Having now researched the Decisive Moment and the importance of this concept to photography, to be set this as Assignment 3 is well, daunting. To express work in the same vein either following the rules or inverting them has rendered me very conscious of my skills (the lack of them) and my ability to ensure I capture ‘decisive moments’ with my camera.
For right now, I genuinely believe the ‘Decisive Moment’ concept can mean different things to different people, at different times in their lives, just like the meaning of photographs can evolve from one thing to another over time, depending on the eyes of the soul that view them. For what began as my understanding of this ‘genre’ at the beginning of this chapter, and when I am still so early into my studies has already through influential opinion morphed into something much more fluid already and I am half expecting it will alter again the further I progress.
At the crux of the concept I believe the Decisive Moment to be the ephemeral and spontaneous image as Cartier Bresson himself reasoned;
“…Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera…”
Using knowing and intuition to create wonderfully charged images, where the image speaks of a narrative, suggesting a before during and after moment in time is the X Factor in photography. Something each and every photographer whilst being open and receptive to, chases but does not always successfully secure.
For this Assignment is the first of the three assignments set where I haven’t automatically known in my mind what I want to do with it and where I want to try to take it.
It’s sat with me like a brooding black dog. For weeks pacing around my mind, whimpering for attention. I resorted to a mind map as suggested at the beginning of my course to pin ideas down and this was helpful in organising my thoughts.
I had an overwhelming sense that to attempt a Decisive Moment in the conventional sense a la Henri Cartier Bresson was going to be a huge fail. Firstly I neither have his talent or luck.
Therefore, moving the Decisive Moment concept on a little, as I believe it can be, in the vein of ‘The Frozen Moment’, I do believe every ‘moment’ is a ‘fragmenting of time’ as John Szarkowski suggested, and whilst some are and can be clearly iconic moments captured through the lens, they all have the propensity to be equally important, its just some are more photogenic.
Whilst there are a lot of things that denote this passing of time, few are more succinct in my mind and more accessible; when trying to hit Assignment deadlines that is, as those that occur naturally that can not be redone.
Water, day to night and the changing light, the changing of the seasons to name but few, ; it is the natural resources of the earth that showcase this theory the clearest for me but it is water and sunlight that I have chosen to use as my prop in conveying this message for my assignment.
Once I had settled on this idea I knew exactly where I wanted to take my photographs and left myself open to the elements and chance.
In the past year we have discovered a family friendly place to go not far from our home in Folkestone, Kent – Sunny Sands Beach. An area facing increasing investment and development, with the HarbourArm, a number of fancy bars and restaurants and a dog friendly sandy beach.
It has only occurred to me whilst I languished in the depths of January how poor the light is for budding photographers and how few and far between the opportunities are to get out and shoot with such inclement conditions. This may well influence my timing of undertaking the next part of my degree. That said it has had me checking weather forecasts like never before, until the day I was waiting for came.
I chose this place to shoot for my Assignment as I knew I would get a good mixture of dog walkers, couples and families. Potential fodder for a Decisive Moment I reasoned and rather than use Street Photography in it’s general form and to try something different from my first two Assignments, I wanted to shoot by the sea with the same stretch of water captured in my images. To denote the passing of time, moments that can never ever be replicated even if I staged the people I capture; for the seas change with every moment.
On the morning of my proposed shoot, I was up early, preparing my kit and anxiously checking the weather. Despite days and days of grey, wet, freezing weather this morning I had chosen was bright, clear and sunny. The God’s were smiling down on me and cutting me a break.
I chose to shoot from 9.15-10.30am when the sun was still gentle in the sky. When I arrived at Folkestone I was not prepared for just how a beautiful morning it was. It was golden, like a Summers day. No wind, watercolored painted skies and a shimmering stretch of a sandy beach. A total contrast from the previous weeks of adverse weather.
I set my camera to TV mode, in line with all the exercises for this Chapter in our Learning Folder and to make it as easy as I could to capture movement. I put my ISO to 100. I alternated my Shutter speed but noticed from a quick glance of my view screen it seemed to work best at 250.
Prior to my shoot I thought I would edit my photographs to be in Black and White, like the original decisive moment photographs are, but then I came across the work of Harry Gruyaet as I was scrolling through the Magnum Photo’s website (searching for sea & water) and I really liked his body of work, most notably his photographs taken in Belgium in the Town of Ostende – 1988. They are all in colour and for me, look almost filmesque in their finish. I want to say Tableau but I’m not sure they are because they don’t feel for me as polished as that genre depicts. There is something so wonderfully contemporary about his photographs, dare I say so ordinary but that is their beauty for me. Maybe the colour element easily allows us to allude to it, but by keeping my photographs in colour the ‘decisive moment in time’ that I take them in will be recorded as they are and not ensuring they become viewed as timeless images, by making them black and white.
