You Decide The Decisive Moment

Tags: Digital Communications, General,

"Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever." So said famous French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, also known as the father of photojournalism. Walking on a deserted beach last week, early in the morning, I saw The Moment! in this scene. Where did everyone go, I wondered? Are they back at the house enjoying a cup of coffee, or did the whole clan walk into the ocean together, never to be seen again?

I love photos that tell a story. Even if that story is the one I make up in my head.

What’s interesting about this image is how the multi-million dollar beachfront homes look like bit players next to the Dime Store chairs.

The shadow on the beach behind them serves as a natural backdrop to punctuate their bright colors and patterns.

And the dunes just beyond draw the eye to the fortress-like homes standing guard at the top of the hill, dwarfed by the huge expanse of blue sky.

Not a bad day’s work for a mindless walk on the beach.

Time for an Ode to the Cell Phone Camera.

So light. So omnipresent. So idiot-proof!

Why would you ever drag along a (real) camera when you can just whip out a tiny phone from your bathing suit and catch The Moment!  And you have to admit the quality is simply amazing.

"Photography is not like painting," Cartier-Bresson pointed out. "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," he said.

Creativity is like that. You know it when you see or feel it. And the cell phone camera allows you to respond to that intuition immediately and more often.

Do you ever find yourself using the expression, “That’s a picture!” when you see something that captures your imagination?

Well now you can make it happen.

The name Cartier-Bresson will be forever linked to the phrase, “the decisive moment” (the English title of his U. S. edition of printed images). But the expression actually originated from the writings of the 17th century Cardinal de Retz who said, “There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment” (e.g., Yes, I’ll marry you…I’m buying a motorcycle no matter what you say…Lightning strikes…Game over...You need a face lift…Time to bloom…I quit…).

When it comes to photography, “the decisive moment” becomes apparent when you train your eye to (really) see what “life itself offers you.” It comes to you. Not the other way around.

With cell phone cameras, you can become an active observer of everyday life. Your creative eye can be conditioned to capture the strange, the rare, the beautiful, the absurd (and think of all the images you’ll have to share on your social sites…).

Had I decided to walk past the unusual scene above and taken the shot on my way back home, the lighting would have been different, the chairs might have been occupied by stragglers recovering from an all-nighter, and the beach may have given up its eerie calm to a bocce ball tournament played by old guys with leathery skin, sporting speedos and gold chains.

Now do you see what I mean about “the decisive moment?" It only lasts an instant.

Capture it before it’s too late.

Anita Alvare (bio)/Alvare Associates/610-520-6140
The Decisive Moment, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cell Phone Cameras