A few years ago, my cousin came out from Bozeman, Montana to spend a week fly fishing in Minnesota. Born and raised in Montana, he’s a die-hard fly fishermen, capable of the elegant, graceful maneuvers you see on movies like A River Runs Through It. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to photograph him in action, even if it meant sacrificing to chance to catch any fish myself.

The decisive moment is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression.

There’s something exciting about active lifestyle imagery. Adding a human element makes your images resonate with a much larger audience. It adds an outdoor element. It tells a story. It captures a decisive moment when everything comes together.

This photo captures a moment immediately between the acrobatics of casting and the anticipation of a strike. The line shoots out before laying delicately across the water. Taking the photo a few seconds later would have resulted in a lifeless line and a much more static image. A few seconds earlier, and it would have told a different story.