Henri Cartier-Bresson coined the phrase the decisive moment, particularly in relation to his street photography he became so famous for. Photography is all about the decisive moment, that split second in time in which the photographer chooses to create the image. It’s difficult to teach someone when to press the shutter release button to create an image, the decisive moment comes intuitively. Photographers have to learn to trust our gut as to when that decisive moment that creates magic is and react instinctively.
The other day I went for a walk on my own at sunset. I had been filming the new hovercraft in Portsmouth that runs from Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight and it looked like it would turn out to be the perfect evening. It did and people came down to the beachfront to enjoy the sunset. The light kept getting better and better and I kept shooting. As I was about to leave I noticed a man in a turban looking out over the channel. His profile was striking and his pose almost regal, majestic. I shot a few frames of him excited about the shot. I shoot with both eyes open, a skill that took practice to perfect. The benefit of doing it is that you can still use the peripheral vision in the eye not looking through the camera’s viewfinder. I noticed two young women pushing a pram walking into the background and waited for the decisive moment in which magic is created…