--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Cartier-Bresson has said that photography…" description: "\"Cartier-Bresson has said that photography seizes a 'decisive moment', that's true except that it shouldn't be taken too narrowly...does my picture of a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b99/paul-strand-17678_cartier_cartier-bresson-has-said-that-photograph_1136157.jpg" --- # Cartier-Bresson has said that photography seizes a… ![“Cartier-Bresson has said that photography seizes a 'decisive moment', that's true except that it shouldn't be taken too narrowly...does my picture of a cobweb in the rain represent a decisive moment? The exposure time was probably three or four minutes. That's a pretty long moment. I would say the…” quote by Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b99/paul-strand-17678_cartier_cartier-bresson-has-said-that-photograph_1136157.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b99/paul-strand-17678_cartier_cartier-bresson-has-said-that-photograph_1136157.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b99/paul-strand-17678_cartier_cartier-bresson-has-said-that-photograph_1136157.jpg) > “Cartier-Bresson has said that photography seizes a 'decisive moment', that's true except that it shouldn't be taken too narrowly...does my picture of a cobweb in the rain represent a decisive moment? The exposure time was probably three or four minutes. That's a pretty long moment. I would say the decisive moment in that case was the moment in which I saw this thing and decided I wanted to photograph it.” [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The concept of a decisive moment is about the photographer’s perception and intent, not just technical exposure duration. **In simple terms:** Decisive moment is about seeing and deciding to capture, not exposure length. Key Takeaway Focus on the moment you chose to photograph. Themes photography perception intent Mood contemplative analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - portrait work - nature photography - long exposure - conceptual art Key Concepts decisive moment visual storytelling Questions to Reflect On - How does your intention shape what you consider decisive? - Can a slow process still capture a decisive insight? A Different Perspective Long exposures can blur the immediacy that defines a decisive moment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cartier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cartier/) [Decisive moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decisive-moments/) [Exposure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exposure/) [Moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moment/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Rain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rain/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [The decisive moment, the popular Henri Cartier-Bresson approach to photography in which a scene is stopped and depicted at a certain point of high…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-ritchin/the-decisive-moment-the-popular-henri-cartier-bresson-approach-to/) [Fred Ritchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-ritchin/) > [The very metaphor Paul chooses for this decisive moment in his argument shows that what he has in mind is not the unmaking of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-t-wright-2/the-very-metaphor-paul-chooses-for-this-decisive-moment-in-his/) [N. T. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-t-wright-2/) > [... a mysterious intersection of chance and attention that goes well beyond the existential surrealism of the 'decisive moment'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-friedlander/a-mysterious-intersection-of-chance-and-attention-that-goes-well/) [Lee Friedlander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-friedlander/) > [Decisive moment: the one when you will be really alone. And it is perhaps this that makes her hesitate: not the void, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-ne-cixous/decisive-moment-the-one-when-you-will-be-really-alone-and-it-is/) [Helene Cixous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-ne-cixous/) > [In the decisive moment I won the victory over myself. I chose to live. And believe me, it takes courage to choose life under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henrik-ibsen/in-the-decisive-moment-i-won-the-victory-over-myself-i-chose-to-live/) [Henrik Ibsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henrik-ibsen/) > [There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-cartier-bresson/there-is-nothing-in-this-world-that-does-not-have-a-decisive-moment/) [Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-cartier-bresson/) > [I am courageous at the decisive moment. But I need a good deal of start-up time, and I try to take as much as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/i-am-courageous-at-the-decisive-moment-but-i-need-a-good-deal-of/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [I'm a big fan of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the French photographer who had that whole "decisive moment" approach to taking pictures, of having multiple elements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-zinner/i-m-a-big-fan-of-henri-cartier-bresson-the-french-photographer-who/) [Nick Zinner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-zinner/) > [I do not understand what makes me take a picture. Cartier-Bresson talks about the decisive moment, the necessity to function with lynx eyes and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graciela-iturbide/i-do-not-understand-what-makes-me-take-a-picture-cartier-bresson/) [Graciela Iturbide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graciela-iturbide/) > [It is a great honor for me to be compared