diff --git a/frontend/src/admin/DraftQueue.tsx b/frontend/src/admin/DraftQueue.tsx
index 9afc1e6..29403ee 100644
--- a/frontend/src/admin/DraftQueue.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/admin/DraftQueue.tsx
@@ -86,6 +86,15 @@ function DraftPhoto({
   // session asks it to. This is what makes the button visibly do something. No
   // column and no server change: the file's identity has not changed, only this
   // page's need to see it again.
+  //
+  // Bumped in `finally`, not on success, and that is the whole point of it
+  // rather than a tidy-up. The server turns the displayed file first and the
+  // pristine original second, so a failure between them answers 500 with the
+  // photo already rotated on disk. Bumping only on success would show that
+  // admin an error beside a picture that had not visibly moved, and the
+  // obvious response — press it again — turns it a second time. Re-requesting
+  // the file either way is what makes the design's remedy, one press back,
+  // actually available. The cost is one wasted request when nothing changed.
   const [version, setVersion] = useState(0);
   const src = version === 0 ? image.image_path : `${image.image_path}?v=${version}`;
 
@@ -107,10 +116,10 @@ function DraftPhoto({
     setTurning(true);
     try {
       await rotateImage(itemId, image.id, direction);
-      setVersion(Date.now());
     } catch (err) {
       message.error(err instanceof Error ? err.message : 'that did not work');
     } finally {
+      setVersion(Date.now());
       setTurning(false);
     }
   };