A moment can be understood as a point in time or an instant. On a technical level, for photographers, it can be perceived as the period of time the camera sensor or film is captures photons to record a certain event. On a compositional level , often associated with a good image, it can be understood as the harmony between light and the elements in the frame in a way that the scene is not repeatable.
In the language of photography many are familiar with the concept of The Decisive Moment immortalized by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1952. The French edition of the book, released in the same year, is entitled Images à la Sauvette. The meaning is not exactly the same since the French original title refers to a certain agility, intuition, spontaneity in capturing an image, in the sense that Henri tried to capture his photographs without the subjects being aware of his presence.
The moment can nevertheless be applied to a wide range of photography subjects besides street photography. Food photographers may want to capture that drizzle of honey over a pancake; wildlife photographers may want to capture the instant a bird takes flight; landscape photographers may want to photograph that ray of light on a specific tree; sports photographers may want to get that photo of a ball leaving a football player’s head into the net, and so on.
How many times have you stood in front of a beautiful lit scene waiting for the right person or the right action to happen? How many times have you waited patiently for an animal you know inhabits the spot in front of you and it never shows up? How many times have you waited for the clouds to open to illuminate a beautiful scene, and when that happens, the spot of light is already meters off your envisioned image?
The moment can be a dilema or a virtue to some photographers. Some have the patience to wait in a corner until something interesting happens or a certain gesture is made. Others get too bored and keep on going if the scene has potential but something else is not working at that specific time. I’m more related to the second type. Do I feel frustrated by not photographing what I thought could be a very good image? Not really, I tend to go with the flow, accept what the world has to offer. The number of times I was rewarded by unexpected moments totally balanced that. No doubt that I may then be at home looking at the images and finding things that could have been better, but that’s all part of the experience.
Sometimes there are moments that never happen. Nothing goes to plan, or the vision is not working on that day. Photograph with your mind, even if it’s sitting down in your car with pouring rain outside, reading a book and eating cereal bars. Yes, I did that and have incredible vivid memories of it, because I was consciously aware of the moment and accepted that.
Often it’s the moment that makes a good photograph great, but it’s also a life experience; it’s living the moment.
What he said.
I spent a week once, in a desolate area of desert in a desolate corner of Oregon, waiting for the right light to photograph Steens Mountain.
Yes, I got my shot. It will be on my Substack a few years from now.
New Project? 🤩