The myth of the decisive moment

There is no book, newspaper article, magazine, course or video tutorial on street photography in which Henri Cartier-Bresson and his "decisive moment" are not mentioned, even if only in passing.

This concept is often illustrated by the famous 1932 photograph entitled "Derrière la gare Saint-Lazare" (Behind Saint-Lazare station). In it, a man in a hat jumps over a huge puddle of water. The photograph shows the protagonist in full flight, just at the moment of maximum effort to try to cross the lagoon that extends under his feet and avoid getting wet. His silhouette is cut out above the water. Observing the photograph, we deduce that the photographer was there, ready and attentive to capture that precise moment in which everything around him conjures up a perfect, iconic image.

Published in 1952, we know that the myth was born with his book "Images à la Sauvette", considered by some experts as the first great photobook in the history of photography and whose cover is an original drawing by the painter Henri Matisse. In the words of Robert Capa, "a Bible for photographers". The more or less literal translation of the title would be "Images on the run" or "Images in a hurry". It was the decision of the publisher of the book in the United States, Simon & Schuster, to translate the title into English as "The Decisive Moment". The successful expression comes from a quote by Cardinal de Retz that appears in the epigraph of the book's introductory text: "There is nothing in this world that does not have its decisive moment". No doubt it was, from a commercial and marketing point of view, a great decision.

The reality is that, as Henri Cartier-Bresson himself recounts in the 2001 documentary, "Henri Cartier-Bresson: L'amour tout court", when he took that iconic photograph, he didn't even know what he was photographing. Cartier-Bresson says in the documentary that he simply saw a gap between two planks through which he could barely fit the lens of his camera. And that's what he did. Then, unable to see what was happening on the other side, he shot. The rest is history. Mythical history of street photography.

I remember my surprise when I saw him on the screen and heard the master himself admit that the only decisive factor behind one of his most iconic photographs was that mixture of chance and luck that we call serendipity. And it is that wonderfully strange word that best defines my own experience of trying to record, camera in hand, what happens around me as I walk through the streets of the city. However, it is no less true that good luck has to be helped...

The documentary in question:
Original title: Henri Cartier-Bresson: L'amour tout court.
Year: 2001
Director: Raphaël Byrne.
Producer: Film à Lou and ARTE France
Length: 70 minutes