‘I waited patiently, hoping he might make the jump’: Mirna Abass’s best phone picture

As a fan of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the Egyptian photographer was determined to capture his own ‘decisive moment’

Mirna Abass regards his small Egyptian city as “heaven for street, travel and documentary photography”. At the intersection of the Nile and the Mediterranean, the governorate of Damietta is home to Ezbet El Borg, a shipbuilding and fishing port. Abass describes it as “a colourful hub of daily fishing life; fishers and their nets, boats being built, maintained and painted”.

On the day he took this shot, Abass had joined a walk with the Egyptian Camera Crew photography club. Abass works as an agricultural engineer, but describes film and photography as his true passions. Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of his biggest inspirations, and he is often guided by the pioneering photographer’s concept of the decisive moment.

“As we explored the shipyard, I saw this teenage fisher jumping between several boats,” Abass says. “I set up my iPhone 13 to capture these two contrasting boats, side by side, and waited patiently, hoping he might eventually make the jump in front of me. I was elated when he did, and went to show him our very own decisive moment.

“The human element gave a sense of scale, of how large these ships are, and I loved how I captured him leaping from the white ship to the colourful ship,” he adds. “It is almost as if he is escaping from pale life to fruitful life.”