Hi. My name is Maria, and this is my creative writing blog, where I post stories — real and imagined — about decisive moments in life. I first learned about the decisive moment in my photojournalism class years ago. Coined by a renowned French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, decisive moment is a perfect juxtaposition of objects, movement, light, time, and place captured in a photograph. It captures and communicates the essence of whatever is unfolding in front of our eyes.

As I worked on my assignments for the class, I found it both exciting and daunting to observe the seemingly familiar world around me, looking for exciting actions, emotions, or a perfect interplay of light and shade that I could capture just as they were happening — not a moment sooner or later.

More than 15 years later, I still think about decisive moments — not in the context of photography, but life. Some of these moments are obvious, we notice their significance as they are happening, while others we recognize only in hindsight, after feeling the impact. Maybe life is a compilation of moments, where decisive moments determine all the rest.

Even though the term was popularized in photography, the concept of decisive moments was first used by a French cardinal in the 17th century, in the context of politics:

“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment, and the masterpiece of good ruling is to know and seize this moment,” Cardinal de Retz, XVII century. 

Photography, politics, philosophy, everyday life — decisive moments are all around us, of our own making and as the way of the cosmos. The Decisive Moments blog is about exploration of life through these moments.

It took me a few attempts, but by the end of my photography course, I was finally able to capture decisive moments with my camera. One of them was a photo of a young Russian woman in a mini jeans skirt carrying a designer bag as she walks past a Russian store displaying a classic Soviet poster in its window. The poster says, “Don’t talk!” in Russian, under a picture of a Soviet woman in a red headscarf with a stern look and a finger at her lips, gesturing shush. There are a couple of older Russians — a man and a woman — in front of the storefront. (See photo below.)

I hope you’ll enjoy reading my stories and feel inspired to explore your life and all the life around you through the lens of decisive moments.

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