First, a quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson:
““Photography is, for me, a spontaneous impulse coming from an ever attentive eye which captures the moment and its eternity.” ”
In practice.
The simple fact of life is that it moves entirely too fast. Before the advent of photography, we relied on more primitive methods of capturing moments, inevitably tainted by our own human perception. While these methods may be beautiful, and realistic, they present the world as the artist sees it, highlighting the beautiful, hiding the ugly, or doing the opposite. Photography enables us to capture truth, in a fraction of a second. Of course, how do you decide what to capture?
Waiting.
I love street photography. At it's heart, it captures the minutiae of everyday life. A man waiting for the bus. A group of women laughing while walking out of the market. It's finding that common ground, that expression of the feeling that no matter what our differences are, we still all live in the same street, neighborhood, city, planet. To capture these moments is to capture the feeling of connectedness in the world. It's interesting to pore over the details in these images, and find the things that the photographer picked up on, that may have otherwise been lost to entropy.
#whereami
The difference between street photography and posed portrait photography is not intention. There is as much intention behind street photography as there is where the subject is working for the camera. A photographer's eye is finely tuned to pick up that which not only others may miss, but the aesthetic quality of the world around them. Photography doesn't just capture things in 2 dimensions, but the perfect moment in time. The decisive moment is a term coined by Henri Cartier-Bresson, and it's the ever unattainable goal of finding the perfect photo in time. Simply put, while a photograph may be beautiful, what makes it truly stand out is capturing it at the exact right second.
Reading the not-so-local news.
The moment may be when a child is just about to lose the ice cream from his cone. The moment may be when the sun hits the cyclist right as she's passing by, making the chrome on her chain guard shine in the most blinding way. The moment may be at the wedding, when the two grooms have squirreled away a moment to themselves, away from the guests and demanding parents. A little smile from the girl at the fruit stand. A weary traveller glad to be home. It's not just going out and taking pictures, it's being patient. It's being patient and waiting for the picture to happen, to make the photograph with intention.