The Art of Coincidence: Street Photos of Special Accidental Moments
Photography has been with me for as long as I can remember. In my childhood, my father had an old Zorki camera, the Russian Leica II clone, and he had a habit of developing films from our trips in the darkroom. That place with unfamiliar smells and substances had a unique charm for me.
Over the years I have moved almost completely to digital, though film and analog hold still a special place in my heart.
Street photography happened naturally to me. Although I also love to do editorials and “directed” photographs, since I carry a camera with me wherever I go, I find myself capturing everything around me. On my way, I always find special moments. In my eyes, these moments have social, human, and/or visual values and that’s why I do my best to capture them.
Because we are surrounded by coincidences, it is often difficult for us to pay attention to them. The camera is an amazing tool to preserve the moment and in the perspective of time also to infuse it with additional meanings. I believe that the best moments are continually around us. Since reality is the best director, it’s something hard to plan ahead.
While doing street photography you can stand at a certain point and wait for a certain “perfect” placing and still be surprised by what will happen a second later. Although it may sound like a cliché, the best photographs really happened by coincidence.
About the author: Ishay (Jesse) Lindenberg is an independent photographer and artist born in Israel and based in Berlin. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Lindenberg’s work on his website and Instagram.
