The snapshot seizes the moment, grasping the depths of the human heart, the subtlest of feelings, even the ambience of the setting. The snapshot style is unique to photography and unattainable in other media. The many artists who have noticed its fascination have, through the snapshot, snatched scenes of human life in all their variety.

In 1888, Kodak launched sales of a compact camera with the slogan, “You press the button — we do the rest.” Snapshot photography spread widely from then on, particularly among amateur photographers. When Leica introduced the first compact, highly portable 35 mm camera, in 1925, professional photographers began to use it, creating the archetypical snapshot style of photography.

Today, in the moment in which we are living, in 2010, the sheer number of snapshots, of images already captured, seems overwhelming. Snapshots contain not only information required for the purpose for which they were taken but also much ancillary information imbedded in them as they were captured, moment by moment. In them, photographers found and exploited images with unique possibilities and revealed new ways to see the world and be inspired by it.

This exhibition explores the elements of the snapshot, as it evolves towards an as yet undiscovered future. It includes both iconic images that have left their mark on the history of photography, including work by Walker Evans and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and contemporary work, some of which is being shown in a Japanese museum for the first time.

Special Features
•Paul Fusco, From the book RFK Funeral Train
Fusco credit should read: © Magnum Photos. Courtesy Danziger Projects

•Takano Ryudai, From the series "Bitch", 2004
Courtesy of Zeit-Foto Salon/Yumiko Chiba Associates

•The Sartorialist (Scott Schumann)
© The Sartorialist. Courtesy Danziger Projects

Please also visit Radiant Moments: The New Snapshot, Vol. 9 of our series of Contemporary Japanese Photography exhibitions, which is being held concurrently in the 2F Exhibition Gallery.

* The text provided by Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

Opened dates: December 11, 2010 - February 6, 2011