to Henri Cartier-BressonBut I believe there is a very big difference in the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastiao-salgado/it-is-a-great-honor-for-me-to-be-compared-to-henri-cartier-bressonbut/) [Sebastiao Salgado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastiao-salgado/) > [I invented a camera that has an exposure time of one hundred years and the camera works in the simplest possible terms, because anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathon-keats/i-invented-a-camera-that-has-an-exposure-time-of-one-hundred-years/) [Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathon-keats/) > [Up to and including the moment of exposure, the photographer is working in an undeniably subjective way. By his choice of technical approach, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-eugene-smith/up-to-and-including-the-moment-of-exposure-the-photographer-is/) [W. Eugene Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-eugene-smith/) > [A photograph is not an accident - is a concept. It exists at, or before, the moment of exposure of the negative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ansel-adams/a-photograph-is-not-an-accident-is-a-concept-it-exists-at-or-before/) [Ansel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ansel-adams/) > [World War II was a decisive time in our history and June 6, 1944, marked the decisive moment of the war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lane-evans/world-war-ii-was-a-decisive-time-in-our-history-and-june-6-1944/) [Lane Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lane-evans/) > [Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return. With us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/suffering-is-one-very-long-moment-we-cannot-divide-it-by-seasons-we/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) ## More by Paul Strand > [Your photography is a record of your living, for anyone who really sees.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/your-photography-is-a-record-of-your-living-for-anyone-who-really-sees/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [Photography is only a new road from a different direction, but moving toward the common goal, which is life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/photography-is-only-a-new-road-from-a-different-direction-but-moving/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [All light is available light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/all-light-is-available-light/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [If the photographer is not a discoverer, then he is not an artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/if-the-photographer-is-not-a-discoverer-then-he-is-not-an-artist/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [I don't care how you photograph - use the kitchen mop if you must, but if the product is not true to the laws…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/i-don-t-care-how-you-photograph-use-the-kitchen-mop-if-you-must-but/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [The existence of a medium, after all, is its absolute justification, if as so many seem to think, it needs one and all comparison…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/the-existence-of-a-medium-after-all-is-its-absolute-justification-if/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [I read the other day that Minor White said it takes twenty years to become a photographer. I think that is a bit of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/i-read-the-other-day-that-minor-white-said-it-takes-twenty-years-to/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [ Whether a watercolor is inferior to an oil \[painting\], or whether a drawing, an etching, or a photograph is not as important as either,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/whether-a-watercolor-is-inferior-to-an-oil-painting-or-whether-a/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [The artist is one who makes a concentrated statement about the world in which he lives and that statement tends to become impersonal-it tends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/the-artist-is-one-who-makes-a-concentrated-statement-about-the-world/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [I've always wanted to be aware of what's going on around me, and I've wanted to use photography as an instrument of research into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/i-ve-always-wanted-to-be-aware-of-what-s-going-on-around-me-and-i-ve/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [If you let other people's vision get between the world and your own, you will achieve that extremely common and worthless thing, a pictorial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/if-you-let-other-people-s-vision-get-between-the-world-and-your-own/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/it-is-one-thing-to-photograph-people-it-is-another-to-make-others/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [The portrait of a person is one of the most difficult things to do. It means you must almost bring the presence of that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/the-portrait-of-a-person-is-one-of-the-most-difficult-things-to-do-it/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [No matter what lens you use, no matter what speed the film, no matter how you develop it, no matter how you print it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/no-matter-what-lens-you-use-no-matter-what-speed-the-film-no-matter/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) > [Photography... is either an expression of a cosmic vision, an embodiment of a life movement or it is nothing - to me. (1919)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-strand/photography-is-either-an-expression-of-a-cosmic-vision-an-embodiment/) [Paul Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) [Explore