IS ART?

Some of the best photographic images are magical mistakes. A special moment coincides with the moment of exposure. In Canada, I watched a dog jumping off a pontoon to chase a stick, repeatedly thrown by its owner. I shot countless film based panoramic frames – waiting to catch the dog at the point at which it entered the water – big splash against still lake – you get the picture. Eventually, I assumed I caught the moment and packed the film for processing on my return to London. But, to my surprise, on seeing the film, the dog was suspended, a split second from hitting the water. It floated parallel to the water with legs aligned horizontally with the lake. A lovely scenic image but not entirely what I intended.
The image shown above is the end of a roll of film shot on a plastic Lomographic camera. The ‘novelty’ camera takes four images across a single frame – I bought it for the kids. Toward the end of the 35mm roll, the film jammed. The effect was an over exposed and slightly layered effect. I scanned the frame at high resolution and added colour panels in Photoshop. The result is an abstract, linear and highly graphic artwork – based on a mistake. The message is, embrace the unexpected and sometimes, the spontaneity and the sincerity of a mistake can be more attractive than the intended image.