With our cellphones doubling as cameras, it's easier than ever to capture a photo. You're walking down the street, you see a compelling face or a quirky wardrobe choice, you snap it. Maybe an arrow of sunlight sparks up the detail of a piece of masonry -- bam, it's on your phone and in a few seconds up on the Internet. What's probably lost in all this amateur shooting, though, is the element of conscious, more deliberate, artfulness that a trained photographer, using more sophisticated gear, brings to the image. It's the kind of high art that's chronicled in Decisive Moments | 20th Century Street Photography | Prints from St. Louis Collections, the new exhibit at the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum (3415 Olive Street; 314-535-1999 or www.iphf.org). The survey begins with the great Parisian street documentarians: Eugene Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz and Brassai, before tracing their decisive influence on monumental American photographers like Berenice Abbott and Walker Evans -- and, later still, masters such as Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus. Decisive Moments opens with a free reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, February 7, and remains up through Sunday, June 8. The gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, and regular admission is $3 to $5.
Fridays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Wednesdays, Thursdays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Starts: Feb. 7. Continues through June 8, 2014