“The idea behind “Accidentally on Purpose” was to bring something new into street photography but also follow the footsteps of the genre’s pioneers. Four years ago, the idea of capturing the complexity of urban life and it’s direct impact on how people conduct their lives became very strong.

After years trying to record such complexity we finally had our breakthrough while accidentally reloading a previously exposed film. The resulting images presented such dissonance and harmony that it just made us both silently stare.

From then on the lucky discovery shaped our approach. Swapping rolls to shoot a second layer and therefore merge two unrepeatable moments from two photographer’s distinctive viewpoints could allow us to portray the complexity of perception and let the viewer dive into a multi-layered dimension, between real and virtual worlds.

Always looking for the right combination of light, color and reflection, the photographs were shot in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo on Leica M6 and without any Photoshop retouching.

The chaotic nature of today’s urban life creates great challenges to interpret the world around us. Photography can however help us both to record and understand this complexity.”

– Discover more of Vera and Robert’s work here: Vera Torok / Robert Pap