Here's to the Decisive Moment

"The decisive moment, it is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression." Henri Cartier-Bresson

When people ask me what my style of photography is, it's difficult for me to describe it in only a few words, because doing so would also mean simplifying my entire photography experience into those few words. In late 2009 I started a personal photo project where I took a picture every day for an entire year. I experimented with shooting still-lifes, landscapes, self-portraits, conceptual images, and snapshots of everyday moments. A year later, after completing another personal project where I shot a self-portrait once a week for a year, I could confidently say that I most enjoyed taking images of people. To me, a photo became much more memorable by having a human element in it. I hadn't yet figured out what my style was, however.

With people as my main area of interest, I explored the different branches of people photography, including shooting models, senior portraits, concerts, behind the scenes of film sets, and corporate events. I believe that only recently I have discovered what I truly love to photograph, but that discovery has launched my passion and jettisoned me in a direction that both frightens and excites me.

My images have become a reflection of myself as they are about the subject. I love the documentary aspect of photography and the bits of everyday life that people take for granted. I love combining these aspects of photojournalism and art with the telling of a story that also reflect who I am as a person – I immerse myself in an environment in a way that makes me present, observant, and anticipatory, yet nearly invisible and unobtrusive simply from the way I naturally behave. This allows me to shoot images that have honesty, emotion, and personality with an artistic touch.

I am very much inspired by the work and approach of street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and his notion of the “decisive moment.”

I document with earnest intent. When light, composition, subject, and movement all come together in a split second to create an image that does justice to the moment that just unfolded before me, I press the shutter.

Annie