So here I am in my final photography course at Sheridan College... Photojournalism!!! And, our most recent assignment was to capture a "decisive moment". The decisive moment is a concept that was first conceived by Henri Cartier-Bresson, a street photographer and photojournalist. The decisive moment refers to photographing an instant in time where the image represents the real or true essence of the event itself. It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words... but when someone is able to capture that 'decisive moment' then no words are truly needed as the picture will speak for itself.
My collection of photos below are an attempt at taking multiple images of my children playing games on our living room floor. My goal/assignment was to get about 30 images from different perspectives and shift the focus around to the different objects and subjects in the scene in an attempt to capture that one image that represents their time playing together.
Wikipedia says that Henri Cartier-Bresson's book was originally titled "Images à la sauvette" and it was originally translated to "The Decisive Moment"... but, the literal translation of the French title actually says "images on the sly" or "hastily taken images". So, in an attempt to model Mr. Cartier-Bresson I did not plan any of these shots ahead of time or attempt to pose my children in any way. Cleary, I was not always 'sly' and at times I may have been too 'hasty'... but my girls did seem to have some fun!
I feel this particular image is the 'decisive moment' of the event as it really captures their ability to work together, play a game, and concentrate on something with out all the arguing and complaining that usually comes along with siblings spending time together. ;)