Determining the perfect exposure time for a photographic print in a traditional darkroom can be a time-consuming and tedious process, and the irreverent David Bailey has never had much patience for it. Normally a photographer makes a number of test strips, each showing different exposure times; but Bailey has always just intuitively torn off strips of the unexposed paper to find the desired result: “I would usually have it in the bag after three tears.”

Over the decades Bailey has kept his “test tears,” re-fixing and washing them to preserve the unpredictable and unique qualities of these “accidents.” This book contains the best of Bailey’s tears, which transform some of his most famous motifs into fascinating abstract pictures through their torn edges and myriad tones.