"The Accidentally Wes Anderson community sees beauty in the world" says its official photographer

Mostly I go on adventures with Wally, Amanda and the team. We are dispatched to a location, often working with a client or a sponsor to create these types of images.

There's a lot of research that goes on, as far as where we're going and whether there are any other locations that our community would be interested in seeing.

My job is mostly creating the photography content and the photography end of things. A lot of the other members of the team are more focused on video creation and video content; they also do some photos and I do some videos, but my primary focus is making those pictures that are going to go into a book or on the website, or perhaps even be seen in a gallery.

And then, if there are any retouching needs or if something needs to be zhuzhed up a little, or if an image is almost good enough but just needs a little something like a creative crop, then Wally and Amanda rely on my perspective.

I don't think there’s just one single ingredient that defines Wes Anderson. A lot of people would describe it as a symmetrical image or having a certain color palette, but I think it’s a little unfair to define Wes' work, or even the Accidentally Wes Anderson images, in those terms.

Of course, you can find these elements in many of the images, but there is so much more. Typically, the image tells a story or has a quirky or whimsical element about it. 

Wes' films are not only about the storyline but also about the world he creates visually with his sets and architectural elements, the lighting and color, even the way he frames his scenes – sometimes with grand open spaces and other times small and intimate like inside an elevator.

The way he layers the scenes, almost like a theatrical production, and even the way he moves to the camera during editing, these techniques tell a story with theatrical flair.

I think the Wes Anderson ingredient can be any combination of those. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a huge Wes Anderson fan and I was long before I got involved with AWA.

I fell in love with his work after seeing The Royal Tenenbaums in the early 2000s. It's still my favorite movie.

The types of images that AWA has curated are no doubt candy for the eyes, but they also evoke a sense of adventure, playfulness and escape. What's so attractive to me is that these places are real, and yet the way they're captured often seems cinematic or dreamlike.

The fact that anyone can submit their own images or story not only makes AWA accessible, but also creates a community around the beauty of the Wes Anderson aesthetic and the tradition of storytelling. 

One aspect about it that I really love is the comments below the images on Instagram. As a person who isn't much of a writer, the way the community interacts with AWA and with each other is so entertaining and charming – AWA has really fostered a culture that inspires joy and lifts each other up.

I picked two – the first one is on page 338 and it's a wide image of snowshoers hiking across Des Moines Point in Antarctica. This is an example of a kind of whimsical storytelling… each one of the snowshoers has their own personality, like you'd see in a Where’s Waldo comic.

The glacier behind the snowshoers is towering like mountains, but then you also have these vast plains of white snow on the top and the bottom, which frames it and also gives it a sense of a world that's uninhabited by humans. I think this heightens the sense of adventure as the snowshoers march on.

The second image is on page 207 and it was taken in Angoulême in France. This was the location that Wes chose to film The French Dispatch so I was delighted we were able to go there and see what the actual locations looked like.

The image is of a big yellow Ferris wheel and this location was not on our shot list. It was shot right at the beginning of the travel restrictions being lifted during the COVID pandemic, and Amanda and I were rushing to get to a pharmacy within 15 minutes for a COVID test, and there was this giant yellow Ferris wheel in perfect light.

We had to stop and look at it but we also had to get this test, so I got my camera out, snapped some quick pictures and then ran to the pharmacy. It was so accidental and perfect at the same time. 

Looking at the Ferris wheel photo now brings me lots of joy, but also remembering how chaotic and accidental shooting it was makes me laugh.

They're so much fun. The team has a really lighthearted approach to everything, especially Wally and Amanda, who love to 'go with the flow'.

We're all quite nerdy and get excited when we see something historical or fascinating and we love fun facts. If we get to see an old mailbox, we just get so excited about it – and that energy is really contagious. 

Yes, I think it will, because it's about the community. It's not one of these Instagram accounts where you have a creator who makes content and it comes 100% from them.

It is about the community and submissions are always open and you don't have to be a professional photographer to submit a photo. It’s just about this collection of humans who see beauty in the world. 

Wes' aesthetic is becoming even more well-known and popular these days, and I think it speaks to a lot of people because it is just so beautiful. Coming across something in real life that strikes you in that way is fun and I think there's a lot of good energy around that.

Yes, the Accidentally Wes Anderson community is the driving force behind it; everyone keeps it really fun and light and, sometimes, I think that's just what we need.