The Decisive Moment

The Decisive Moment was a photographic concept founded by Henry Cartier Bresson. He was a french photograph noted most for his candid shots. In 1948 Bresson took a series of photographs at Ghandi's funeral, he also took the final moments before china became communist. Around this time Bresson developed a skill known as the decisive moment. He created and practiced this himself.

In 1952 Bresson published a book called 'The Decisive Moment' within this book was a set amount of photographs which obeyed this rule.

"Photography is not like painting," Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. "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 intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative," he said. "Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."

The Decisive Moment is an movement of photography which is used all the time today. I myself use it and so do many other photographers. A photograph is best when it is captured at the exact right time.