Streets ahead

When is a photo a street photo and when isn’t it? Help from a great master.

All photos are my copyright unless other wise stated – Dr Roger E Prentice

Yes it is – the photo was taken in a street.

No it isn’t – because I wasn’t waiting for the critical moment to come into consciousness. Henri Cartier-Bresson, many say he was the greatest (street) photographer coined the act of ‘the decisive moment. He said;

Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression

More of my favourite teachings by HCB are immediately below. He certainly would have scoffed at the idea of being a spiritual teacher – but he was. Other of my favourites are;

“Reality offers us such wealth that we must cut some of it out on the spot, simplify. The question is, do we always cut out what we should?”

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”

“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”

“Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant. We photographers deal in things that are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth that can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory. The writer has time to reflect. He can accept and reject, accept again; and before committing his thoughts to paper he is able to tie the several relevant elements together. There is also a period when his brain “forgets,” and his subconscious works on classifying his thoughts. But for photographers, what has gone is gone forever.”

HCB’s art is a portal into philosophy, Non-duality, and self-understanding.

This is to say that a portal that takes us into the deepest existential resonances of being human.

Joie de vivre – we are blessed by great artists

Author: Roger - Dr Roger Prentice

Now I write, teach and coach mainly self-understanding. At advanced levels About 21stC 'interfaith as inter-spirituality' - and how we can grow closer to our True Self. In the past I : . 1) I ran courses and give talks at conferences and in universities and colleges in the UK, China, USA, Canada, Scandinavia etc. . 2) I provided materials, outlines and lessons for Schools. . 3) My range of interests include personal development, learning and teaching, photography and film, the arts generally, spirituality and educational practice and theory. . 4) At the same time I continue developing the human-centred studies SunWALK PDS (People Development System) - a whole-person, high-achievement model for individuals, and for use in, NGOs, schools and other organizations. . 5) The key question that continues to animate me and my work remains, "What is it to be fully and positively human?" . Contact me via onesummit AT gmail DOT com (replace At with@ etc.). . All good wishes Roger (Dr Roger Prentice) . For those interested; My first degree is in English and Education. My masters is in Adult and Community Education. My doctorate presented a new holistic meta-model of education called SunWALK. View all posts by Roger - Dr Roger Prentice