My brother Peter made this serendipity-picture. At first he intended to make a still life of salt and pepper flasks. He didn't notice the girl portraits in the picture because his original version was too dark. I made it lighter and the two ladies appeared, which had a revolutionary effect on the picture. It occurred to me too when I shot a light lamp against a white wall that disappeared. Making the picture darker, the lamp appeared and improved the picture remarkably, making it a mysterious top-photograph.Serendipity is a quite common phenomenon everywhere where people deliberately and systematically try to construct something new: a new insight, a new product, a new theory. Serendipity is the phenomenon in which the constructor or researcher during or directly after his work discovers something he didn’t have in mind while starting or completing his work, but which appears to be very useful for other purposes than he was working for. It can best be illustrated by two examples: one humoristic example and one serious example, both given by professors who tried to explain the phenomenon to students.
Example #1
This is very short and very clear, and contains all elements of a genuine serendipity occurrence. Suppose, you have to search for a needle in a haystack. They told you that this needle is in the haystack and you have to dig it out, for whatever reason (maybe the farmer wants it to remove before it gets into a cow’s mouth). You start digging into the hay, carefully feeling around, prepared to feel something small and sharp. It’s already dark and you have been digging all day, but found nothing up to then. Then all of a sudden you feel something round and soft, completely different from what you are focused on. It appears to be the farmer’s daughter who likes sleeping in the hay and had gone to bed early. You look into each other’s eyes and you fall in love with each other. You think: this is far better than a needle.
Example #2
This is from social science and is described in the book “Social Theory and Social Structure” by Robert K. Merton (1959). He describes how sociologists investigate the living situation of a group of people who recently moved from an old city quarter to a new quarter. They asked about the opportunities to go out for e.g. a party, theatre, cinema etc. in comparison with their previous living quarter. People said: “oh, this is far better here than where we first lived, there are so many more teenagers around who want to babysit, than where we first lived”. The researchers found this strange because statistics showed that in their old neighbourhood the number of teenagers was far bigger than it was here. They researched deeper and found out that it was not the number of teenagers that facilitated the bigger going-out opportunities, but it was the way people dealt with one another. In the new neighbourhood people knew each other better and most people knew more people than before.
Many inventions, especially in medicine and chemistry but also in other disciplines are caused by serendipity. Look for it on Wikipedia for a list of serendipity-discoveries.
Since I am an ethoustiastic amateur photographer I discovered serendipity when I took a photograph in a bus. I have a mini-tripod and I had installed the camera when the bus stopped to let passengers in. It was dark and traffic and lanterns gave interesting lights outside, so I wanted to use the stop for an extended-exposure photo for a nice view of the nightly atmosphere with the bus window as a frame. The camera had to be absolutely motionless for a couple of seconds. My camera was ready, and I pressed the postponed-exposure button because directly pressing the shoot-button causes a very tiny movement which I wanted to avoid. But just during the opening of the shutter the bus started and I considered my attempt as failed. Afterwards the picture appeared to be an interesting abstract “painting”, and I decided to consider it as “succeeded”.
On Wikipedia I read that many researchers are reluctant to admit serendipity-results because they feel that it wasn’t the researcher, but coincidence that achieved the result and of course they want to be good and respected researchers, able to make interesting and useful discoveries. So also a photographer can think: such a “coincidental picture” cannot be ascribed to a competent photographer, my 5 year-old son can take such a picture. So let’s forget it and delete it, it’s not what I wanted, and only results that I wanted in advance, are successful (read: “make me a successful photographer”).
