Famed French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson – known to some as the father of modern photojournalism and the creator of street photography – lauded the idea of a photograph’s decisive moment. Cartier-Bresson believed that, ‘photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.’ He felt that if you and your camera were ready at all times, and you happened to be in the right place at that perfect time, you would come to take the perfect picture, and that, ‘in photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject.’
I have found, in all my years of photography, that your decisive moments are when you least expect them, and often feature someone or something that you weren’t intending to photograph. One weekend in October, I went to visit my cousin and photograph her new daughter – and my new goddaughter – for her birth announcement. It was there that I caught these images of her oldest son, in a bit of a fit, and in need of attention and lunch. It was in that moment, that I looked away from my intended subject and caught the perfect pout of childhood.
