The Art of photography

PhotographyandTime

TheSidelongGlimpse

Inthe1950sagroupofreportorialpho-

tographersturnedawayfromthepreci-

sionofthedecisive-momentpicture.

Ratherthansearchoutmeaningsfrom

climactic,now-or-nevermoments,they

switchedtheirattentiontoanotherkind

of

awarenessoftime.Theytook

to

photographingthoserandommoments

whennothingmuchseemstobehap-

pening—life'snon-events.Insteadof

thedelicatelypoisedcompositionsof

Cartier-Bressonandhisfollowers,their

imagesoftenappearprecariouslyoff

balance.Sometimesthesephotogra-

pherstiltthehorizonline,cutoffpeo-

ple'sfacesandfeetwiththepicture

frame,
ortheysplittheirsubjectsinhalf

withastopsignoratreetrunk.

Theresults

haveahaphazard,seem-

inglyunplannedlook,asifglimpsedout

ofthecornerofthephotographer's
eye.

Asoftenasnotthereissomethingjar-

ring,evenirritating,aboutsuch
a

pho-

tograph.Ambiguousandoffbalance,it

disturbstheviewer—whichiswhatthe

photographerintended.

Thiselusive,glimpsedqualityinpho-

tographyfirstcaughtthepublic

eye

in

1959,withtheappearanceofRobert

Frank'sbookTheAmericans.Acollec-

tionofseeminglychanceglancesatlife

intheUnitedStates—likethebarscene

ontheoppositepage

—

Frank'sbook

establishedanewconceptoftheright

momenttotakeapicture.The"deci-

sivemoment,"tohimandtheothernew

realists,

doesnot

fairlyrepresent

the

realworld.Theperfectpatternsthat

mergeatsucha

peak

moment,they

be-

lieve,arenot anormalpartofseeing.

Andtotrytocontainthosepatternsin

aphotographistodeprivea pictureof

itshonesty."Idon'twantthatinpho-

tography,"Frank

contends."Theworld

movesveryrapidly,andnotnecessarily

inperfectimages."