Years ago, when I first started my creative photography journey, I adopted a personal mantra: no photo is a wasted photo (you can always find a use for it). That mindset emerged around the time my iPhone Movement Project began and I started repurposing all the random photo’s that hadn’t quite worked, even the accidental ones I didn’t mean to take. They became textures, backgrounds, and tiny visual details layered into larger image projects.

I did a lot of the image layering using an image blending app on my phone: while waiting for appointments, sitting in the carpark for school pick-up, or half-watching tv shows with the family.

I haven’t used the app much in recent years. Until this week.

The last couple of months have been hectic, with very little downtime, but I still wanted to shoot film images for my Viewfinders post this month. I had a plan — it didn’t work. I had another plan — that didn’t work either. So I looked at what I did have, and with the little time I had left, I revisited my old mantra, no photo is a wasted photo, and decided to create some images from what I had.

The central image for my creations is a film photo of the beautiful statue at The Pioneer Women’s Memorial in Kings Park, Perth. The statue was created by the artist, Margaret Priest, and the memorial was officially opened on January 14, 1968.

These are some of the photos I chose to create with.

And these are some of the images I created.

What do you do with your “failed”, “random”, or “accidental” photo’s? Do you bin them or repurpose them? If you repurpose them, I’d love to know what you use them for.

Until next time, have fun creating.

Jacqui x