This photograph comes second only to the Banff squirrel for making me laugh at an unintentional subject in a photo.
Credit goes to my colleague Jory who takes great photos on race nights but had the top of this guy’s head pop into the frame just as he tried to capture a race winner and his supporters! It’s perhaps even funnier to us because we have no idea whose crown it is.
It got me thinking about starting a website where people can post their ruined photos. There are a few blogs out there dedicated to wrecked pictures but they mostly feature foolish people doing foolish things in the backgrouns. Surely I could create something special and showcase photos that would be great except for a second of happenstance. However, after a while, once the site became hugely popular, people would probably start staging the photos and the spontaneous quality would be lost. My artistic vision would be made into a mockery. I’d have to sell the site for millions and move to an island where I’d spend the remainder of my days under a palm tree as I ruminated on the destruction of my dream.
So I’ve decided not to start the site after all. But I hope you enjoy the photo!