Accidentally Brilliant

Danny raids his curated collection of vintage, unwittingly wonderful amateur photographs.

Part of the E17 Art Trail venue No 120
66 Grosvenor Park Road
Open weekends 11am - 7pm
May 30-June 14, 2015

To fresh eyes these photos tell unintended stories, their ambiguity offering up all manner of scenarios and moral dilemmas. Poor framing or cropping sow the seeds of accidental narratives.

The chance placing of the distant cross behind the head of a child gives him a celestial quality and a teenager, performing a head-stand wearing a Superman T-shirt, could be the young Clark Kent? What has caused the lady to fall over and be recorded for posterity in such beautifully composed fashion? There's a group of timid women posing for a photo on the porch - the passive-aggressively placed firearm could suggest they were coerced?

Relish their ambiguities, and start to look at photos in a new light.

© photographers unknown/collection of Danny Coope