Additional Note re the below: I was unable to follow through with the additional images due to lockdown restrictions but left the blog unedited as it gives an idea of what my intentions were and I guess more importantly the way in which my understanding of the Decisive Moment and some of what it entails is evolving

After receiving the Tutor feedback for this assignment we decided that I would re take the images. Rather than being disappointed with this decision, I was quite sure it was the right one. Perhaps deep down I knew the images were lacking but it took the discussion to help me see what.

My tutor suggested that the images were a little safe and that they needed an element of surprise or be more surreal. He did say that I had achieved some peak moments and had a go at architectural framing but sometimes the shots are overwhelmed by unintentional random elements. He suggests that I go for simpler backgrounds and also opt for a 28mm lens which will afford more drama even though I will have to get closer. He also asks that I explain why I decided to convert to black and white and to have a defined subject. I converted to black and white in order to keep with the classic Cartier-Bresson decisive moment. I think I need to make sure the elements are right in colour and black and white.

In order to try and get the shots I need we discussed finding a location that was less “safe” (not in a physical way), a location that is a bit more gritty.

It had taken quite a bit of reading and research for me to start to get an understanding of the meaning of the phrase “The Decisive Moment” in a way that would allow me to fulfil the brief for the assignment and in hindsight I do believe I have understood it up to a point. I really wanted to try and get more of a feel for it and one thing that occurred to me was that the iconic image that always pops up is Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris 1932

It is an image that I don’t particularly find easy to look at and found very hard to break down into the elements that cover the traditional Decisive Moment. I think I found this quite worrying initially. Wasn’t this supposed to be the quintessential DM iconic image?
Spending a day doing more reading, looking at other photographers and their Decisive Moments and generally trying to figure out what I was missing I realised that I may have overanalysed and made this all far too complicated. I had also forgotten to take into account the fact that the iconic image had been taken a long time ago and actually for its time was quite amazing. I still find it uncomfortable to look at but have discovered a new respect and understanding.

One image that I really felt epitomised The Decisive Moment for me was found during my day of discovery. Fig.1

Fig.1 Stuart Franklin, (1986) Manchester UK

The photograph, by British photographer Stuart Franklin, taken in 1986 in Moss Side Manchester stood out for me in so many ways. My first thoughts were how easy it was to look at. I noticed how my eye followed from left to right along the mattresses, then followed the boy climbing onto the container, making a triangle with the two boys on the top. My eye then moved to the boy standing then behind the boy jumping and then onto the boy who has jumped off, where it continued down onto the mattress and back round again. My eyes followed the probably trajectory of the boy, even though he is in mid air. The boy in the foreground seems to be in a world of his own, and although I feel he probably should have been the first thing I noticed, he didn’t really get all my attention until I had gone round the loop a few times. There is so much in this image that works to make it a decisive moment! All these elements and more are in Bressons image but perhaps just that bit harder to see, read and comprehend.