The idea of the decisive moment is underpinned by the notion that this is something that emerges from the scene, i.e. it happens independently of the viewer. Magnum stressed the ‘moment’ as being crucial to the interpretation and communication of the image.

Henri Cartier Bresson

It could be argued, though, that the decisive moment is effectively created by the observer who decides that it is in some way ‘decisive’. Moments only become ‘decisive’ through the act of observing and analysing.

What is ‘decisive’ depends on interpretation and meaning. Different moments of coincidence and contrast have different meanings.

There are also generally a continuum of decisive moments, corresponding to a multitude of observers. Different observers will produce different decisive moments.

The concept of the ‘moment’ raises questions about the photographer’s motivation and integrity.

• Is it acceptable to engineer this moment or should a photographer wait to capture it in its honesty and purity?

Sources:

Simon Bainbridge 2011 Hereford Photography Festival

Graham Clarke, The Photograph (pp.145–87). Discussion of how Cartier-Bresson, Werner Bischof, Robert Capa and others put their personal style into an image, for example in Capa’s war photography. ’the moment’ and social class as a motivating issue for the documentary photographer.

Importance of technology

Getting the moment is still a challenge for modern photographers but current practice is based on portability, with a return to the smaller but very high-quality digital camera. Much of Magnum’s style and the numerous ‘moments’ they captured were delivered through a technology breakthrough – the Leica 35mm rangefinder camera. The Leica gave flexibility and the ability to be inconspicuous, unlike the full- and half-plate cameras that had been used before and which involved setting up a tripod and a wood or metal 5×4 camera. Quick and instant, the Leica was made to capture the moment. The camera itself changed the photographers’ practice and delivered an ability to move quickly and get in close. (Capa later used Contax and Rollei cameras, but not until after the Spanish Civil War.)

The French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004).

short film about Cartier-Bresson’s work

The Decisive Moment

He discovered that the camera could give him ‘instants’, moments captured in a way that used the camera to its best advantage.

Photojournalism

Bresson has been described as the ‘father of modern photojournalism’. Along with several other photographers, he founded the influential Magnum Photos agency in 1947.

His approach was simple. Using the fixed lens camera popular
amongst the early Magnum photographers, Cartier-Bresson tried to make himself invisible; he tried to not be part of the scene or affect the image with his presence and waited for ‘the decisive moment’. Many of his images are successful because of his ability to time when to press the shutter. Cartier-Bresson didn’t have motor drives giving 12 frames a second or blitz whole rolls of film through the camera – he waited until it felt that something was about to happen
and caught it as it happened.

“Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative.”
(Cartier-Bresson interview, Washington Post 1957)

Art Photography

Cartier-Bresson is an example of a successful photographer who always saw himself as an artist. He was a talented painter who discovered photography in his mid thirties. Interestingly, he returned to drawing rather than photography in the last 10 years of his life. In an article included in the collection The Mind’s Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers (2004), Cartier-Bresson discusses the issue of creativity relative to the camera:
“In photography creation is a quick business – pulling the camera up to the eye line of fire, suddenly with that economical little box whatever it was that surprised you, collecting it in mid air, without tricks, without letting it get away. You are making a painting at the same time that you are take a photo. That moment, that fraction of a second is valuable for freshness of its impression – but does it preclude a more studied experience? Whether you are on the move or on the same spot in order to show a country you have to establish a close working relationship, to be supported by a human community. Living takes time, roots form slowly. Thus that fraction of a moment can be the fruit of a long acquaintance or one of surprise.”