“Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.” ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of modern photojournalism, on his concept of “The Decisive Moment”

Street vendors in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam © Jojie Alcantara, 2011

For years, I thrive on these decisive moments (that’s why my camera is frequently turned on while in travel, draining my batteries).  When I speak to my workshop participants, I teach them the basic composition guidelines first.  After constant practice, they can now throw these out the window.  For once they seriously shoot, they now follow their instinct.

That’s how I have been shooting all these years … by gut feel and with a heart.