the spray-and-pray stage where many newbies begin

The term “decisive moment” is used in countless fields of study. Absolutely everything that relies on human say-so relies on our ability to accurately choose the moment when we act.

You might be able to call a photographer who clings to the decisive moment careful, circumspect, thoughtful or wise. That is, a photographer whose impulses are so finely tuned that rather than being random bursts of passion, they are truly moments of decision: decisive moments. And although Henri Cartier-Bresson utilized his ability to foresee these moments in high action street photography, I find them in other ways as a portrait photographer. The twinkle in a child’s eye. The moment where a smile turns from fake to real. The moment where a groom is saying everything he feels for his bride on his face. These, too, are fleeting moments that require a calm, decisive photographer.