Re: [Leica] Keepers/Three Seconds of Eternity

["Steve LeHuray" <icommag@toad.net>]

Possibly there is some lack of appreciation going on here about HCB.

    Here is the last paragraph from a 6 page essay Robert Doisneau wrote in
his book 'Three Seconds of Eternity' near the end of his long career:

    "A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there, put
together end to end; that never makes more than two or three seconds wrung
from eternity."

He was talking about his 'decisive moments.'

sl


> I have about 108 (36x3) decisive moments each week, and about 3 of them are
> really good images. I know of only one person on this forum who can get
> PAWs from January 1 to July 1 from just one roll of film.
>
> I'm hoping that in a few years, I'll have 6 really good ones from 3 rolls.
> Part of my problem is motor drives. But, like a machine gun, my "hit" rate
> has gone up.
>
> Jeffery Smith
>
>
> At 01:58 PM 3/20/02 -0500, you wrote:
>>Well, Bob, LOL all you want...I would guess that if you asked the average
>>photo fan about the Decisive Moment, they would be under the impression that
>>what sets HCB apart is his ability to pick out, to grab, that instant that
>>will never be repeated.
>>
>>But bottom line - who cares?
>>
>>B. D.
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>>[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of BOB KRAMER
>>Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 1:28 PM
>>To: 'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'
>>Subject: RE: [Leica] Keepers [was: David Bailey...]
>>
>>
>>B.D., where did you hear such a ridiculous story as to HCB's methodology?
>>Sipping on lattes until the decisive moment slaps him in the face, indeed!
>>LOL!  Did you or anyone else ever really believe such a thing?  Honestly,
>>that is a new one to me.  Everything I have ever heard has him dancing
>>around firing off shots like a wild man when he sees something that strikes
>>his eye, just like Winogrand, Friedlander, and everyone else trying to do
>>quality street photography.
>>
>>Two comments:
>>
>>1.  Don't believe every urban legend you hear.
>>
>>2.  In a way, I wish HCB had never coined the phrase "decisive moment".  It
>>really doesn't mean anything at all other than you took a good well timed
>>photo with intrinsic artistic value.  This has absolutely nothing to do with
>>the actual number of frames that were exposed, and I don't believe HCB ever
>>said otherwise.  The phrase has become bastardized to mean many things I
>>seriously doubt HCB ever intended it to mean.  Everything to everybody has
>>come to be a decisive moment.  It has become too easy, and is therefor
>>meaningless.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>BK
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: B. D. Colen [mailto:bdcolen@earthlink.net]
>> > Subject: RE: [Leica] Keepers [was: David Bailey...]
>> >
>> > Yes, Bob - I do have a point. The Legend of HCB and the
>> > Decisive Moment has
>> > him either strolling along, or sipping his cafe at a cafe,
>> > spotting the
>> > image of all images, whipping his IIIg to his eye, clicking,
>> > and resuming
>> > his watching.
>>--
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