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InDecisive? A Rant.
July 14th, 2008
In 1952, celebrated photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson wrote Une Decisive Moment, a book filled with both his photographs and philosophy. One concept, the titular “decisive moment” has become so well-known as to become cliche and then suffer the same fate most thoughts and theories suffer when their commentators and quoters drift too far from the source material. Here, then is the context for that phrase, and the definition given it by HCB himself:
“the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms that give that event its proper expression.”
Lately when I hear the decisive moment concept mentioned, it is frequently invoked to imply a moment when a person smiled just right or when a motion is frozen at its apex, and while these might be, generally speaking, decisive moments, I think HCB meant much more. In fact, it’s fashionable of late to criticize the concept with a dismissive “yeah, but every moment is a decisive moment.” Maybe, but that has nothing to do with what Cartier-Bresson was saying.
Yes, in life there may be many, many decisive moments, but I believe HCB was being specific to the frame. Within the strict geometry of the frame not all moments are equal.
According to HCB each scene at one particular time would have a moment where the gesture and geometry come together to express the nature of that scene in the most aesthetically meaningful way. Likely, it can only be judged in hindsight that this moment was in fact decisive, and it doesn’t entirely exclude the possibility of other decisive moments within that scene.
Remember, HCB was talking about the two-dimensional frame , not the near-infinite views and perspectives of our real-life perceptions. So yes, experientially life offers many decisive moments, but when you’ve translated a scene to two dimensions and are looking at them on the light-table, a few of them are likely to be stronger than others – and learning to see that decisive moment before you squeeze the shutter rather than afterwards, is the point.
I think we can all agree that within a frame certain compositions exist that express our vision of a scene better than others. Certain geometries exist at one moment that make an image more powerful than they would be had we waited a moment later. HCB was not saying some moments were good and some not worth photographing – he was saying that composition and the placement of elements within a scene was important and that the timing of the capture had a significant role to play.
When we say, “yeah but every moment is decisive” we’re really saying that we either misunderstand Cartier-Bresson, or that composition is unimportant. It’s a little like those schools where kids don’t get graded for fear of wounding their self esteem. It may do the kids fragile little ego a world of temporary good but his math skills are going to suck by the time he’s in grade 4. Dismissing every moment as decisive won’t improve anyone’s composition skills. It’s the image you capture that matters, not the ones you miss, decisive or not.
*The strong possibility exists that (1) HCB needs no defending, least of all by me, (2) some people understand HCB’s decisive moment concept better than I do, and simply disagree with him, and/or (3) I’m the one who misunderstands. I’m OK with all three, really. But my opinion stands. Until I change it. So if you get bent way out of shape by this, feel free to leave a comment, but don’t look for a fight. I’m a lover, not a fighter, man. Rabbinic though suggests that the questions are often more important than the answers, but that doesn’t mean yeshivas aren’t full of heated discussions. Feel free to weigh in.
Great topic David,
I agree with you that the argument that “all moments are decisive” is probably put forth by people who misunderstand Cartier-Bresson, are philosophers not photographers and/or whose photos aren’t exactly noteworthy.
I’ve taken plenty of images of non-decisive moments to know that they exist.
With the prevalence of motor-drives, and their electronic equivalent, I think people often fail to wait for a decisive moment. It is too easy to hold the shutter button down and fill up a memory card with moments. Then rummage around in the results until you find one that suits your needs and perhaps your vision (if you had one to begin with).
Good street photography is hard – there are so many variables out of your control that it is often overwhelming. Saying that all moments are decisive is the ultimate in “Un-Suck” filters.
Still being new to all this I’ve never actually read anything by HCB and if i’ve seen something by him then it’s probably by accident so i’m probably the last person that should comment on his theories. Having said that, is there perhaps not an equal case to be made for the thought that whilst HCB can be right in what he says, so could the “every moment is decisive” camp and we should try to embrace and use both sides?
Should we observe and wait for the decisive moment to capture (which may work best in some situations), or should we try to predict its appearance in which case i’d have thought we’d need to recognise all moments as equally valid and position ourselves according to the specific one we wished to capture?
I’m all theory and very little practice so apologies if i’m talking rubbish here but I hate restricting myself to one line of thought if I can somehow find a way to embrace another alongside it.
Regards
Bravo Ian.
What I find interesting about people’s interpretation of HCB’s “decisive moment” is that it frequently involves some pretty self-centered thinking. You say “each scene at one particular time would have a moment” but what’s a scene and how long does the time last?
When people invoke HCB they can only refer to the scene as “from where I was standing for as long as I was looking through my camera”.
But the scene was different from where I was standing and I stood there for longer. Was there still only one “decisive moment” when the elements came together to express the scene in an “aesthetically meaningful” way for both of us? And if so, who saw it, you or me? And what happened when you walked away? Did the decisive moment go with you? And who decides if it’s aesthetically meaningful or not, me or you? What if we disagree?
Clearly any decisive moment is dependent on the viewer and will vary according to the individual’s view. Which, by definition, means that there must be as many decisive moments as there are viewers and if we all stand around the same scene can we not each see a “decisive moment”?
