happy accidents

As photographers, we often don't have control over our subject matter. Moving targets, such as children and animals don't always give us the liberty to stop and compose an image exactly how we imagine. This sort of unpredictability lends itself to happy accidents. It's always fun to download your images and find that one surprise image that makes you gasp with delight.

This shot of a busy farm cat was one of my recent happy accidents. I love the way he matches that gray and white gravel. Not to mention the few sprigs of grass that coordinate with his bright green eyes. I couldn't have planned it better myself!

Please share your happy accidents with us.

Comments

[Brooke]

I've been trying to photograph my dog with her frisbee. It's rather hard to throw and shoot at the same time though. So while it wasn't what I wanted, I thought the composition ended up to pretty cool: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterboo502/4441445675/

[elk]

a very artistic "accident" ...animals are always a challenge!!

actually mine was just yesterday .. camera clicked and i did not even realize it until I downloaded shots, I love when that happens ..like a special surprise

..used it on my 365 today:
http://redorgrayblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-l-l-u-m-i-n-t-e.html

[Kat]

This is such a fun topic! Here is my favorite happy accidents, at night in Venice:
http://www.kateyeview.com/2010/02/timing-is-everything.html

[amy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30588897@N06/4872181995/

here's mine.

[Stephanie]

I love my pups face in this one... http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdlerch/4882381232/
It so fits his personality!

[Jennifer Gandin Le]

I love the cat's stance in your shot, too -- his front legs are a little wide, like he's daring you to do anything he doesn't approve of.

I recently met a King Penguin chick behind the scenes at Sea World, and he was so unexpectedly fuzzy that he caught me off guard!

While I knew that this shot came out well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennifergandinle/4880501417/in/set-72157624699361088/

this happy accident surprised me with the detail of his feet:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennifergandinle/4880503425/in/set-72157624699361088/

The unexpected blur in the photo mirrored the experience of seeing him toddle out of the habitat.

[Puna]

I was on my morning walk and put my lowered my camera to try to catch some light through the weeds. This is what I captured.

http://lifesignatures.org/wordpress/2010/08/august-6-all-is-right/

[Jennifer]

I actually had four hours to myself last Friday while The Husband and The Boy took my father-in-law to a doctor's appointment in the next state over.

When I started, I forgot I had my flash on. I didn't think I had anything worth posting until I saw this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cardboardsea/4864097591/

[amy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30588897@N06/4874634682/

and another.;) not too often you get deer to pose for portraits:)

[DorkyMum]

The little boy peeking through the pillars was an accident, but made this shot a lot more interesting than it would have been otherwise.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkymum/4782739628/

[Jayne Bramley]

I love how I accidently managed to capture this sweet image of my pup as the wind lifted up his ears and he is sniffing the breeze for scents of the lake. It was a hot Summer day and he cooled off by taking a dip in the lake and then let the slight breeze cool him.
Love this little guy so much :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14261878@N08/4872504250/

[Tara R.]

On a trip to visit grandparents, I tried to get a shot of the rising moon as my teenage son drove. This was my result...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifmomsaysok/4712360157/

[kristen]

when the confetti popped, i was trying to get the girls running and was so happy when i saw this happy accident, straight out of the camera: http://www.flickr.com/photos/acumamakiki/4876044519/

[Marilyn]

Love your happy accident.

[Stephanie]

This was more of an "accident" that I stumbled on the scene. It was the morning of Love Fest in San Francisco. A few people were out but the festivities hadn't yet begun. I turned down a small side street and sitting in a canvas lawn chair next to a boring trailer was this guy. I only had my little point-and-shoot with me, so I quickly raised it and clicked before the guy looked up. Not knowing what I'd captured until I loaded it, I then decided to process the image in a way that emphasized the strange cartoon-ish nature of the experience.

http://bigmariolife.blogspot.com/2010/02/friday-foto.html

[Liz]

Two come to mind immediately for me...this one is recent, I was at the zoo with my daughter and she was lingering in front of the big pen of zebras and giraffes so I just started snapping random shots...didn't realize I had caught these zebras all lined up like this until later:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/inventingliz/4875720831/

