of the person behind the camera. The most technically accomplished violin player can play some of the most profound pieces of classical music to near-perfection but unless he invests real emotion, there will always be something lacking.

Cartier-Bresson didn't aim to be a virtuoso photographer. His motivation was to take the best images he could. Not for posterity, not even for history perhaps, but because he knew how to. His was a life told through the lens, even if he was capturing other people’s lives.