Photographic Moments:

The Decisive Moment Explained

Introducing the Contemplative Moment

The phrase - the decisive moment - was made popular by Henri Cartier Bresson and although he did a good job of describing and demonstrating its use in photography, the phrase could still use some clarification and explanation.

“Decisive” means making a decision, determined and resolute. On its opposite extreme it means without hesitation. One could also apply the other definition that connotes crucial or important. However if we do we miss the causative action that must be taken by the photographer to decide and act simultaneously - thereby creating the decisive moment.

To further clarify let’s look at what a “moment” is photographically. To do this we must define it in terms of shutter speed as the shutter speed used in any picture is the moment it was taken. A moment may vary from many seconds as in a timed exposure (typically using a tripod) to one-eight thousandth of a second (the fastest speed my current camera travels). In order to demonstrate the decisive moment let’s use an intermediary speed of one-hundredth of a second - a common shutter speed for picture taking.

If we took a five minute interval of time and broke it up into one-hundredth of a second moments we would find out that there are 30,000 picture taking opportunities. Mathematically this would be 100 X 60 or 6,000 moments within a minute, times 5 for a total of 30,000 moments. How many decisive moments exist within this five minute interval? Of course this depends on the event unfolding, but one can see that the moment of decision is not as easy as it may seem. One has to be ultra-perceptive to pick out THE moments of greatest meaning and visual impact. Add to this positioning and viewpoint along with the myriad technical decisions inherent in the use of the camera and you see that the decisive moment could easily be described as the elusive moment.

We can now introduce another type of moment which is a mode of photographic seeing: the contemplative moment. Whereas the decisive moment involves action, the contemplative moment involves little and places more stress on positioning, viewpoint and camera technique. Unhesitating decisiveness is no longer of paramount importance in order to capture the image. Instead finding and seeing in a more reflective and studied manner takes precedence. Landscapes, abstracts, reflections - moments of deeper seeing in the now. With this type of photography it is as if the moment is stretched in time to allow one to look further and select out compositions never before seen. In fact it is this faculty - the unique view - which highlights the better contemplative moments.

There is no black and white in terms of moments. Decisive and contemplative moments may merge and it is in the mergeance of the two which makes the most memorable and compositionally interesting. Having found an ideal contemplative moment and to have suddenly appear a bird in flight which you capture at optimum harmony with your design makes the best type of photography.

Yet their distinction is helpful. Contemplate means to observe thoughtfully. For a decisive moment the action before one is unfolding quickly - time is on the move. On the other side, time has slowed considerably. Like a walk in the forest, the expansion of time allows one to look and see if one wishes to: to contemplate, compose and capture. A good photographer can do both and combine their elements as necessary.

In reading “On Photography” by Susan Sontag I was struck by two cited quotes:

“... the hundreth of a second caught so precisely that the motion is continued from the picture indefinitely: the moment made eternal.” Hart Crane

“The photographer is the contemporary being par excellence; through his eyes the now becomes the past.” Berence Abbott

Crane was referring to iconic imagery made by Alfred Steiglitz and yet it provides an understanding of the potential power of photography. I would never be so naive as to state that every image taken is eternal but one must realize that the taking of an image by a skilled photographer who has something to say provides the potentiality of the image to be eternal. This can be as limited as a family photograph which moves down the generations, or as wide as a pulitzer-prize winning reportage that takes the world by storm and becomes emblematic of a cultural time and place.

Once an iconic image enters the ken of man he proliferates it down the ages through his ideas and reproductions. Even a simple photograph of a birthday celebration “eternalizes” the image for the celebrant. It becomes a way of sharing the moment and becomes part of the familial or societal memory bank to a greater or lesser degree.

The following quote by Berenice Abbott provides an antithesis to the eternal concept yet fits hand-in-glove somehow. A photograph, as it travels forward in time is always suggesting the past. It is a record, a memory, a private or cultural imitation of what was. It therefore follows that the eternal value of a photograph travels not just forward but backward - creating a timelessness.

So it is commonly thought that photography stops time and this could be easily proved. However in reality it is false - a specious argument made by the philosophically inane.* In reality a photograph expands time. It allows a single moment, whether that be one-hundreth of a second, one-thousandth or whatever, to expand ad infinitum. Depending on the moment, the skill of the photographer and a myriad of aesthetic values - the single moment captured reflects on the past as well as travels to the future. Therefore instead of stopping time, we are dealing with the infinite from the viewpoint of the viewer.

*It is true only from the perspective of the photographer who is searching for the decisive moment in the now. But only from his perspective.

When I read lines like this: “...the less stratified, increasingly porous quality of the postboom art world seems to have made setting up shop in some form easier.” in the New York Times article of September 3, 2009 entitled The Mood of the Market, as Measured in the Galleries by Roberta Smith, I want to pop. Pop in a good way. This to me is art criticism with its pulse on the cultural flow. It’s also art in itself, a beautifully worded sentence that is full of insight.

Art criticism in Boston is often simply cronyism or paid for advertising, and the aspiring artists will take it any way they can get it. Believe me I understand that it is not easy to keep a magazine or newspaper going these days but lets face it, integrity must come first. artscope magazine (that don’t capitalize their name) is a beautiful, glossy magazine with great image reproductions. But if you want a review, be sure to place an ad. The Boston Phoenix recent review of a Tufts University group show touted one particular artist as deserving an ICA one-person show. The author was good friends with the artist. Where’s the professionalism, the integrity?

Art New England, another glossy mag which comes out bimonthly (i.e. once every two months) is often behind the times in this rapid-fire information age. For example when their front page article on the Brandeis University Rose Museum debacle made the newstands, the news was practically over. And unfortunately the Boston Globe just doesn’t seem to have the space or resources for a good look at the art scene in our area anymore.

So we must turn to the internet and online magazines and blogs. Here we have Big, Red and Shiny, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research and .... ? Please let me know what other art blogs or online magazines are out there? Obviously this is where the Boston art scene will get its due. What we need are moonlighters, art critics who take pride in their work, don’t care if you advertise or not with them in order to get a look, and are willing to not only review the Shepard Fairey exhibit but also lesser known artists as well. Add to this a bit of insight on the artistic zeitgeist of the past, present and future and away we go.

Much of what I’m describing here is what Susan Sontag would describe as “negative epiphany” in her book of essays entitled On Photography. Although her context involved photographs of atrocities the same sense applies in that it’s an unwanted realization of reality. I’m not happy about it but it’s what I see as true. In my last big show I was fortunate enough to have the attention of Beat Magazine, an art magazine that soon after folded. I was honored by an article that was honest, that is unpaid for in any way. Looking back on it now I appreciate even more it’s significance. Significance not in the art world but to me. A good review if paid for is tarnished. No matter how glowing, one feels the dirt underneath. Maybe they’ll come back to start an online magazine or others will grab their mantle. The artist needs you.