...and this one is from last December. I was in Ethiopia to adopt my daughter and was traveling in the Sidama region to meet her birth family. I took a bunch of pictures out of the car window as we were driving so I could bring back some images to help her remember her birth country...I thought I had only gotten landscape shots until weeks later when I finally had some time to look through and process the images. This shot will always and forever represent that very emotional trip of a lifetime for me:

http://inventingliz.blogspot.com/2010/02/miles-to-go.html

[spread your wings]

i like the way my phone case created a holga effect, i like the greens and the golds, the way her camera strap matches her hat, her hair... i don't know... i just like it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumnsun/4843671120/in/set-72157624601833310/

[humbird]

LOVE your posting and photo! So perfectly captures this time of year as we begin downloading our vacation and summer photos and finding gems.

I just returned home from visiting Oregon, and found this amongst my first images.

There is a pool with 200 steelhead on Steamboat Creek who have migrated from the ocean and will continue upstream in late October when the rain returns. As I sat watching these massive fish, one LEAPED from the water!

And my finger was on the shutter. Oh happy accidents!

http://humbirdhum.wordpress.com

[WorthIt!]

What a wonderful topic!

Here's a recent happy accident...my nephew wasn't in the mood to have his picture taken so, I lowered my phone and shot blind...I was so happy to see the results!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52055227@N07/?saved=1

[WorthIt!]

Oops - here's is the correct link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52055227@N07/4882188645/

[Kathryn]

It wasn't until I downloaded my photos that I realized this butterfly had a torn wing. I was so into how beautiful it looked that I didn't notice. I love how imperfections can be beautiful.

http://dychedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/07/theres-beauty-in-imperfection.html

[Trude]

What a great shot!! Hooray for happy accidents, they're awesome. :)

[Deanna]

Wow, I have a ton of blown shots. I posted an article on my (tiny) little blog a little while ago. I'm trying to embrace my mistakes, however embarrassing ;)
http://adhocbasis.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-where-that-came-from.html
http://adhocbasis.blogspot.com/2009/04/accidentally-on-purpose-aka-my-favorite.html
I'm sure I have a few more that I will have to post this week as well ;)

[Angela]

My happy accident is a cat photo, too:

http://angela-hemming.blogspot.com/2010/07/you-have-to-be-fast-to-photograph-cat.html

[Laura O'Hanesian]

I only saw my beautiful daughter when I snapped this on my iPhone.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauraophoto/4697949420/

[Ingrid]

Gorgeous shot of my favorite subject!

[Kelly]

My favorite happy accident ever. I could never have planned and it made me gasp when I caught it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellysoji/4559017259/in/set-72157624538146177/

[soupatraveler]

back in may i did a maternity shoot for a good friend of mine. i was aiming for a sunflare "kiss" and what we got instead was a sunflare joey!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46922592@N00/4603246530/in/set-72157622450627246/

[Dottie]

Here's a major accident: light leak and frame freeze. Kinda cool how it brought together a kite, airplane and bicycle. Gotta love old film cameras :)

http://dreamcamera.tumblr.com/post/844991461/kite-bike-light-leak

[Marci]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8892061@N04/4883616139/

[Amanda]

i didn't realize i had turned my shutter speed down and i got this fun shot
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amandaleee/3165349986/

[Michele]

Here is my accident. I don't know why (maybe mommy goggles), but I love this shot of my son.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/socalimom/4885716962/

[Hannah]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahmayo/4822859558/in/set-72157624568536186/

I ended up loving the fact that they weren't in focus.

[Vanessa]

Here are two of my recent happy accidents. I love the overlapping images from this holga roll.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vasumo/4854837993/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vasumo/4854553204/

[Ashley]

My daughter NEVER looks at the camera , actually when she the camera is near her she turns the other way. Well one day I was photographing her brother and she had just ate lunch and had food on her face her hair was a mess and she goes picture mommy rarely happens and when it does by the time i press the shutter i get half blurry pictures cause she turned her head, well I got this picture that I love .. it was a happy accident and now a 8x10 on my wall :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40383774@N07/4840971306/