Capturing the Moment The Essence of Photography

Just one thing sets photography apart from every other activity or art. It saves one single moment from a stream of real-life action and fixes it forever (or at least until you decide to throw it away). Some of us argue that capturing moments is what photography does best, and that this is the skill to hone and perfect. As a skill, it certainly responds to being worked on, for the evident reason that some moments are simply more arresting to look at than others. Really good moments make compelling, memorable photographs, and it’s easy to see that well-liked and famous images are the way they are because the photographer caught something that in turn caught the public imagination. Marilyn Monroe’s skirt flying up on the set of The Seven Year Itch, Robert Capa’s falling soldier, Ansel Adams’ Moonrise, Hernandez, and Alfred Eisenstaedt’s V-JDay in Times Square, are all about moment.