There is a mythic element to the idea of "The Decisive Moment." In the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, it meant the instantaneous fire of a decision to capture a photograph. A split second either side of the one perfect moment would mean a missed photograph. The photographer is exhorted to be ready to pounce on the subject at the precise instant the photograph gels in front of him.
I think a better term, more appropriate to how good photographs really happen, is "The Decisive Pre-Moment". In one sense, it means that if you haven’t done the work to know when a decisive moment is about to occur, you won’t know it when it passes you by. In the sense I mean, it is about anticipating where good photogaphs are more likely to occur than not. And putting yourself in position before they happen.
I’ve been decisively pre-momenting my shots all day. The landscape here is edging out of that not-winter, not-spring look, but it’s not all the way there. The big trees on campus are bare. This does not make for grand campus vistas. The ornamental trees, however, are in full bloom. And they tend to be astride entrances to the campus buildings. By perching myself at the base of such a tree, I get this big spray of color in the upper half of the photos, and it blocks out the bare trees in the background. Now all I need are bodies.
One of the requirements of admissions materials is that their campus landscapes be populated. So at class change time, I stand under one of the flowering trees, and get lots of students leaving and entering the buildings. My decisive pre-moment.
Another example. I walked into a building, and a student was perched on a low wall in the lobby in that way students perch in positions and places that fully formed adults just don’t. It would be a cool image, once I positioned myself. Before I went up and made an introduction (my usual line is a version of, "Hi, would you mind continuing to ignore me please?"), I stopped, changed lenses, realized I changed to the wrong lens and changed it again, checked my ISO setting and my exposure compensation, set what I thought would be an appropriate f stop, and then I said "Hi…" and got into position.
It’s all about recognizing where the photograph is going to be, before you get there.
wow...thanks for this inspiring info.
we live in such a fast food everything-is-ready kind of world that i spent so little thoughts on these kind of preparation techiniques
thanks!
Posted by: laurence | April 21, 2006 at 01:34 AM
Thanks for the prompt to think.....
I've written about your post on photostream
Posted by: photostream | April 21, 2006 at 09:35 AM