“Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with your intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative.” Quoted by Henri Cartier-Bresson, that statement helps me clearly identify the exaction of my process with my camera and aids in the sequencing of my movements when planning and carrying out these performances. The idea of my performances is very much what happens right when the shutter closes and not much else. With these sequences I have control over the constants in the piece. The rest is left up to what happens in that single moment due to the constants. The decisive moment, as it is also called, is a term in which Cartier-Bresson is known for and published a book with that title in 1952 of 126 photos along with a 4,500 word philosophical preface. Also called “stolen images” these are ones that have caught a specific moment in time and cannot be reenacted.
Last semester when I began working in this performance style aesthetic, I did not pay much attention to the specific moments that were caught by my camera of my performances. When I go through the large amounts of photos taken from each performance/shoot I am unaware of what it is that I actually shot. This semester I have become more aware of the fact that not having control over every part of my performance is quite beneficial and adds strength to sequence as a whole. I am enjoying the mystery that happens when I am in front of the camera performing while the documentation that is taking place may not be what I want I let it happen anyways.
Website on Henri Cartier-Bresson & the Decisive Moment
The Decisive Moment Book Online
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