Digital Experiment/Exercise: Decisive Moment
- Decisive Momoment:
- "simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression." Henri Cartier-Bresson
Choose one photograph from a photographer that you like
from Photograph as Contemprary Art by Cotton, or a photograph
by a photographer we've seen, read about, or discussed in class that
you think works in the style
of decisive
moment. I encourage you to check out photo books from the library.
- Explain how the photograph you chose is working structurally and compositionally
as having the qualities of "decisive moment".
- Then take a digital photograph, specifically for this assignment with the same structural logic. (It can, but it need not
look formally similar.)
- Post the photograph you referenced (if possible from online searches), your text and photograph on moodle here.
The goal is not necessary to take a great photograph (although it
doesn't hurt) but to understand and internalize the process of
taking such a photograph. It will inform and change the way you look
at photographs.
This isn't a creative project. It is a technical exercise. That is, don't force your spin on it. What I expect is a straightforward attempt at a decisive moment. That is why I value the attempt/process and not the end result
I value your intent and analysis more than the end result. Great decisive moment photographs are hard to come by... as indicated by books such as "Photographs Not Taken"