Kairos is a Greek word describing the opportune moment, the right occasion, or as poetically described in “The Man, The Image and The World” “a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens.“ Henri Cartier Bresson coined this blink-of-an-eye-TA-DA recognition as The Decisive Moment. (Henri Cartier Bresson is considered one of the greatest photographers of his time (1908-2004)).
Kairos is the opposite of chance. And Henri Cartier Bresson would agree. It is a matter of making luck happen, being in synch with serendipity. “Clear-sightedness,” “a good eye” and “being in the right place at the right time” are phrases that describe this concept.
According to Bresson, the photographer is always on alert. The world matters at every moment. As poignantly stated:
“For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to give a “meaning” to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”
Learn more about Henri Cartier Bresson’s work by listening to the curation of Peter Galassi at the High Museum of Atlanta, 2011 – the first comprehensive exhibit of Bresson’s work in the United States after he died in 2004.
If you like this kind of post, please visit some of my earlier writing such as Friday Quote: Truth
