"Well, that's the origin of new technique, isn't it?" He smiles wryly down as he lifts up the photograph to look at it more closely. "Figure out how the happy accidents happen and try to make them happen again."

He gets to the end of the photographs, then, and smiles at her genuinely. There's no mockery in his voice, and no emptiness or calculation to the flattery, when he says, "Thank you, Sonia. Truly. These are absolutely lovely. It makes me happy to see them."