Just One Moment

Patrick Vincent, Principal, Union Gap School, Union Gap School District
May 1, 2023

 

Group of elementary school students standing together in a classroom

Mr. Regalado died 9 years ago. Thousands of students, like me, who spent time in the darkroom at his side with our negatives and prints, asking about exposure, composition, and what made a good photograph good, mourned when we heard the news. He was one of those teachers that zealously approached his subject, mastered the command of his ship (à la his classroom), and built a community of learners at the tables in his room. From his class, I remember learning about Henri Cartier-Bresson, AKA "The Father of the Decisive Moment."

Henri Cartier-Bresson | Fotografiska Stockholm
"There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment." HC-B

And so, on this ordinary day, I offer this challenge: find a moment today worth capturing, do so privately or with a camera, and share* this moment with someone — a colleague, your spouse or partner, or with your community on your messaging app. 

"Photography is, for me, a spontaneous impulse coming from an ever-attentive eye which captures the moment and its eternity." If photography does this, what a wonder that unfolds before us every day when we all teach and care for our students!

*Of course, I know that you know about student privacy rules. ;)
 

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