Theme (NOT a contest) : Serendipity

[ConsAreLiars]

While scanning, I came across the following image, and thought it might be interesting to see if others have had similar "fortunate accidents" where something unanticipated happened that changed the image completely.

The following image is unaltered other than to auto-scan and reduce to 10% of the original size (with sharpening).




In fact, this image happened when I was with a workshop at a waterfall in Oregon, positioned in the cave area behind the falls, and away from the camera. A hiker came by and I made my way back to the camera which had been set for a long exposure. The hiker paused under the falls for the experience, I quickly framed the shot, pushed the release, kicked the tripod, caught the camera as it toppled, set it back where I thought had come from, wiggled the feet down into a stable position, and waited until the exposure finished.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. That is very ghostly and cool...

This is the closest thing I can come up with that fits your category. I was just taking a boring picture of the colorful blimp when the seagulls flew into the frame just as I was shooting. I wish they were a little clearer, but you take what you get sometimes.

[ConsAreLiars]

2. I think it's better with the birds as they are.

A happy accident for sure. The slightly out of focus, soft and graceful forms of life versus a sharply imaged, garish, graceless oversized toy behind them.

[amazona]

4. nice photo i'll tell you a secret

Your "seagulls" are Pigeons. :-)

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. I think they might even be doves

but, take it to the Ornithology group.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I realized that after I had posted the picture...

...but it was too late to edit. Pigeons, seagulls, whatever....

[intheflow]

10. What in the world

was that blimp advertising? I can't decide if I like the garish design or not, but your new speicies of pidgeon-gull-doves definitely make the picture better! :thumbsup:

[Blue_In_AK]

17. I don't think it was advertising anything

It was flying above the Santa Monica pier ... I think people could buy rides on it.

[Webster Green]

23. That reminds me of this shot I took at an air show....

A freaked out turkey vulture!

[F.Gordon]

3. You used an old filmsie trick

Even though yours was by "accident"... I have nothing nearly as nice as yours. I recently tried to duplicate this effect with digital. It took several tries. I just did a "burb" when I pressed the shutter button on a 1 second shot. The hard part is moving and holding... so the actual object(s) is fairly in focus but the effect is there.

"Ghosts of Trick-Or-Treat Past"



Edit: Mine was by "accident on purpose".
:evilgrin:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Wow. I get the same effect when I take acid.

I never tried the moving camera thing.

[intheflow]

8. Thanks for posting nothing about the contest!

I needed a break! :)

That was a very lucky mishap you had there. The effect is quite striking. And very ghostly!

The closest I have is this concept is a photo I took in Big Sur. This tree was just inside the path following the Big Sur River to the Pacific. It was by far the most enchanted place I've ever been to. When the film was developed, I thought it was cool to have a circular rainbow show up in the roots of the tree.

[ConsAreLiars]

11. Quick, pull that photo before it begins appearing

on UFO and Gaean sites! Before you know it, the MassedMedia will be all over you and the crazies will be preaching about ma nature being a mandala loving buddhist or a devil.

For myself, I think it is real, on the surreal plane, despite the lens flare. The area reminds of a hike in an old growth forest in, uhh, somewhere in the WA or OR mountains, and coming into a bowl like area where, on the far side, I saw a number of prayer flags. My first reaction was to wonder what I was seeing and why it was there, but on reading some of the messages of peace and prayers for the forest (my vague recollection is that there was some commemoration of a native american eco-warrior as the focus), felt it was right and fitting that they be there. No picture, partly because of the light, and because I felt that it was a holy site.

But a circular rainbow, now that is something else.

(edit, because spell-checker doesn't catch incomplete sentences.)

[intheflow]

13. LOL!

I was thinking this photo needed some tale about crazy leprechans who stole a rainbow and kept it by their pot of gold. But UFOs and Gaia worship? That's way cooler!

:rofl:

[Rocinante]

9. Ok I got one

After a day of swimming and fishing I took a photo of a footbridge at the creek.

When we got home I thought I had one more exposure on the roll, so I did a shot of our dog looking out the front door.

I was a bit pissed about the double exposure at first, but it turned out ok I guess.

[intheflow]

12. I really like that.

Your dog looks very noble. It's like s/he's dreaming of being outside, running through the woods like a wolf!

[Rocinante]

15. Thanks

That Big Sur shot is really nice. Wish I could get a lens flare like that sometime. :) Glad to see someone posting something from film too!

[ConsAreLiars]

14. I like it a lot!

The dog's posture and positioning is just right to suggest daydreams of running through the woods or jumping in the stream. Unintended double exposures often blow out highlights, but that didn't happen here, and the light tone adds to the dreamy quality. Good example where a very interesting and pleasing photo came about courtesy of chance accident.

[Rocinante]

16. Thank you

I've always been a little unsure about that one. I really did want the two separate shots, but since that didn't happen I'm glad to see that folks like it anyway.

[alfredo]

18. It isn't loading.

[ConsAreLiars]

19. Here's another link

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3352982

Unfortunately, photo-net further degrades the photo beyond what is submitted, although in this case, unlike others, it is not a big thing. You can at least get the general idea. (A 100 KB pic that has as a partial subject a Redwing Blackbird was reduced to a 30-some KB file that shows a completely black bird.) All the more reason to get my own website.

Anyway, you might want to check into what is blocking your access to the xs.to domain. It's probably blocking other stuff.

[alfredo]

20. Very good picture anyway.

Your ISP should provide some server space. Check with them.

If you don't know html, get NVU to build a website. It's not hard once you learn a few terms.

http://www.nvu.com/

[ConsAreLiars]

21. Thanks for the NVU referral.

I looked at it, and it looks like I can use some of my other programs to generate an album, and then use NVU to modify the text and such and then send the appropriately reorganized data to the server, and then later make modifications as my understanding allows.

Oh, it turns out the degraded photo-net version of the image is just the "small" version, and the larger version is OK.

[alfredo]

22. Thanks. Good to see the larger version isn't degraded.

NVU is pretty easy to use.

[noamnety]

24. funny timing for me on this one

There was a troop of fire twirlers that one of my kids was performing with. Not sure what to say about this one:

[superconnected]

25. It's cool. And I like the flowers in her hair.

[RetroLounge]

26. I took this photo this weekend.

I was up in Green lake, WI and the light wasn't quite right, and I was too far back under a treeline, and the tree in the photo turned out way too dark, and just not what I was going for. Picture was taken about 5 in the afternoon.

So I took the photo and ran the brightness all the way down, and the contrast all the way up, and it turned into an okay night-scene.



RL

[Princess Turandot]

27. I photo I clicked while facing a construction site wall..

which was covered with a reflective surface.
Downtown Baltimore, 1976.

I don't know what I expected, but it became one of my personal favorite photos.

[Princess Turandot]

28. Here I was, taken a photo of my new CAT, when suddenly..

a mutant creature appeared instead! These 3 are notorious among my feline loving circle of friends.







He grew up to be a non-stop talker: he's a siamese mix whose brother came out as a regular seal point, while he turned out to be all brown, uncommon in cats, with white front toes. Because he has his mouth open so much, I can never tell what type of cat I'll see in the end.

[Princess Turandot]

29. I have a semi-obstructed view of the NYC July 4th fireworks..

and usually wind up taking a bunch of photos, with the camera hand held. I never know what I'll get. Some photos look like fireworks: others look like electrical dances..Deliberate Serendipity, I guess.