minniev Loc: MIssissippi

--Some of my frames were either just before or just after something interesting. The frames I posted were the ones where the Something was most interesting.
--In the bird sequence, gesture was everything. In the kid picture, it was expression which could be a subset of gesture I guess. To catch all three with different expressions, each of which is very consistent with their individual personalities, was a decisive moment I guess. Some of the other shots had one kid at a great moment but the others less so, or hidden behind a brother.
--In the bird sequence, I spotted these two characters as soon as they spotted each other, and immediately realized there was potential for an interesting confrontation. I shot about 20 images in bursts of 5. One burst was while they were scuffling in the air. The one with them in mid-air with the bluer bird against the coral colored background and the coral colored bird against the blue background, and the architectural and shadow line right smack between them was my favorite because it was one of the peak action shots and the colors defined it so well.

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

St3v3 Cartier-Bresson believed that “The Decisive Moment” was that split second of genius and inspiration that a photographer had to capture a certain moment.
Really almost impossible to plan to plan to go out shoot a burst of snaps and hope to get a Bresson moment.
Do any of the posters of images to the thread feel they captured that moment?
I certainly did not with my feeble effort and if Im honest cannot see any that have. Maybe others would disagree.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Why is one frame better than the other?
With bird photography, you often get shots of wings covering the head, or other humorous looks, such as Dave's example.

I had a couple of the six where the eagle's head was visible, but the wings were forward, so for me, those moments weren't as interesting as the stretched-up, just-lifted off shot I posted.

Is gesture important, and why?
Interesting question! Gestures often have different meanings and interpretations to different viewers. Culture and experience play a role in how we interpret.

What did Henri Cartier-Bresson mean by the “decisive moment” and did you find any of those in your shooting exercise?
Yes, I often compare my work favorably to Cartier-Bresson's :) :)

The full meaning of the term, in his words:

"To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression."

— Henri Cartier-Bresson

pfrancke Loc: cold Maine

The frame that contains gesture is likely the best one.

gesture is what makes an action shot be an action shot. In my dog shot, it was about the paw pushing the snout away, or about one dog holding the other dog.

gesture is force applied and resisted - even if just the force of a look.

gesture is where the personality is defined. If there is such a thing as a story, gesture is where the story comes from. It is what makes an image "dynamic" instead of "static".

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Why is one frame better than the other?
It may be more dynamic.
It may show a "moment"
It may be a better composition.

What did Henri Cartier-Bresson mean by the “decisive moment” and did you find any of those in your shooting exercise?
It is when it "all comes together". I have found that in past shoots.

jgordon Loc: Boulder CO

In my case, the images I grabbed were not fast moving in any sense. So, the differences between shots in each series were relatively small. For example, in a picture of working men standing about and talking the image I selected had each of the men visible and (more or less) in focus. It was not hard to tell which of the variations of this image I liked best. And, I am not sure that physical gestures played a big role in my selections.

The issue of the”decisive moment” is more complicated. A challenge in discussing this issue is that I am not sure that everyone who uses the phrase “decisive moment” means precisely the same thing. One definition I have seen is: “The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself.” The truth is that I am not sure that I fully understand that definition.

Here is my best guess about what it might mean:

Those of us lucky enough to have sight walk through life being bombarded by an ever changing and kaleidoscopic wave of visual information. What sets still photographers apart, however, is that they can pick an instant in which to trip their shutters and thus freeze in time a particular pattern of visual relationships. Maybe the “decisive moment” is freezing the frame at a moment when the visual patterns have special meaning or interest. However, I don’t think that anything that profound happened to me during this exercise. For each series of images I found one that seemed least flawed and most pleasantly organized. Learning to use the burst mode for that purpose was useful and fun – but I don’t think it changed my life.

Here is a quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson:

“Photography is not documentary, but [rather] intuition, a poetic experience. It’s drowning yourself, dissolving yourself, and then sniff, sniff, sniff – being sensitive to coincidence. You can’t go looking for it; you can’t want it, or you won’t get it. First you must lose yourself. Then it happens.”

The process that Henri Cartier-Bresson describes sounds magical to me. Unfortunately I didn’t experience it just because I learned to turn the knob on my camera in order to engage the burst mode! But I did learn to use a new tool and I had fun.