The Decisive Moment

決定的瞬間 / 1932– / Style / Photography Movements

Cartier-Bresson's formula: the instant when form and event coincide, caught as geometry. The Leica's mobility and the no-cropping ethic built the century's ideal of reportage.

Geometry meeting event / The no-cropping ethic / Small-camera mobility / The full black-bordered frame

Images at the source page

Dictionary entry

Best used for
Comparing primary sources and canonical works · Extracting principles that transfer to other media
Type
Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
Composition
Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
Material
Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process
Caution
Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.
Further study
The Decisive Moment, 1952 / Magnum Photos / the puddle behind Gare Saint-Lazare

Related entries

Back to index position