ABSTRACT
This implication of the photograph can be shifted by the context in which the image is displayed. However, we might consider that good practice in photo-journalism requires the editorial skill to place the photograph in such a context that the viewer makes the appropriate assumptions regarding the context of the event itself-the casual antecedents of the event. This is the essence of Cartier-Bresson’s notion of the decisive moment-that it directs the viewer’s drawing of conclusions or invoking the intended sentiment. But this belief is not without its problems. As we saw in the William Klein example (pp. 8-9, this volume), the photographer may be acting with the best of intentions but be unable to predict or determine the viewer’s response. His or her concerns, responses and understanding may be entirely different:
why should our understanding of…photographs be prefaced by knowing the intentions of the photographer? No reading of a picture can be unambiguous, or
completely objective. Even knowing a photographer’s intentions should not prevent the viewer of the photograph from contributing to the information that the photograph emits.