all 36 Paul Strand quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-strand/) ## More Cartier quotes > [Even the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson, with all due respect to him, are notoriously burned and dodged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-sternfeld/even-the-photographs-of-henri-cartier-bresson-with-all-due-respect-to/) [Joel Sternfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-sternfeld/) > [All brands, whether high-ticket luxury ones such as Cartier or Rolls-Royce or 'masstige' ones with luxe-y overtones but altogether more affordable, all want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-york/all-brands-whether-high-ticket-luxury-ones-such-as-cartier-or-rolls/) [Peter York](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-york/) > [When I was just starting out, I met Cartier-Bresson. He wasn't young in age but, in his mind, he was the youngest person I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastiao-salgado/when-i-was-just-starting-out-i-met-cartier-bresson-he-wasn-t-young-in/) [Sebastiao Salgado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastiao-salgado/) > [I like to browse in Cartier, Chanel and Gucci and if something special grabs my eye I splash out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-snowdon/i-like-to-browse-in-cartier-chanel-and-gucci-and-if-something-special/) [Lisa Snowdon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-snowdon/) > [Some of the people who are now manipulating photos, such as Andreas Gursky, make the argument - rightly - that the 'straight' photographs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-sternfeld/some-of-the-people-who-are-now-manipulating-photos-such-as-andreas/) [Joel Sternfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-sternfeld/) > [Suppose Cartier-Bresson asked the man who jumped the puddle to do it again --- it never would have been the same. Start stealing!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/suppose-cartier-bresson-asked-the-man-who-jumped-the-puddle-to-do-it/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [In an era when museum curators were busy introducing the public to photographs of daily life taken by Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Diane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/burton-silverman/in-an-era-when-museum-curators-were-busy-introducing-the-public-to/) [Burton Silverman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/burton-silverman/) > [Weston's sensual texture or Cartier-Bresson's implacable composition are apt to close over themselves, attaining the perfection of a certain sensual and harmonious bliss. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmundo-desnoes/weston-s-sensual-texture-or-cartier-bresson-s-implacable-composition/) [Edmundo Desnoes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmundo-desnoes/) > [I love Cartier. They are the classic French jeweller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-cassel/i-love-cartier-they-are-the-classic-french-jeweller/) [Vincent Cassel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-cassel/) > [Let's assume that all the cassettes of monochrome film Cartier-Bresson ever exposed had somehow been surreptitiously loaded with colour film. I'd venture to say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-jones-griffiths/let-s-assume-that-all-the-cassettes-of-monochrome-film-cartier/) [Philip Jones Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-jones-griffiths/) > [I'm a big fan of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the French photographer who had that whole "decisive moment" approach to taking pictures, of having multiple elements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-zinner/i-m-a-big-fan-of-henri-cartier-bresson-the-french-photographer-who/) [Nick Zinner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-zinner/) > [I keep telling everybody with pride that my first-ever timepiece was a Cartier.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-golding/i-keep-telling-everybody-with-pride-that-my-first-ever-timepiece-was/) [Henry Golding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-golding/) > [While photography to Cartier-Bresson is constantly an intuitive process, it is never purely instinctive. It is founded on continuous intellection, on ceaseless consideration during…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lincoln-kirstein/while-photography-to-cartier-bresson-is-constantly-an-intuitive/) [Lincoln Kirstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lincoln-kirstein/) > [The personality and style of a photographer usually limits the type of subject with which he deals best. For example Cartier-Bresson is very interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexey-brodovitch/the-personality-and-style-of-a-photographer-usually-limits-the-type/) [Alexey Brodovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexey-brodovitch/) > [If you buy a Cartier ring you want people to know it is a Cartier ring or a diamond, or a piece of art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riccardo-tisci/if-you-buy-a-cartier-ring-you-want-people-to-know-it-is-a-cartier/) [Riccardo Tisci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riccardo-tisci/) [Browse all 28 Cartier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cartier/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Cartier-Bresson has said that photography seizes a 'decisive moment', that's true except that it shouldn't be taken too narrowly...does my picture of a cobweb in the rain represent a decisive moment? The exposure time was probably three or four minutes. That's a pretty long moment. 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