The Invasive Moment

Whether called street, editorial, or candid photography, I love how capturing a particular moment can be the starting point of a larger narrative. I also love the element of chance that comes with images like these. Searching for the next shot allows for experiencing and exploring the world with a bit of serendipity. On the flip side, there is concern with the intrusive nature of street photography. It’s often ideal to be invisible to the subject to capture that decisive moment that Henri Cartier-Bresson made famous. I struggle with balancing the lines between an artist’s freedom versus any expectations of privacy in a public setting. Here are a few thoughts on the topic: A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second. - Salman Rushdie In street photography, there’s no hiding. You’re out in the middle of the action and have to rely on your own judgement, ability, and courage as a photographer to make a meaningful photograph. - Alex Webb There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. Oop! That Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever. - Henri Cartier-Bresson To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. - Elliott Erwitt The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own. - Susan Sontag