The Decisive Moment - Ideas please

[limr]

Ah, there it is. Forgive the quality - it's a crappy cell phone snap of an instant film print (Fujifilm Instax 210 - the wide format.) It was taken this year, so yes - people still use pay phones. At least in NYC.

Incidentally, it's also an example of how NOT to capture a decisive moment. (There was an interaction going on between the man on the phone, his dog, and the bike delivery guy next to him. I was too late. And then that dude on the right photobombed.)

 

[snowbear]

Remember when the phone boots had phone books in them?

 

[limr]

Remember when the phone boots had phone books in them?

Yup.

 

[Designer]

Remember when the phone boots had phone books in them?

Usually the pages I wanted had been torn out.

 

[photoguy99]

Here is my suggestion.

Go somewhere that the same things happen over and over. A playground where a child goes down the slide every few minutes. A shop where a clerk makes a sale every few minutes.

Then, watch and think about it. At some point or points in the cycle the elements may fall in to place and, for an instant, there is a photograph. Not a snap of a thing which is occurring, but a photograph. The graphical elements, the masses of tone, and, yes, the event, the personal byplay, all fall in to place.

Take that picture the next time it goes by.

The ideal is to take that picture when it's not happening over and over, when it happens just once in a fleeting moment. That's hard. Doing it as I have described is much easier, and may prove a stepping stone. Maybe not.

I'm not much of a street photog. But I have made a handful of decent moments.

 

[Borad]

I wouldn't feel guilty about staging something in a case like this unless I was instructed not to.

 

[TCampbell]

I wouldn't feel guilty about staging something in a case like this unless I was instructed not to.

Posed photos of a decisive moment usually look like they're posed (people who aren't professional actors are usually lousy actors and even some of the professional actors are lousy actors.) But there are photographers who will sometimes provoke the reaction they want... take for example when Yousuf Karsh stole Winston Churchill's cigar and captured the immortalized image of the Winston Church "scowl". See: The Day Winston Churchill Lost His Cigar | At the Smithsonian | Smithsonian

The point is... the shot wasn't posed... the photographer took advantage of a "reaction" that he got. Had he taken the same shot a few moments earlier or later he likely wouldn't have managed to get the same impact.

Use your human experience to recognize when something of significance is about to happen. If you're attending a wedding and the officiant proclaims to the groom "you may kiss the bride" you KNOW a kiss is about to happen. Timing that shot so that you capture the kiss... and not two seconds before the kiss nor two seconds after the kiss... that would be a "decisive moment".

Here's a glass artisan making a Christmas ornament. A moment earlier and the shears wouldn't be in the shot... a moment later and the ornament would be sitting there all by itself. I wanted this shot *just* as the artisan is nipping the thread of hot glass. The point is... I knew he was about to do this and I waited for it.


Ornament by Tim Campbell1, on Flickr

Just any moment won't do... in the timeline, there are some moments at which snapping the shot will be more impactful. Imagine you were filming a movie... but had to pull "one frame" out of the film to use as as still photo... which "frame" would you grab? That best-looking frame is typically the "decisive moment".

If you're shooting baseball, do you want the runner halfway between 3rd base and home plate... or the runner returning to the dugout? You probably want the shot where the runner is sliding into home-plate while the ball is being thrown to the catcher and the umpire is making the call... that's the shot where everything is happening and a story unfolds.

 

[gsgary]

I wouldn't feel guilty about staging something in a case like this unless I was instructed not to.

I would

 

[sashbar]

I wouldn't feel guilty about staging something in a case like this unless I was instructed not to.

I would

I would not feel guilty, because with street photography there are no rules set in stone, and we all know about one or two famous street images of the last century that were actually staged.
But the thing is, as a hobbyist I take images for myself more than for anyone else and cheating myself is a bit pointless. A staged scene has no point and meaning compared to the real moment of life, captured by a camera to live forever. It is as hollow as an electronic cigarette, a non-alcohol vine and a promise made by the politician.

 

[gsgary]

There is no need to stage your shots for this project just go out in town and you will find lots to shoot, here one of mine from the weekend

 

[Braineack]

They don't make phone booths anymore? [emoji33][emoji16][emoji13] ok skip the phone booth lol

No, and it makes me sad. What's Superman supposed to do now?

Cell phones killed the phone booth market before killing the P&S market.

What if I can't afford a cell phone and needed to make a call on the streets?


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Who's fault is that?

 

[The_Traveler]

I suggest that a decisive moment is a scene caught in transition into another state where that transition is interesting in itself because of content or structure but is usually unseen because it is so transient.
Of the 4 by Gary A, #4 seems to fit the bill the most because of the interesting composition of the arms and the stillness of the ball in space.

I think TCampbell's is actually an instant too soon. What would have been great is catching the molten glass as it slipped down after being caught, the reall beauty of the glass being acted on by gravity which we never see.

limr's day 220 is an interesting moment as the person defies gravity - and we see it.

 

[Borad]

My staged photo would be the birth of an animal with a little kid who I instruct to point at the genitals when the animal's hind legs are raised for sexing.

 

[photoguy99]

One of the many many things in life that fascinate and irritate me is how many people claim HCB as an inspiration, and chatter on about The Decisive Moment, who have clearly never looked at HCB's photos.

Sure, they can recognize and name many of them, but they've never really looked.

Here is an exercise: collect all the definitions of The Decisive Moment given in this thread. Then go get a handful of Cartier-Bresson's photos.

See which definitions apply to which photos.

Here is what you will find:

The photo is almost never about a transition or an event. It's never about capturing the essence of whatever is happening.

Often, nothing much is happening at all. If something is happening, usually it is unfolding over time and the moment in the photo is of no special importance within the event.

So, what did he mean?

Everyone always leaves out the important bit, the bit about forms.

 

[Vince.1551]

Who cares what Cartier-Bresson thinks. A meaningless photo is a meaningless photo. Could you imagine if he posted a photo here for C&C ... awkward LOL


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