Welcome to Eye Contact.

Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson believed the value of photography was in capturing “the decisive moment.” He cared more about the hunt for and capture of the perfect image than he did about what came after that. “Once the picture is in the box,” he said, “I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.”

Photojournalists certainly try to capture the perfect moment. But there is extraordinary value in “what happens next,” because that is when the captured moment becomes a shared experience. The primary value of any form of communication – music, painting, literature – is not in its composition, but in its dissemination.

Eye Contact, The Courant’s photo blog, is our way of sharing moments – decisive and not so decisive – and establishing a dialogue with our readers, other photographers, and those interested in what happens next, after the image has been captured.

Please join in the conversation. We welcome your thoughts, insights, and questions. As always, we will try to think out of the box.

John Scanlan
(former) Director of Photography