Photojournalism and the decisive moment

"I believe that, through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us, which can mold us, but which can also be affected by us."               -Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a lifelong French photographer that started first taking pictures at the turn of the century. Going through his own collection of photographs one day, he had the idea that pictures can convey a story. And by 1947, he and a group of freelance photographs began creating what would be the world's first real attempt at photojournalism. Taking pictures of events to later be sold to foreign magazines and newspapers. "Photo-reporting" is unique in that it combines shooting things as they are but as a photograph being able to introduce your own heart, eyes, and brain. This raw style captures truth and messages that can be conveyed across multiple languages despite country of origin. The decisive moment as Cartier-Bresson refers to is the click; the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of it's elements represented. Photos can tell us many things about truth but can reveal new mysteries entirely.

The photo above was taken January 4,2013 by the ISS Crew Earth Observations: 34th Expedition above the Pacific Ocean near Japan. The International Space Station provides astronauts and researchers a unique chance to perform experiments in zero gravity as well as collect and survey data about our planet from a (space)bird's eye view. Reporting from this vantage point we can collect a true sense of what our planet is like in terms of scale and consistancy. This is an ariel photo taken while in orbit of stratocumulus clouds rolling over the ocean. From this height we can see the curvature of the Earth as well as space surrounding Earth.The cloud formations are a result of warm air moving over cold ocean water. The mixture of hot and cold air causes the clouds to swirl and rise into the patterns shown. In the edges of the photograph we can make distinctions on which areas of the planet are receiving more light than others. We can also make out the atmosphere of the earth as well as a thin layer of pollution.
-C.Taylor