I kept Cartier Bresson’s mantra, ‘what matters is to look’ on my lips as I scanned the dog walkers and lovers walking hand in hand on this brilliant morning. I felt pressured to keep snapping away desperate to get a few good images under my belt and my Assignment officially on track. Who knows when I might get another morning with such beautiful conditions to try again. I walked up and down the harbour, and along the beach. Approaching the more friendly dogs and their owners. All who were very happy for me to snap away.
After I had exhausted my subjects I made my way back to the promenade and climbed the stairs standing by the railings. I had been so busy snapping away I hadn’t taken the morning in for myself. The sun was brilliant up high, creating a shimmer over the gentle tide and wind less beach. I sat down on the floor and propped my camera on the first rung of the railing using it to steady my camera as I played with slow shutter speeds.
It was at this point I looked up to see a lone man, way in the distance but so very close to the waters edge. The sun was blinding my vision and I couldn’t really make him out. I was squinting so much but I started to snap away. My playback screen wasn’t helpful in viewing if I had been successful in capturing a good exposed image as the sun was so bright. It was only when I got home and looked at the images properly on my laptop did I see the images I took and how much i liked them.
Technically, they are probably ripe for criticism but for me and the reason I have included what I think is the best one for my Assignment is the moment (like Cartier Bresson’s puddle photograph – that he too couldn’t see as his vision was obscured by the railings) when the man is walking away from the sea, with the sun on his back, a bird sitting facing to the left, a ship directly behind him and someone kayaking to his right, the outline of his shadow mid step.
Maybe I am allowing emotion to cloud creative judgement but this image and the others I have taken on that day sum up my interpretation of Cartier Bresson’s ‘Decisive moment’, for me.
When I look at my working practise and the images I have taken and chosen for this Assignment I believe I can see a very small incline in progress in my general standard. I know I am showing signs of taking on board all the techniques I am reading about and starting to become a great deal more considered in my approach. I am moving, albeit very slowly in the direction I wanted to head in; that is working on having a greater knowledge from which to draw on and helping me to create solid images I am proud of.
None of this is coming easy though and working around a young family is proving very difficult, however with that said, the joy that I am deriving from this course is worth the time I am putting in.
A3 Decisive Moment Contact Sheet (Feb 2018)
Final Selected Photographs:
1/400, F10, 24mm, ISO 100
1/400, F10, 24mm, ISO 100
1/160, F22, 24mm, IS0 100
1/1250, F6.3, 24mm, IS0 100
1/250, F36, 76mm, ISO 100
1/250, F10, 72mm, ISO 100
Reflections:
Formative Feedback – CSmith OCA A3 Decisive Moment March 2018
Again I am really happy with the constructive support my Tutor has given me in my Formative Feedback for this Assignment.
His comments regarding my Prints were spot on and the calibration of my screen needed tweaking. I have also taken the time to discuss and familiarise myself with my local printing company and their specifications.
The comments about refining, reworking and continuing to revisit in an attempt to make a better photograph are absolute essential for me to draw on for Assignments. I am not limited with Digital Photography to a set number of images so I should strive to ensure I keep on pressing the shutter and then go back and press the shutter some more. This is a great piece of advice and one I will put into action for my subsequent Assignments. Infact for all my photography. Please see above drop down menu and link to Assignment 4 and 5 Contact Sheets and just how many more images I took. This must remain an absolute for my work.
My tutor’s comments on The Lone walker through Arch, Silhouette and Distant ship are helpful and constructive. They suggest that I have more control over my images than I currently realise I do both at the time of taking the photograph and when editing. I believe he is helping me move towards making less busy and concise photographs that I aspire to. Also a reminder that there is not only one shot, as my comments above. I wouldn’t have seen what he suggested had he not suggested it, which suggests to me that I have a long way to go !
I have as he recommended continued to look at Martin Parr’s work. His observation skills are incredible and so succinct and so weirdly ironic in a non patronising way.
I recognise a busyness to my images looking back at this Assignment that again reflects my inexperience as a photographer and observation skills. Trying to say too much all at once. The seeds are slowly being sown in my mind through the exercises and Assignments and I can see progress as I move through the course and reflect, but I also need to keep this at the forefront of my mind. Less is more.
Just Plain Love – L’amour de court
Where I stand…the Decisive Moment
My Notes – Pages 76-102 Notebook
Bibliography
- Cartier-Bresson, H. 1952, [Online] http://www.henricartierbresson.org/en/ (Accessed 18 September 2018).
- Szarkowski, J., OCA Expressing Your Vision, Page 58, Photography 1, ‘The Frozen Moment’.
- Pro Magnum Photos, Photographer Portfolio, Harry Gruyaert Overview, Belgium; Town of Ostende (1988), [Online] https://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2K1HRG8IDIDI, (Accessed 18 September 2018).
CSmith 517189 Expressing Your Vision 