As photographers sometimes we set ourselves goals to shoot a series of related images. You might remember that at the beginning of the year I set myself the challenge of shooting a daily image styled around the tarot card I’d pulled that day and I’m pleased to say that the #dailycard2015 series is still going strong over on Instagram. Today though I want to talk about a different kind of photo series – one I’ll call the Accidental Series.
I was fortunate to have spent some time in Italy over the summer. Having done the museum tours and “must-sees” in previous trips, much of this holiday was spent wandering the streets and alleyways of Florence, Siena and Rome in search of good photographs. I shot with my iPhone – seemingly my go to travel camera these days – and edited leisurely over lunch or breaks on benches in piazzas. I uploaded here and there to Instagram whenever I had a strong enough wifi signal.
It wasn’t until I got home and looked at my images en masse that I recognized a through-line.
Without intending to I had a series of photos – some from all three cities – of streetside restaurant tables all set up and awaiting their patrons.
Looking back now, I’m not sure what drew me to make this series of photographs. Maybe it was the lines, the colours, or the absolute orderliness of these perfectly set and set up tables. Maybe it was the potential of these tables waiting to draw customers to be well fed. Whatever the reason, now that I’m home I’m rather delighted to have discovered this series, however accidentally it came about.
What about you? Do you ever return from a trip or a photo walk and find a series of photos that you hadn’t intended to make?
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LOVE this. And yes, I’m doing the same as you right now…. going through and rediscovering images from our summer travels. I’m now going to use a keen eye to look for the happy accidental series that might exist. (and we need to travel together someday!)
Absolutely, I do this! I often see the method to my madness only afterwards. I have a feeling when I finally get all of my summer film back I will have a series worth of laundry lines.
And I love this series of yours – you really caught a sense of place so well. I feel as though I’m walking the alleys as I view these photos.
Oh yes! So true! It’s often when I get my film scans back that I realise what caught my eye while we were travelling!
This happens to me too! I love all these alley ways.