Debunking the decisive moment

[OurManInTangier]

It IS all about the moment. Photography is like shooting skeet or ducks. It is not art, it is craft and skill. What's your batting average?

My last film outing I batted .666. I'm proud of that. The devil is in details. Check out Bresson's proof sheet. Did you notice his batting average?

Almost any of those shots are keepers, and better than today's photographer aided with auto focus and/or exposure.

I covered a funeral last week with a late model digital SLR, and at least a full fourth of the shots were either incorrectly exposed (back lit situations), haze flared, or out of focus. With today's gear the moment can be robbed by faith in the equipment.

What I can do with a roll a film may take 150 shots with a digital.
'D' doesn't stand for digital, it stands for 'delete'.

With the best will in the world I'd suggest that sounds more like a case of learning when your camera is likely to be fooled by circumstances. Any meter can underexpose a back lit subject, the faith should be in oneself as the photographer to recognize potential issues and adjust as necessary. Faith in a camera, at least to make decisions, would seem somewhat misplaced.

 

[Ansel]

All the "Decisive Moment" really means is to take the photo when the interesting stuff is happening.

Its just basic common sense.

 

[OurManInTangier]

Seems very similar to the idea that some seem to have, with regard to "street photography," that one must always keep moving and that staying in one place for longer than it takes to re-tie your shoelace is simply not cricket, whilst using anything longer than a 28mm is just cowardly and that working a scene means you clearly don't have the vision and reactions of a 'master.' I had the utter joy of being lectured by a young photography student on the subject of Bresson's 'bike/steps' photograph. Pic below.

http://www.ventspleen.com/?p=531

Whilst trying to enjoy a coffee and some rare sun, he was trying to tell me that Bresson had just come through a door at the top of the steps and 'clicked' as the bike went passed. Only his genius could have accomplished such a shot. The idea that a photographer can recognize potential in a scene and work it and around it didn't appear to either impress or satisfy him. Personally I find that a far more impressive idea than luck and reactions...of which I've been blessed myself on occasion, but I wouldn't want to rely on it.

Taking Sparrow's words and using them both slightly out of context and widened to include some of the other odd ideas mentioned above, I'd agree that "The idea that they gave a hoot about some sort of pictorial dogma is silly in the extreme."

 

[Michael Markey]

I had the utter joy of being lectured by a young photography student on the subject of Bresson's 'bike/steps' photograph. Pic below.

http://www.ventspleen.com/?p=531

Whilst trying to enjoy a coffee and some rare sun, he was trying to tell me that Bresson had just come through a door at the top of the steps and 'clicked' as the bike went passed. Only his genius could have accomplished such a shot.

I was lectured by a "judge" at the camera club on that shot only last week.

Apparently Bresson payed them to cycle past. 🙂

 

[OurManInTangier]

I was lectured by a "judge" at the camera club on that shot only last week.

Apparently Bresson payed them to cycle past. 🙂

Bresson must have been accompanied by a large, short sighted, note taking and no doubt bickering entourage wherever his travels took him😀😉

 

[Sparrow]

... he should have listened to the chap that suggested a faster shutter speed ... or paid the chap to slow down a bit

 

[MCTuomey]

..and the greater contradiction is that if you are blazing away then how is it you are also studying the subject. Studying is of course the wrong terminology unless you are a reactive style of photographer where you pounce. The photograph you want is at that moment, not all of them and you are tuned to that moment and yourself. If you are blazing away then get a video camera and remove the frames one by one afterward. All you will learn is editing as a post process. This eagerness to press the shutter is a real problem in street and I think it has more to do with a fondness for the camera than the photograph.

Speaking as someone lacking in skill and speed, it's the exception for me that I "see" the photo and then have the ability to make the photo I see. But it does happen and shots taken this way have a very high keeper rate, so I strive to shoot this way. Much more often though, what I see is fluid light and movement and form, and then take shots that try to emphasize one or more of these elements within the frame, without a clear photo in mind. Apprentice's hopeful exposures, really.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Bresson must have been accompanied by a large, short sighted, note taking and no doubt bickering entourage wherever his travels took him

No he wasn't. They just claimed that to pad their expense claims. They were all in some Parisian bar when it happened and agreed which story each would submit. :angel:

 

[OurManInTangier]

No he wasn't. They just claimed that to pad their expense claims. They were all in some Parisian bar when it happened and agreed which story each would submit. :angel:

Of course. The Art of Expenses Claims beautifully summarized and neatly explaining the phenomenon of HCB-bull****tery. 😎 I can't find a "hat's off" emoticon so the cool one will have to suffice!

 

[Mcary]

All the "Decisive Moment" really means is to take the photo when the interesting stuff is happening.

Its just basic common sense.

+1

If you watch some of Ben Horne's videos on youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtiLZhefLrm4CEMrctJyzUQ
You can see how the "Decisive Moment" , In this case waiting for just the right light, even plays apart in landscape photography.

 

[Sparrow]

... I expect a couple of hours in some Parisian bar with Henri and Ernest would lead to some exaggeration ... daiquiris for lunch and all that

 

[Sparrow]

+1

If you watch some of Ben Horne's videos on youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtiLZhefLrm4CEMrctJyzUQ
You can see how the "Decisive Moment" , In this case waiting for just the right light, even plays apart in landscape photography.

... anything to displace the boredom of photographing landscapes eh?

 

[ferider]

The only thing I learn by browsing these blogs, is that HCB and others used many techniques, including the (a) decisive moment (e.g., Dessau 1945, China 1948-49, etc.)

There also is (b) scene staging (boy with the two Magnum wine bottles by HCB, or VJ Day, by Alfred Eisenstaedt), (c) use of several lenses (HCB's 35mm shot of the family at the river), (d) focus and exposure bracketing, (d) working a scene with multiple photos, etc.

If these guys are examples for you, the only conclusions you can draw are: Whatever works. There is no home-run. You work more, you get lucky more often. Be there when it matters (e.g., for HCB, Ghandi, French resistance, etc.).

Roland.

 

[Sam Kanga]

"…There is no home-run. You work more, you get lucky more often. Be there when it matters…"

Hi Roland,

That's a pretty good way to put it.

Sam

 

[pete hogan]

"…There is no home-run. You work more, you get lucky more often. Be there when it matters…"

Hi Roland,

That's a pretty good way to put it.

Sam

Right. Experience and preparation tend to show.