I think that we’re probably subscribing to the myth of the “decisive moment”. The criteria are too vague and the definition too woolly for it to be a useful measure of a picture’s worth.
That’s not to say I haven’t, on occasion, felt a tingle of excitement as I thought I’d captured a “decisive moment”. Being in the right place and the right time and firing the shutter at just the moment I anticipated would bring me the result I wanted is a great feeling but I think we can say that it was a ‘decisive moment” for me alone and not necessarily for anyone else in the vicinity.
Which, I think, is an argument for saying that we’re all correct. Hurrah!
I think we’re missing the point. This isn’t, to my mind, about whether we are correct, it’s about whether HCB was correct. And we need to go back to HCB’s basic a priori on this – all talk about a decisive moment is in relationship to the frame. In that one moment, in that one scene, through that one viewfinder, is the moment you are capturing truly expressive – in the clearest, most compelling terms, of the scene as a whole?
Yes, in life some moments are more “decisive” and from one person to another the same scene may be more or less important. But that’s not what Cartier-Bresson is saying. He is talking about the frame.
If you’re still interpreting HCB through the lens of “I caught a decisive moment” then I think the point’s been missed. The point is, within the moment you caught, did you catch it at the instance when the forms and gestures coincided to give that scene fullest expression. Forget which slice of life you chose to capture, think smaller. Within that slice – a man walking to work and crossing a puddle – did you, from the angle you are at, with the lens you have, capture the instance where the geometry and other elements make the most powerful image? This is not a question of what you photograph, it’s a question of selection and arrangement, and of exclusion too.
Gavin – I don’t think HCB was trying to be prescritive about a photograph’s worth. I think he was trying to say something about timing and composition, about the importance of placement of elements within a scene. Which scene you choose is up to you.
Ian – Yes, we should. We should both anticipate and wait for the elements to come together, and we should try to predict them. Again, all moments are valid. But within that moment, which moment-within-the-moment best expresses the whole.
Perhaps all this is semantics; maybe we’re getting hung up on the word “moment”. Does it help to think of it as a “moment with a moment” A defining sub-moment that gives the best expression to the larger moment -whichever one we’ve chosen that to be?
Keep it coming, folks, this is good – and important – discussion.
David, “sub-moments”?
I think we run the risk of trying to turn photography into a series of mathematical formula if we continue on this path.
I don’t think you can ask “is the moment you are capturing truly expressive – in the clearest, most compelling terms, of the scene as a whole?” because who’s to say? Who decides whether your image is clear or compelling? Who says that it was the “clearest” interpretation? What’s the measure? Where’s the scale?
It’s a question that’s too abstract and the answers too subjective.
I really do think I’ve grasped what HCB was talking about and I didn’t intend to suggest that he was trying to be prescriptive. Yes, I get the point about the arrangement of subject matter within the frame but at that point we have to agree that whether or not the resulting image succeeds in presenting the “fullest expression” is a matter of personal taste.
Don’t we?
And once we allow that photography is a subjective art and not an absolute science then it must follow that all moments can be, and are, decisive.
Excellent point Ian – minds are like parachutes that work best when open (sorry for the tired cliché). I would argue, however, that you might be contradicting yourself.
“…position ourselves according to the specific one we wished to capture?” You are still in search of a specific one, one image that stands out above the rest, one image that conveys what you FEEL about a place, a time, a person.
We are speaking here in photographic terms. We are speaking about composition, about colour and form, line and shape.
Yes, it is correct to say that a “decisive moment” depends on the viewpoint, ipso facto every viewpoint has a decisive moment and with enough viewers with cameras every moment could be decisive.
To break away from the though experiment we seem trapped in I think we need to stop thinking of “moment” as TIME but think of it as an arrangement of SUBJECTS.
Sometimes you get a decisive moment when all your subjects are exactly how you envisioned them in your frame. Sometime you get a telephone pole growing out of someones head.
Gavin,
Image 36 in your Morocco portfolio is about as decisive a moment as I think is possible.
Would this image have been as powerful and pleasing an instant before or after – probably. But your image seems to be perfection from the point at which you were standing.
I see your point about not turning photography into rote mechanics based on a set of rules without subjective thought and feeling. But I think you need to admit that there are some moments, artistically speaking, that lack appeal. Therefore, artistically speaking, there are plenty of moments that aren’t decisive, they simply – are.
If you’d like some I’ll gladly show you my portofolio
.
Gavin – No, I don’t the we run that risk at all. I think in answer to your query – you do. You are the photographer – its’ your job to make that decision according to your vision. To deny it is to dismiss the value of your own vision, your gifts as a photographer, and your ability to move and compel. Surely we do this because of our ability to order things within the frame. To say every moment is as special as the next, photographically, is to trivialize the ones that move us, the ones that make us pick up our cameras.
Still, I think we recognize these moments as much with our hearts as we do our trained eye.
Great discussion, folks – this is exactly the kind of discussion that really gets my brain whiring and makes us all, if we engage the question, better and more thoughtful photographers.
Thanks Alex, andyou’re right, I am contradicting myself a little there. My problem if I have one, (although learning is something i’m reluctant to see as a problem, more like evolution) is that i’m still very much in the formative stages of my photography where everything is up for being questioned.
