I was really motivated by Jo Teasdale’s presentation at Brighton and Hove Camera Club on 23.01.18.  She presented projects she is currently working on, one of which is “Looking Forward, Turning Back” series really inspired me.

read more about:Jo Teasdale’s; Looking Forward: Turning Back (accessed 28.01.18)

Looking Forward: Turning Back by Jo Teasdale

In Jo’s blog she says:

The concept came about when I thought how I took my photographs. Looking, watching and waiting, trying to keep alert for those individual moments in time when a picture is born. So taking a photograph of a particular view we naturally look around at what is in front of us. It occurred to me we never see what is behind us, there’s no reason to, we have found the view we wish to photograph. However, if we were to turn around what would we see? I wanted to capture precisely this

I found this a really interesting juxtaposition between in front and behind, in terms of Assignment 3 – Decisive Moment, I feel that this is something I could use or expand to incorporate the other themes.  Jo’s image above definitely engenders both landscape and a decisive moment.

Following this presentation, I went out the next day to have a go at taking a similar image.  I found out I can ‘overlay images’ in camera, so used this feature for this image. I chose to stand inside one of the shelters to take the images, as I wanted to explore the idea of Henri Cartier-Bresson that form and frame of the image can be prepared in advance and provides structure to the image. 

Mewsbrook – 24.01.18 – overlay image in camera

I would like to explore this idea further, taking an image of a person coming towards the camera and then from behind as they walk away. The decisive moment will be as they pass me, but the viewer will only see the before and after.

Christian Stoll, is a German photographer, working in Dussledorf and New York.

Multiple Exposure Street Scene – Christian Stoll

I particularly liked this image from his series “New York Split Second’.I love the concept of lots of ‘decisive moments’.  I know how to create double exposure images in my camera using the overlay function, but I think this level of multi-exposure will need to be worked up in post processing.

source: http://www.christian-stoll.com/website/photos_detail.php?gallerieID=1102&gallery=new-york_split_second (accessed 26.01.19)

Martin Dietrich is a German photographer living and working in Frankfurt

He says of himself:

My work is mostly of a certain abstract, minimalistic and geometrical nature including strong leading lines and shapes. To a large part my work incorporates urban themes such as architecture and street photography. Nevertheless you’ll also find some other things I feel like at the moment. 

source: http://www.martindietrichphotography.de/about-me/ (accessed 26.01.19)

I came across Martin’s work whilst doing research for Assignment 3 – The decisive moment. I have an idea for doing double exposure images for this assignment and was looking up other photographers who have done this.  

This image came up in a page: 10-photographers-creating-enigmatic-works-with-double-exposure.  i particularly liked the monochrome forms and the matt look of the image.

Double Exposure done in Camera (Fuji X-Pro 1) by Martin Dietrich

I particularly connected with Martin’s Street Photography work, which has other examples of this type of image.  Many of his images are very minimalist, and looking down from above at this subjects.  They are mostly high contrast and always have great light.  Many of the images also make use of shadows, which makes me think that he must research his locations in terms of time and light.

Looking at these images, brought back the comment by Henri- Cartier-Bresson in the video, that he always looked for form first, to him Light was just the ‘purfume’.  I am inclined to think, however, that getting the light right, really makes the difference and this is definitely the case in Martin’s work.

http://www.martindietrichphotography.de/

Research into the concept of ‘the decisive moment’

How to Master “The Decisive Moment”

Eric Kim says that H C-B believed that:

• “The Decisive Moment” was that split second of genius and inspiration that a photographer had to capture a certain moment
• You can never recreate the same circumstances in terms of location and people.
• You must constantly be looking for moments to capture,
• Once that moment is gone, it is gone forever

7 Tips How to Capture “The Decisive Moment” in Street Photography

1. What is a “decisive moment” for you
2. Follow your intuition
3. Set it and forgetit
4. Photograph what you’re afraid of
5. Look for emotion and gestures
6. What is personally-meaningful to you
7. Work the scene

https://petapixel.com/2013/08/12/the-decisive-moment-and-the-human-brain/

this is an interesting article from Petapixel, which explores the interactions between conscious (i.e., knowing) and unconscious (i.e., intuiting) awareness and how the brain works to link the two. 

Extract from conversation on on student forum about a3 decisive moment.

https://discuss.oca-student.com/t/eyv-a3-decisive-moment-feedback-needed/6483

Comment by Clive White – OCA tutor:

I didn’t want them to be just an extension of cliché esthetics’

The decisive moment isn’t an outdated Modernist conceit, it’s an ever present appropriate strategy concerned with when you decided to press the shutter button. It’s the second most important decision the photographer makes after framing.

Some students seem to get the idea that they’re supposed to critique it in some way as an outmoded idea by redefining it or that they’re supposed to be critiquing the work of H. C-B.; as tutors we don’t really understand why the section has been read like this but the assignment, along with the rest of EYV is being revised and I’m contributing a case study from one of my students to help explain the concept and this assignment more effectively.

You are encouraged to critique it in the sense that one can consciously produce indecisive or non-decisive moments but in order to do that one needs to understand what a decisive moment is, some people are jumping straight to the critique position with out properly understanding the concept of the decisive moment and a spurious motivation.

The minimum requirement of this assignment is that the images should visually demonstrate the understanding of the concept without requiring any explanation or captioning when viewed by those familiar with the concept. It is not enough to say this is a decisive moment because I say it is. The image at the moment of capture should have a significance which is not extant at the moment before or the moment after.

Once that’s achieved the aspiration should be to make images which are not only decisive moments but to make them part of the natural progressive flow of one’s work.

Review the images you’ve made and decide if they meet the base criteria, was the moment you’ve chosen different in its resonance in any significant way from a moment before or after.

I think this really helps clarify what is needed from this assignment.

• it it NOT a critique of HC-B, but needs to demonstrate and understanding of the concept
• it should capture a moment in time that is different from the moment before and the moment after.
• the images should have aesthetic balance

I also had a look at a couple of blogs suggested by the tutors which were held up as demonstrating the required response to the brief

Kate Aston  and David Fletcher 

two very different responses and very interesting.