Originally named Images à la Sauvette and later translated to English, The Decisive Moment is Henri Cartier-Bresson’s most famous publication. It is a collection of his images alongside his exploration of his theory that an image requires a ‘moment’ in order to be interesting to the viewer. This is a key publication in the study of Cartier-Bresson’s work because it clarifies his practices and the way in which he felt photography was important to the world. Robert Capa described it as “a Bible for photographers”, and it has certainly been viewed by many as an important source of both inspiration and teaching.

“Things-As-They-Are offer such an abundance of material that a photographer must guard against the
temptation of trying to do everything… it is essential to cut from the raw material of life – to cut and cut, but to cut with discrimination.”

– Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment, 1952.

This quote demonstrates the key message of the book because it alludes to the significance of making judicious choices when creating images. He states that ‘discrimination’ of work is precisely what makes a collection worth viewing. He is purported to have attended the 1968 Paris student revolt, where, despite the explosive action on show, he would apparently take images at a rate of about four per hour. This exemplifies his theory and shows that he is always careful to take the image that will tell the best story, and not to just photograph ‘everything’.