Photos I Didn’t Take (preview)

Despite the name of this post I did take these photos, although not intentionally…I carry my camera just about everywhere with me, “never leave home without it” kind of thing. If I am out and about without a camera it makes me feel awkward; forget a smile, you’re never fully dressed without a camera…Not just having a camera, but having it on, exposure set and ready to shoot is quite important, I know that one day a Big-Foot will jump out and I will be millionaire (maybe). A symptom of this is that the shutter will periodically hit my side, or bump into something and take a photo without my knowledge, it’s a photo I didn’t take…Hit the link to read more and see some examples…

I imagine most people just delete these photos from their camera or hard-drive, not me, I almost never delete anything. Instead, as I go through my photos these accidental photos, good or bad, interesting or not, go into a folder. Eventually, I see myself editing the best of these down and doing a gallery show…if you represent a gallery that would be interested in hosting such an event please let me know…

For me the best part of these photos are the colors, movement and that they are usually upside down. The objects/places are recognizable as actual things, but become distorted, it is fun to see the world in this new way.

A simple lens flare over a blue sky with a little motion blur becomes a beautiful composition. Boring buildings that we walk by every day are so abstracted that their busy colors, patterns and angles meld together into a swirl that is different, unique and not able to be reproduced.

They don’t all have much if any motion blur, there are even some that are in sharp focus, but the one unifying factor is that i didn’t look through the camera, consciously press the shutter or set the exposure. Also, I take these straight from the camera, no adjustments at all; if the shot is under/over exposed, upside-down or whatever, I leave it as is.