The moment matters

The White House News Photographers Association has just released its annual contest results, and Jay Clendenin was bestowed with political photo of the year. Before relocating to the District, Jay was on staff with The Hartford Courant – a newspaper whose staff members helped to jump start my growth as a photographer nearly two decades ago.

The rise in digital photography has resulted in an explosion available imagery, with everybody on the planet seeming to have a point and shoot. Magazine and newspaper photojournalists are competing with one another using the same lenses, cameras and laptops. What makes Jay’s image great? It’s the moment. Fleeting, there for all to see, yet none of the 50 photographers in the chamber that night were able to see it as Opie did. But seeing and nailing real moments is a skill that has been around since Uncle Bob was working.

One of Robert Capa’s mantras for story telling was “if your photographs are not good enough, then you are not close enough.” That holds for both physical proximity and emotional proximity. Capa liked people, and let them know it by engaging with his subject and pouring his heart into his work. When people ask me about my photographic influences, Capa is at the top of the list. He only lasted 40 years on the planet, dying after stepping on a land mine in 1954. In that time, he created a body of work which even now is relevant and current and powerful. It’s the moment, not the mechanics.