Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer and master of black and white 35mm film. Often photographing his subjects in artfully candid moments of motion, Cartier-Bresson was a pioneer of The Decisive Moment — a phenomenon that describes when a precisely-timed photograph captures a spontaneous and fleeting scene.

In this 1961 photograph, Sifnos, a young girl is suspended in time while running up a flight of steps, serendipitously placed in a labyrinth of lines and shadows interacting with the Greek architecture. The child’s mid-air stride sparks tension and curiosity, prompting the viewer to anticipate the closure of the motion.

“Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.”

— Henri Cartier-Bresson