Doesn’t every photographer hope to find an undiscovered niche? Something still un-tapped? I may have just: In what I dub “Potty Pareidolia”! Specifically, clean toilet paper that forms a likeness of something else when tossed in the bowl. Sort of like seeing bunnies in clouds. Except looking down instead of up.
When I fed that term into Google, its AI crawlers asked if I meant “breaking news.” Close perhaps. But no cigar.
I then searched Google images for “toilet photography.” And, well, if you want a good laugh, try it. Out of hundreds of images, none were even vaguely pareidolic. However, I did learn that Frank Zappa once released a picture disc showing him sitting on the loo.
So I think the “Potty Pareidolia” niche may be mine… ALL MINE!!!
Necessary Explanations
Naturally, some explanations are due:
- The featured iPhone photo isn’t my only example. Yes, it’s happened more than once! But this “Commissar Boris” cameo is, without a doubt, the best.
- Nothing else shared the bowl with the paper.
- What the paper did when it hit the water was what I shot. No “stick stirring” or “Photoshopping” here! Nope.
- The only post-processing was cropping (for obvious reasons), converting to monochrome (ditto), and re-spreading the iPhone’s captured tones across their full range from black to white (just ’cause).
Looking Forward
A future gallery curator might pontificate that these images “Reveal the unexplored power of the human mind to tease order out of nature’s chaos.” Or perhaps that they “Celebrate the power of water to fold its own origami.”
But whaddya think? Have I found a heretofore undiscovered oeuvre? Wanna see a “Five Frames” followup? Do you never want to see anything like this ever again?
Worry not. I won’t be hurt…
–Dave Powell is a Westford, Mass., writer and avid amateur photographer.
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Scott Bassett on Potty Pareidolia – One-Shot Story
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Ibraar Hussain on Potty Pareidolia – One-Shot Story
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
The photo reminds me of Queen nefertiti rather than Boris Johnson! https://search.brave.com/images?q=nefertiti&source=web
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Gary Smith on Potty Pareidolia – One-Shot Story
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
thorsten on Potty Pareidolia – One-Shot Story
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Geoff Chaplin on Potty Pareidolia – One-Shot Story
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Comment posted: 16/07/2025
Jeffery Luhn on Potty Pareidolia – One-Shot Story
Comment posted: 17/07/2025
I laughed out loud! Pareidolia is an assignment subject I give my students and they usually present photos of knots on tree trunks, electrical devices, backs of cars, etc. Nefertiti in the toilet has never come up. Why would it?!? It's a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. We could go through hectares of tissue and never get even close to that. You are such a brilliant artist!
Comment posted: 17/07/2025
David Pauley on Potty Pareidolia – One-Shot Story
Comment posted: 17/07/2025
I'm striving for a not wholly inappropriate pun... but failing. Like a previous poster I at first thought this image was a block of melting ice.
Good for you for making me look twice -- and laugh out loud.
Cheers.
Comment posted: 17/07/2025