Photographers have told me that one can always be surprised by what the camera sees that the human eye does not. A shot that is sure to be inferior turns out to reflect light in an unpredictable way.  A mistaken push of a button snaps a picture that, instead of being a waste, is actually interesting. Within the past month such surprises have happened for me on three different occasions. I have made photographs by accident.

One morning in a floral design class I was enrolled in, I had camera in hand to shoot images of the various flowers we were using in that day’s arrangement. When I finished, I put the camera down on the table in front of me. Just as the camera touched the table, it slipped out of my hand and—flash—a not-intended picture was taken. When I downloaded the images later in the day, I clicked on the errant shot to move it to the trash. Then I noticed…a couple of green leaves at the bottom, the discernible center of the aster in the middle; and, surrounding that center, the petals of the flower themselves. I like seeing this barely visible outline of what was in reality a tiny flower that has been made large by the proximity of the camera to the object. I like finding an image in what I had thought was just a blur. I like that a photograph was made by an accident.