Existential Photography--News

The Vietnamese student has the calm confidence befitting of that country’s more hopeful future, emphasized by the ghosted figure of the ageing rickshaw driver. The stark figure conveys the stoic endurance of a Samuel Becket character

“The decisive moment”
Henri Cartier-Bresson made famous “the decisive moment”, but it seems that the translation is not completely apt. In any event, the fact remains that some shots work because of a fusion of glances, gestures, or spatial arrangement which is so fleeting that a nanosecond is the difference between an ordinary shot and something more special. This does not require that the sudden apparition of the right moment must immediately be accompanied by the release of the camera shutter. More usually it means following promising subjects for sometimes extended periods with the finger poised until, if at all, the right moment presents itself. It is patience which is most likely to be rewarded by the fleeting “decisive moment.” More of my possible candidates for this almost mythical accolade will be featured later.

Copyright Mark Berthold 2006