The Germans call it einmaligkeit, meaning that there is only one best instance in life when any particular photo can be made. In English we call it the decisive moment. In any language it means that your camera needs to fall away from your consciousness so that you can concentrate on your subject and capture that one moment in all eternity, for an eternity, and not be off dicking around looking for some lost menu item somewhere. If you miss the moment, it’s gone forever. The Leica photographer never misses his moment because his camera doesn’t weigh him down, doesn’t try to confuse him, and never gets in his way.

Ken Rockwell

Footnote

Sometimes you post something and for yourself returning to it, in this instance I have because so many people have searched the term ‘einmaligkeit’.

As I read this short paragraph again it says so much about photography but, so much more too.

If you miss the moment, it’s gone forever.

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