The Decisive Moment - Ideas please

[photoguy99]

The point is that lots of people care, and claim to know.

 

[Vince.1551]

Probably Cartier-Bessons in the making ... Who knows ... And why not? If people ignores the general rules of photography why should anyone care about Bresson's definition


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[Borad]

On a detailed webpage on the decisive moment, the author says:

"...here is another excerpt, found elsewhere in the preface, which most succinctly summarizes Cartier-Bresson’s idea of decisive moment: 'To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.'"

So a landscape wouldn't qualify, I guess. I think it's a decisive moment to the extent that timing is involved.

 

[Vince.1551]

Many snap shots, especially those taken within the family, are 'decisive moments' type of shots. And btw Bresson took many snapshots ...

And, forms are basically your composition in fine art paintings which is still composition. Basically reinventing the wheel.


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[The_Traveler]

Google Image Result for http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/Images/hcblevitt_main.jpg

Google Image Result for http://lamonomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Enri-cartier-bresson-20.jpg

Google Image Result for http://bps.bpsmembersonly.com/files/2014/06/41.jpg

Google Image Result for http://desartsuk.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/photo-by-henri-cartier-bresson.jpg

yeah, you're wrong

 

[Vince.1551]

On a detailed webpage on the decisive moment, the author says:

"...here is another excerpt, found elsewhere in the preface, which most succinctly summarizes Cartier-Bresson’s idea of decisive moment: 'To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.'"

So a landscape wouldn't qualify, I guess. I think it's a decisive moment to the extent that timing is involved.

Why landscapes wouldn't qualify? Every passing second is an event. Seasons change and so does the land and thereby landscapes


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[photoguy99]

Add usual I can't even tell what your point is, Vince.

Who's wrong, Lew?

 

[Vince.1551]

Point is Bresson did not 'invent' the term 'decisive moment'. However he wants to phrase it.


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[Borad]

Why landscapes wouldn't qualify? Every passing second is an event. Seasons change and so does the land and thereby landscapes

Yeah, it's not a good definition. He's describing photography. There were a lot of other quotes by him but none is clearly his definition of the decisive moment. The OPs teacher probably explained what he meant and the OP needs to tell us.

 

[photoguy99]

He kinda did, actually. Modulo some translation details and confusion.

There's a very definite thing, which HCB absolutely invented, which had been commonly called in English The Decisive Moment, based on a translation of another phrase in French.

 

[Vince.1551]

His quotes are generalized statements which photographers before him would had embraced. And photographers who had not heard of him would had embraced as well.


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[photoguy99]

No, Vince. You're just wrong.

 

[Vince.1551]

I disagree


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[Gary A.]

The point is that lots of people care, and claim to know.

I know.

 

[Gary A.]

Henri also said “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept”. Which hasn't any relationship to the Decisive Moment, but there you go.