The Decisive Moment

Regarded as one of the holy grails of photobook collecting, most of us will probably never own a copy of this book. I had the opportunity borrow one from the library in Lyme, CT. They obviously did not have an idea of its value, or else, as in most libraries, it would have been confined to the reference section. Well-heeled collectors regularly pay $3,000 for a good copy.

The decisive moment, as Cartier-Bresson defined it, is "the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression."

This masterwork has never been reprinted. I wish it would. It deserves to be enjoyed by more than an elite few. Until then, I am content with the e-book version.