The biggest of the questions that come to mind is “What is my role as a photographer, what is my purpose and intent?”. In terms of decisive moments that gives me this question .. and using HCB as the reference .. I did a quick google search and one of his images which came up was of a guy jumping across water and his heel is just about to touch the water. I would surely think of that as a decisive moment, captured to perfection but what if a couple of seconds later a man came into the frame brandishing a pistol?
In the HCB picture i’d have captured the decisive moment of what was in front of my camera at the time, but if that was the only shot i’d taken then I would have missed the decisive moment which told the true stroy. At that point, as a photographer, is my role to tell only the story before me, or is it to tell the story itself?
David, you’re right, as I think my example above possibly shows as well and we are a little wrapped up in the semantics of “the moment”. Likewise my brain is whirring (actually it’s more like coughing and spluttering with an occasional backfire) and whilst i’d agree that the photographers vision and gifts are of utmost importance, i’ve still got that little question mark hanging over how we should use them.
In relation to HCB then I think there is certainly validity in the point he made, but then i’d also question whether his viewpoint was too narrow and his position was more that of artist than observer. That is to say, the creator of a piece of art rather than a chronicler of events? If that’s so, then we’re back to semantics and the need to determine the decisive moment and whether or not that’s determined by the positioning of elements within the frame or the unfolding of events, still within that same frame. Imagining a nice wide-angle lens: If you push me into a pool, would the decisive moment be you pushing me, the look of surprise on my face, my body hitting the water, etc, etc?
/Note to self: Go and read some HCB.. quickly!! :p
I have often wondered about HCB’s contact sheets, which still exist.Here is one:
http://www.geh.org/ar/strip47/m198003410006.jpg
And here’s a quotation:
“…As I entered his magnificent rue de Rivoli apartment, Henri greeted me with a table spread with contact sheets.
Incredibly, they had a number of different images within each sequence highlighted for reproduction. Impishly gleeful at my perplexity, he informed me: “So now you see? Le moment decisif is a matter not only of capturing the content of an image, but of placing it in context.” It was the proof that there could, in fact, not only be a compositionally perfect moment in time, but also a precisely appropriate image to tell a particular story. ”
from:
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/obituary/0,,1279220,00.html
Make your own conclusions.
Hope I haven’t waited too long to pose a question. I’ve been trying to get my head around the discussion here.
Could you say then that the “decisive moment” is when the hight of tension (in the story you are telling/shooting) and the hight of composition intersect?
@ wilsonian – I think that is exactly what our genteel comments above are debating.
I think you have put it very nicely – the intersection of composition and tension.
I think the impasse comes from the idea that there is no “golden” compositional form. Therefore such an intersection could be different for each individual viewer even if positioned at the same point.
Does the “golden form” depend on the story that you want to tell? And if so, you’d only know how close you came to “golden” (or how far off) by having a really clear idea of your vision and story?
Oh, and thank you for staying with the discussion, Alex!
I also like your definition Wilsonian, the moment when “the height of tension and height of composition intersect”. Yes, I’d go with that.
Thanks for picking out the Morocco picture Alex, I certainly worked hard to get it. I can’t say if it fits David’s definition of a “decisive moment” but I’d argue that it shows pretty good timing
David, I agree that I can be the person who decides what works and what doesn’t according to my vision but that’s as far as it goes. I might love HCB’s “man jumping over a puddle” shot and you might think it’s pants. Clearly HCB liked it and thought, I suppose, that it was the decisive moment that presented his vision but if you don’t agree then you’re not wrong. It’s subjective. There’s no absolute and no arbiter who can say what is and what isn’t a decisive moment. So if I say each moment is decisive how can I be wrong. If it’s decisive to me, what’s wrong with that?
I’m not dismissing the value of my own vision but it’s value is only guaranteed to me. Hopefully, others will see the vision too or I won’t eat next month but perhaps that’s more to do with me being able to provide what the majority of people are likely to respond positively too.
I’m playing Devil’s Advocate a little here because I do see and understand the principle of the decisive moment as HCB (and David) have defined it (at least, I thought I did) but there’s danger here I suspect. To my mind, photography can’t be reduced by analysis in this way. Well, it can in retrospect and there are plenty of art gallery owners and picture buyers who make a living doing so but we’re the producers and I think that you have to shoot instinctively or you’ll be lost.
So, I’ll stick with Wilsonian’s definition but I think that “golden form” can only be seen in retrospect. You can’t teach somebody how to shoot it because it’s too intangible. Too much thinking will just be confusing and you run the risk of being paralysed as you try to figure out where the tension and composition reach their peak, by which time the moment, decisive or otherwise, will have passed.
Perhaps the decisive moment is a bit like the definition of hard-core pornography, I can’t describe it but I know it when I see it.
Hee hee… that’s the first time I’ve seen the decisive moment and hard-core pornography in the same sentence. I just noticed that the X Festival in Ottawa’s theme is The Decisive Moment… it will be interesting to see how the theme plays out and how participants interpret the Decisive Moment.
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