Team,

I have chosen Henri Cartier-Bresson's 1932 image "Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris" for my Magnum image. This image has stuck with me for well over a decade, even since I learned of Cartier-Bresson's work and legacy; it captures fully his concept and philosophy of capturing "the decisive moment" of that which he saw around him. In addition to the visual representation of the decisive moment, "Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris" represents the impossible: a man leaping from a laterally-placed ladder into a pool of water with, one expects, hopes that he should remain dry and unscathed. The image contains within itself infinite possibility and potential: because Cartier-Bresson chose that particular moment to fire the shutter of his Leica, we as viewers will never know the outcome of the subject's actions. Perhaps he is swallowed by black murky waters. Perhaps he remains bone-dry, skimming the surface in life as he does in our imaginations.