The Decisive Moment
“headshot” Nick Beckner Photography 2011
Henri Cartier-Bresson. A master of the everyday. The decisive moment. What is the decisive moment? How can we aim to capture that split second in our work?
Let’s first talk about Cartier-Bresson. Born in 1908, he received his first camera in 1929. Roughly one year later, he began his journey into street photography. He used a Leica with a 50mm lens and that was carried by him for years to come.
The “decisive moment” didn’t come into fruition until 1952. This idea of this perfect balance of visual and psychological elements coming together for a split second is what we dream of in our work. The moment will be lost forever. Never to happen the same way or happen again in general. Capturing it is the goal. As a photographer, it is a perfect storm. Spending countless hours looking… searching for this perfect flow of real life to capture forever. Finally, the moment is revealing itself in front of you. You hurriedly try to compose the frame, you check… hope your exposure is correct… look through the viewfinder, see the build up of the moment you were searching for… press the shutter.
You left your SD card at home.
“Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”
France. Paris. Place de l’Europe. Gare Saint Lazare. 1932. Photograph: Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos
The key of capturing this moment, in my opinion, is to not think. You must just “be.” It’s a very zen approach. I’ve done my best work in street photography, and photography in general, by just being in the present. I am with my self. Thinking about the current things around me. Focusing on my feelings. My thoughts. You must not aim to be creative because setting that pressure can create a block. Let the art come to you and capture that moment when everything presents itself perfectly aligned.
To break down the decisive moment even further, you can see a handful of themes in photography align.
Composition: when the moment arrives, look for the composition. Use composition to aid the visual harmony
Use composition to aid the harmony and capture the moment
Anticipation: Many of the greatest Cartier-Bresson photographs leave the viewer with an almost “holding your breath” feeling, anticipating the result of what was captured
Luck: this moment is once in a lifetime. Enough said.
Emotion: capturing the human condition. Bringing forth the emotions of the viewer and creating meaningful art
““I kept walking the streets, high-strung, and eager to snap scenes of convincing reality, but mainly I wanted to capture the quintessence of the phenomenon in a single image. Photographing, for me, is instant drawing, and the secret is to forget you are carrying a camera. ”
I can honestly go on for hours about street photography. The greats. The decisive moment.
I want to leave this open for discussion and hear your thoughts on this topic.
Do you feel the decisive moment is a necessity to create meaningful photography? Does it help tell a complete story or does it leave open gaps in the image with questions of why or what ifs?
“ Masters of Street Photography”
This book is a good read. It features many discussions with street photographers and answers a lot of questions about the genre in general. You can find it here: https://amzn.to/3oFgP3i
I’d also recommend looking at the works of Cartier-Bresson if you haven’t yet.
