The Art of photography

PhotographyandTime

The

DecisiveMoment

Aquick

andusefuldistinctioncanbe

madebetweenthestaticpictures

that

precede

thispageandthedynamicones

thatfollow.Inthepicturethatsuggests

suspendedtime,allactionstopsforthe

camera;

inthephotographsthatsample

timeateitherapeakorarandommo-

ment,the actionisstoppedbythecam-

era.Theaction-stopping

photographer

whocoinedtheterm"decisivemoment"

todescribethepicture

thatpicksouta

certain,ratherthanuncertain,momentin

timeisHenriCartier-Bresson,andamong

thefinestexamplesofthisexpressionof

time arepicturesofhis,suchastheone

ontheoppositepage.

Theconceptofthedecisivemoment

dependsonchange.Thephotographer

mustthinkaboutwhathehopestore-

cord,thenmustshootalongandcarefully

watchtheunfoldingscenebefore

him.

Hemakeshispicturewhenallofthevisu-

aland
emotionalelementscome

together

toexpressthemeaningofthescene.If

hefails,hecannottryagainbecause

thetellingmomentwillhaveeludedhim.

Cartier-Bresson,astheauthorandart

patronLincolnKirsteinhaswritten,"has

beendescribedas havingaconstant

boxingmatchwithtime;timeisbothop-

ponentandpartner...tobepunched

and knockeddown;onedancesaround

aninstantoftimewaitingforanopening,

tofix,arrest,conquer."

Sucharrestingoftimecamewiththe

developmentofphotojournalismandthe

adventofthe35mmcamera,whichper-

mittedpicturestobetaken almostany-

whereatalmostanyinstant.Whilejour-

nalistsusedthisapproachprincipallyin

reportingnewsevents,

somephotogra-

phers

—amongthemBrassai,AndreKer-

tesz,Cartier-BressonandBillBrandt

—

soonsoughttoextract meaningsand

emotionsfromsituationsthatinvolvednot

onlynewsmakers butordinary

people.

Theirresultsrevealedhowtocapturefor

alltimethefleetingmoment

that,more

thananyother,-communicatesanemo-

tionoranidea.