The Decisive Moment

THE DECISIVE MOMENT
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THE DECISIVE MOMENT
In a 1957 interview with The Washington Post, Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French humanist, photographer, and one of the founders of the Magnum Photos, describes the process of photography as a creative moment that takes a fraction of a second. During this period, which Cartier-Bresson refers to as the "Decisive Moment," a photographer's eye must capture an expression or composition that life presents and quickly determine with intuition when to make a shot. Unlike painting or drawing, Cartier-Bresson considers this moment to be the creative time, which, when missed, will never be rewound. Place de l'Europe is one the best photo that the photographer captured and embodies his concept of decisive moments. This paper will describe in detail the formal qualities of the Cartier-Bresson photograph and those in another similar photo sourced from the Washington Post that depicts the feeling of a decisive moment or a moment stopped in time. Finally, this paper will reflect the context and how the visual appearance of the two photographs captures the significance of the events they depict.[Kenneth, Dickerman, “How the world’s most legendary photo agency is celebrating its 70th year.” The Washington Post., last modified June 6, 2016. /news/in-sight/wp/2016/06/06/how-the-worlds-most-legendary-photo-agency-is-celebrating-its-70th-birthday/]
In the Cartier-Bresson iconic 1932 photo, “Place de l’Europe, Paris Gare Saint Lazare (Rosenblum image 619), a man hops over a flooded area in Paris city as shown below. The photography captured the moment before the man's feet touched the water in an instant that is enriched by some form of dynamic anticipation. In the background is a hazily captured building that contrasts with an ornamented spiked fence, making the two contrasting elements combine through curves and lines. Just after the fence, an image of a lady dancer also leaping into the air can be seen diagonally to the hoping man. Together, this depiction paints a picture of an urban setting in which the man in the picture lives. The photograph portrays Cartier-Bresson’s unique talent of engaging viewers beyond the documentation of the fact at one moment, a man in Paris jumped over a puddle but never hit it. However, the spontaneity of the photograph taken in the bustling urban space outside the Paris train station portrays a new and fast-paced European setting filled with cars, trains, and industries. An important aspect of this decisive moment of capturing the jumping man is that he will forever never hit the flood.[Henri Cartier-Bresson Artworks & Famous Photography | TheArtStory.” n.d. The Art History. /artist/cartier-bresson-henri/artworks/...