Having fun in Paris.

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PAW !!! by kimstoical

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Budapest, 1973. This photo of a window cleaner comes close to what the great photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson's described as the "decisive moment" - that precise, but fleeting moment, when the visual and emotional elements of a scene come together for just a moment, before vanishing for ever. Kereki took a couple more photos of this scene (numbers 205247 and 205248 in the Fortepan archive), but it is the look on the window cleaner's face and his outstretched arm at this precise moment that really make this photo.

Fortepan [205248] / Sándor Kereki

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Street photography myths: Why the Decisive Moment isn’t about the technique

A critical comment on one of my YouTube videos in the series Photographers of Oslo made me reflect on why many still cling to the dogmas about how street photography should be practiced.

Does it really matter whether you use burst mode, film, a smartphone et cetera when photographing on the street? Here are my thoughts on street photography, technology, and the endless pursuit of that decisive moment.

Online comments tend to obsess over what’s «real» or «authentic» in street photography, but not the picture taking act itself. But who really decides how street photos should be taken, and why do we care so much?

The decisive moment – misunderstanding Henri Cartier-Bresson

In the 1950s, Henri Cartier-Bresson used the idea of the «decisive moment» to describe a perfect photo for him. At that time, autofocus and burst mode didn’t exist. The photographer had to rely on his or or hers intuition. But does that mean we must photograph exactly as Cartier-Bresson did?

No. The only question I care about is: Did you get a good image?

It is about your ability to recognize the moment

Ultimately, street photography isn’t about your camera or your shooting style. It’s about your ability to recognize a moment before it unfolds, and to capture that moment in an image.

I don’t care if you used a smartphone, large-format film, or shot 30 frames per second.

The resulting photograph is all that matters.

A few shots that I took in burst mode