Re: [Leica] Indecisive Moment

["Joe Codispoti" <joecodi@thegrid.net>]

Chandos,

Your hypothetical filming of an event and choosing the best frame for
printing is certainly an intriguing one.
I am sure that if 35mm Arriflex cameras were not so unwieldy and expensive
that sports photographers would be carrying those instead of Nikon and Canon
auto focus cameras.

We have come to accept the decisive moment to be the one presented to us by
the photographer. The decisive moment can be one anticipated as being an
imminent and peak circumstance or it can be one contrived to appear natural
and spontaneous.

Bresson was a master at this. He is without a doubt one of photography's
greats. However it is well known that he staged several of his photographs.
Was he making photographs or was he recording?

I recall one of his photographs in which an old lady was looking
disapprovingly at a teenage girl who was dress somewhat immodestly. The
scene took place on a park bench.
My impressions of that photograph was one of owe - how intuitive I thought.
However, years later, upon learning that the "mis en place" may have been of
his own doing, I have to admit that I am not as overwhelmed.

Yousuf Karsh made all of his photographs, that is, he staged the scene in
each case. We are fully aware of the techniques he employed to arrive at his
*moment*, yet that fact does not diminish his stature among photographers.

There is no question that the photo reporter *records* but he/she too is
*making* a photograph.
When Vietnam prisoners of war were repatriated, dozens of photographers were
on hand to record the moment of reunion with loved ones.
Two photographers in particular had taken photos (photo sequences, I am
sure) of a family running to meet their soldier. Although two final
photographs were almost identical, the one that won the Pulitzer Prize was
taken just a fraction of a second before or after the other. I am sure
coincidence and luck were at play more than intuitive planning.

In the end I believe that sequence photography is no different from staged
photography. The photograph's impact on the viewer is the important factor
irrespective of the technique employed to make or record that photograph.
Perhaps, because we are still photographers sans motor drives we must try to
separate the two.

Joseph Codispoti


- ----- Original Message -----
From: Chandos Michael Brown <cmbrow@mail.wm.edu>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 1999 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Indecisive Moment


> I would submit that "decisive moment" has in this passage been emptied of
> any significant meaning.  If I understand Bresson correctly, "decisive" is
> in his usage bi-valent.  It means on one hand the "moment" in which a set
> of circumstances/subjects converge to present the photographer with a sort
> of aesthetic *mis en place*--the constituents of a moment freighted with
> potential significance and, on the other, the photographers *decision* to
> capture it as a conscious expression of his or her vision--a triumph, as
it
> were, of the artistic will.  Photographers *make* photographs; they don't
> *record* them.
>
> The fellow whose advice appears below could as easily mount a high res.
> digital camera--or a series of them--say, on a ball court, *tape* the
whole
> bloody game, and then survey the footage until he finds a frame (scene)
> that best exemplifies his notion of an "important" moment.  Technology
> permitting, what's to stop one from moving directly to print with that
> image.  Are we comfortable with the notion that this represents
> "photography" as we understand it.
>
> When does a 35mm cease being a still camera and become, instead, a cine
> camera--how many FPS before we all become cinematographers?
>
> It bothers me considerably to see this debasing of a useful way to think
> about our art/craft.  One must grant the need for visual *reportage*, but
> I'm not sure that Bresson would recognize the sentiment below as
> 'photographic' in its sensibility.
>
> Chandos
>
>
> At 01:39 PM 8/15/1999 -0700, you wrote:
> >Robert Stevens wrote:
> > >
> > > Ted:
> > ><snip> If you press the shutter just prior to the decisive
> > > moment and capture it, the few frames after that will be past it.  If
you
> > > just hold down the button hoping to capture the decisive moment, you
will
> > > probably miss it because at six frames per second, the exposures are
too
> > > far apart.  He later started using a high speed Canon F1 which does
15fps
> > > and he says if he presses the shutter at the right time, he may get
two
> > > good shots of the decisive moment.  After attending his seminar, I
tried my
> > ><snip>
>
>
>
> Chandos Michael Brown
> Assoc. Prof., History and American Studies
> College of William and Mary
>
> http://www.wm.edu/CAS/ASP/faculty/brown
>
>