Our friends at Accidentally Wes Anderson have a good eye and an even better appreciation for the stories behind beautiful photographs.
Turns out you can learn an awful lot about some pretty far-flung locations—or even some you may have missed right in your own backyard—just by scrolling on your phone. The people who surround @AccidentiallyWesAnderson might share a common aesthetic, but maybe more importantly, the one million Adventurers who make up the AWA Community share an imagination for the promise those places hold—whether a detail hidden in the corner of a photo, or an unexpected fact hidden in plain sight.
The good folks who run AWA—from an undisclosed location that we imagine has a great many hatches to look out of—have cultivated a community not just there for the beauty of the images shared, or the stories told in the white space below the vibrant photos, but also for their generosity, infectious enthusiasm, and overall positivity they try to spread each day.
The photos and stories have long been the focus—and they will continue to be—but the community has come together to celebrate some 200 idiosyncratic locations from around the world in a printed collection: Accidentally Wes Anderson, The Book.
The images on these pages are just a taste of the types of treasures you might find in the book—all captured by members of the @AccidentallyWesAnderson community. Some were taken many thousands of miles away from the photographers’ homes, others taken a few blocks away—but regardless of the distance the photographers traveled, each of these photos truly transports us.
Get Accidentally Wes Anderson, The Book at AccidentallyWesAnderson.com.
Beach Boardwalk
Photographer: Ludwig Favre | @ludwigfavre
Homebase: Paris
Photo location: Santa Cruz, California
Miles away from home: 10,000
Mode of transport: Taxi/car service
“I was on a California road trip, and the colors of the cable cars at this amusement park in Santa Cruz caught my attention.”
Novelty Cinema
Photographer: Kuber Shah | @thekuber
Homebase: Mumbai and Berlin
Photo location: Mumbai
Miles away from home: 0
Mode of transport: Other
“I’ve been collecting images of Mumbai heritage buildings since 2014, and have lots of old memories of seeing movies here. If you like something in Mumbai, click it, because soon it might not be there anymore.”
White Cyclone
Photographer: Paul Hiller | @paulhiller
Homebase: Munich, Germany
Photo location: Nagashima Spa Land, Nagoya, Japan
Miles away from home: 5,772
Mode of transport: Bus
“I saw that fluffy cloud on this perfect turquoise sky next to this dreamy rollercoaster… I took the photo with a 60-year-old film camera. I feel like I am always chasing amazing places and, as a photographer, I’m collecting candy-pastel-colored and dreamy sceneries all over the world.”
Roberts Cottages
Photographer: Paul Fuentes | @paulfuentes_photo
Homebase: London
Photo location: Oceanside, California
Miles away from home: 5,463
Mode of transport: Flight
“I went to California to make a video interview and I decided to take some photos. The simplicity, the colors and the views that these cottages have caught my eye.”
Iarnrod Eireann
Photographer: David Maguire | @david.maguire
Homebase: Dublin, Ireland but originally from Longford, Ireland
Photo location: Onboard the DART train in North Dublin
Miles away from home: 5
Mode of transport: Train
“It was my daily commute home to my house in North Dublin and just about to disembark off the train (you can see my stop Kilbarrack being announced on the screen). I remember it being such a gorgeous day. The sun was shining (rare enough for Ireland) and the evenings were beginning to get longer too so I was enjoying my commute home more than usual. I always loved the DART train and its various shades of green.
“When I was younger I would drive anyone to madness if they had to accompany me to Dublin because all I wanted to do was have a trip on the DART. Part of the DART line consists of the old Dublin and Kingstown railway which was built in 1834 and is considered one of the world’s first dedicated commuter railways.”
Hidden Vlei
Photographer: Louise Walsh | @la_walsh
Homebase: Cambridge, UK
Photo location: Deadvlei, Namibia
Miles away from home: 7629
Mode of transport: Flight
“I was on holiday when I saw this sign to Hidden Vlei after we’d walked to Deadvlei, a strange and wonderful clay pan scattered with the skeletons of ancient dead trees. The tree skeletons found there are about 700 years old and this area is surrounded by some of the largest sand dunes in the world. The sign gave the secret away… Hidden Vlei was no longer hidden.”
Cape Bruny Lighthouse
Photographer: Phoebe Dennis | @phoebeanndennis
Homebase: The Netherlands
Photo location: Bruny Island, Tasmania
Miles away from home: 10,598
Mode of transport: Own car
“I’m Australian-Greek, and my dad lives in Tasmania. We hadn’t seen each other in a few years, and I was visiting him. We took a three-day father-daughter road trip in his VW Kombi van to explore some of Tasmania. The vastness of this rugged island and coast stopped me here. Generations of lighthouse masters and their families had made their life in this incredible place.”
Figaro
Photographer: Hayley Doyle | @wherehayleygoes
Homebase: Sheffield, UK
Photo location: South Yorkshire, UK
Miles away from home: 20
Mode of transport: Own car
“We love nothing more than packing up our picnic hamper and heading off on a road-trip in our little Nissan Figaro, it just gives that added joy and nostalgia to our adventures on the road… This felt like a great place to stop and take in the scenery, we also couldn’t help but notice how fitting the car looked along with the scenery.”
Grona Lund
Photographer: Marta Rękas | @mrtrks
Homebase: Warsaw, Poland
Photo location: Stockholm, Sweden
Miles away from home: 504
Mode of transport: Flight
“I’ve always wanted to visit Stockholm, because I’m a huge Scandinavia fan, so it was my dream-come-true trip. I like to capture movement and I really loved the central frame here.”
Warrender Baths
Photographer: Soo Burnell | @sooukdotcom
Homebase: Edinburgh, Scotland
Photo location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Miles away from home: 10
Mode of transport: Own Car
“This is one of six very beautiful Victorian baths in Edinburgh, my hometown and, which, if you ask me, is the most beautiful city in the world.”
