Happy accidents

Sometimes what happens is what I call "a happy accident." You are going about your creative task, intent on accomplishing one result, when, just when you least expect it, a better outcome presents itself. You experience this combination of a voilà! and ah-ha moment that provides a momentary high.

I love it when that happens.

Truth be told it happens more often than not when I don't know what I'm doing. My joy soon turns to doubt that I will ever be able to know quite how I got the result I did. Take the picture shown above, for example. I took that last week with a new camera Andrew just bought. It is a digital SLR with more buttons and functions than I'm sure I'll ever master. He asked me to take a photo of the boards from a low vantage point. I guess the camera zoomed in on the nails, that I honestly didn't even notice, and voilà! when I reviewed the captured image on the camera screen, I realized I had taken a really cool picture.

Sometimes creating art, or even great art, isn't about knowing exactly how to make it, its just about recognizing it when you see it, even if it is simply the result of your latest "happy accident."