I recently found "Happenstantial Art," a Facebook group where people post photographs of the unintentional artistic beauty they happen upon in their everyday lives—in nature, urban settings, at home, and more. Sometimes I can identity what's in the photos—like the recent image someone posted of a sweet potato sitting in a window sill—but more often the images are more macro or abstract, so that all you can really see are vibrant colors, shapes, materials, and textures.
Lawrence Hultberg, who created the group, provides some insight into its purpose and philosophy:
This page grew out of my own body of photography that I branded as #urbanabstracts and from my experience as a member of the FB group Involuntary Painting and its sister group Shadows and Reflections.
With my Urban Abstracts I sought to capture details of the urban environment taken out of context that would be composed in a manner that made them appear as if they were abstract paintings. Rather than reveal the source of the image within the photograph, I often preferred the final product to be an extract of that environment, a detail whose source could potentially remain hidden.
This concept would sometimes be at odds with the one behind the Involuntary Painting group that sought to include the context of an urban setting that had within it painterly qualities to some of its components. I was also more drawn to well composed images, whereas that was not necessarily important to an IP, though some certainly were.
There were several guidelines to the IP group that sought to inhibit the inclusion of nature shots, and well as shadows and reflections. Which was perfectly understandable and why the splinter group Shadows and Reflections was created. I'd like to see in this group the inclusion of nature shots, but rather than landscape like images, let's seek details found in nature that appear more like an abstract painting.
The same for shadows and reflections. We don't wish to compete with the #shadref group, but to encourage abstract painting like imagery that could include shadows or reflections. So, rather than a reflection of say, a row of houses upon a body of water, for example, which we might typically find in that group, we seek to have details of the reflections that could be composed as an abstract painting. Hopefully this is making sense. This description could potentially evolve as we grow.
You are welcome to add the hashtag #happenstantialart to the images you post, but it is not a requirement. You can also add a hashtag that would identify the image as yours.
Scrolling through the group is truly delightful—to give you a sense of the kinds of images posted there, I've included some examples at the bottom of this post (with permission). Whether you love taking photographs or just enjoy seeing how other people see the world with an eye toward finding joy and beauty in the mundane and often overlooked, you'll love the group. Go check it out!
The following photos by Bretton Varga, with permission:
