All rights to this photograph is reserved the photographer
I’m a great admirer of Henri Cartier-Bresson; he inspired me by taking pictures at the very right moment (‘le moment decicif’). My mentally handicapped brother is in concentration, building a fragile wall of small plastic glasses. You see pleasure, mixed with concentration in the eyes. It would be most ideal if I took the shot, just at the moment the wall collapsed. Nevertheless, I guess it is not exaggerating, saying that the dream of building huge, vast walls, as we can see in the pleasure of building, is also a ‘decision moment of photography’.
Shot with a Leica M9 and the 50mm Summicron f/2.0 lens.
Why I use a Leica:
As a teenager it was a challenge to visit a very special store in my hometown, for it was the official Leica dealer. Due to the stories I heard about the magnificent quality of Leica rangefinder cameras, it was interesting for me to have a look at the brand new cameras. For many years I made black and white pictures but they never had the sharpness and tone of photos I saw in a television documentary about the dutch photographer Aart Klein. From that moment on it was my ‘mission’ and personal dream to buy a real Leica camera. It began with the M6, few years later the M7, two years ago the M8 and after reading about the qualifications of the M9, I switched again (very, very pleased).
Eric Robben lives in Tilburg, The Netherlands
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Great shot!
I think that you found the decisive moment. The decisive moment here is the project that goes well and is a prefiguration of the future. The moment of the collapse would be a worse representation of your brother’s dream.
The composition is also great. My compliments!
PS: your brother seems very similar to Robert de Niro ;)