Incidental

For these, I thought I’d landed on Unpremeditated for a title after a lot of struggle to find the correct word.  But it’s an unwieldy one with its ‘meditate’ crusted over by the barnacles ‘un’ and ‘pre’ and ’ed’, though it does convey the meaning I’m after: “not characterized by willful intent and forethought : not planned in advance“.

That meaning works on at least a couple levels — there was no beauty intended by the original creators of these walls with their pipes and cables and brackets.  And these back alleys are not so dependably high yielding in beauty as, say Muir Woods is.  Eduction was close: “to bring out (something, such as something latent)”.  Or distillation...

You get the idea.

And I considered resurrecting the name from a collection of photos I’d started back in the 1900’s using 6 x 9 cm film in a view camera.  You can see those HERE.  What I’m seeing in these, I first discovered in those.

In the end, I’ve decided Incidental works best.  It’s a good word, unadultrated by barnacles, rolls nicely off the tongue.  And its meaning is a good fit:  occurring merely by chance or without intention or calculation.

These are only a minor evolution in the thread I am pursuing in much of my work; all the same motivations in my General Statement apply here.

Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unpremeditated. Accessed 5 Feb. 2024.