The Decisive Moment - Ideas please

photoguy99 · Oct 12, 2014

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

Vince.1551 · Oct 12, 2014

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 · Oct 12, 2014

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 · Oct 12, 2014

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 · Oct 12, 2014

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 · Oct 12, 2014

Borad said:
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 · Oct 12, 2014

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

Who's wrong, Lew?

Vince.1551 · Oct 12, 2014

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

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Borad · Oct 12, 2014

Vince.1551 said:
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 · Oct 12, 2014

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 · Oct 12, 2014

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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