I find that everybody who reasons this way over-estimates his/her capabilities. Like scientists who made their serendipity discoveries public said, they work in a systematic, facilitated environment that gives him/her the opportunities and tools to search for intended results, but also for not-intended results. Seeing a serendipity result also requires a competent and alert eye, it’s easily overlooked. The only thing the photographer does in making a photograph is selecting the topic, and setting the camera in position (point of view, shutter time, etc.) to register the topic in an attractive way that expresses what the photographer sees in his/her subject. All the rest is technology, all the rest is technology. I say this twice to stress the importance. Making yourself important and seeking recognition by camerawork or science is idle, what you do is register beauty or invent recipes for other people to see, to get better. If you do it successfully, then it may raise your self confidence and happiness, but only because you made other people happy by means of technology invented and constructed also by other, anonymous people, registering and manipulating things, materials and situations that you didn’t create by yourself. You are a competent messenger or cook, nothing more and nothing less. (Talking about cooks, do you think that the chef who discovered that chocolate goes very well together with chilli pepper by serendipity – he accidentally took the chilli powder instead of the vanilla – that this cook will admit his lucky error? I doubt this seriously :)
Example #1
This is very short and very clear, and contains all elements of a genuine serendipity occurrence. Suppose, you have to search for a needle in a haystack. They told you that this needle is in the haystack and you have to dig it out, for whatever reason (maybe the farmer wants it to remove before it gets into a cow’s mouth). You start digging into the hay, carefully feeling around, prepared to feel something small and sharp. It’s already dark and you have been digging all day, but found nothing up to then. Then all of a sudden you feel something round and soft, completely different from what you are focused on. It appears to be the farmer’s daughter who likes sleeping in the hay and had gone to bed early. You look into each other’s eyes and you fall in love with each other. You think: this is far better than a needle.
Example #2
This is from social science and is described in the book “Social Theory and Social Structure” by Robert K. Merton (1959). He describes how sociologists investigate the living situation of a group of people who recently moved from an old city quarter to a new quarter. They asked about the opportunities to go out for e.g. a party, theatre, cinema etc. in comparison with their previous living quarter. People said: “oh, this is far better here than where we first lived, there are so many more teenagers around who want to babysit, than where we first lived”. The researchers found this strange because statistics showed that in their old neighbourhood the number of teenagers was far bigger than it was here. They researched deeper and found out that it was not the number of teenagers that facilitated the bigger going-out opportunities, but it was the way people dealt with one another. In the new neighbourhood people knew each other better and most people knew more people than before.
Many inventions, especially in medicine and chemistry but also in other disciplines are caused by serendipity. Look for it on Wikipedia for a list of serendipity-discoveries.
Since I am an ethoustiastic amateur photographer I discovered serendipity when I took a photograph in a bus. I have a mini-tripod and I had installed the camera when the bus stopped to let passengers in. It was dark and traffic and lanterns gave interesting lights outside, so I wanted to use the stop for an extended-exposure photo for a nice view of the nightly atmosphere with the bus window as a frame. The camera had to be absolutely motionless for a couple of seconds. My camera was ready, and I pressed the postponed-exposure button because directly pressing the shoot-button causes a very tiny movement which I wanted to avoid. But just during the opening of the shutter the bus started and I considered my attempt as failed. Afterwards the picture appeared to be an interesting abstract “painting”, and I decided to consider it as “succeeded”.
On Wikipedia I read that many researchers are reluctant to admit serendipity-results because they feel that it wasn’t the researcher, but coincidence that achieved the result and of course they want to be good and respected researchers, able to make interesting and useful discoveries. So also a photographer can think: such a “coincidental picture” cannot be ascribed to a competent photographer, my 5 year-old son can take such a picture. So let’s forget it and delete it, it’s not what I wanted, and only results that I wanted in advance, are successful (read: “make me a successful photographer”).
I find that everybody who reasons this way over-estimates his/her capabilities. Like scientists who made their serendipity discoveries public said, they work in a systematic, facilitated environment that gives him/her the opportunities and tools to search for intended results, but also for not-intended results. Seeing a serendipity result also requires a competent and alert eye, it’s easily overlooked. The only thing the photographer does in making a photograph is selecting the topic, and setting the camera in position (point of view, shutter time, etc.) to register the topic in an attractive way that expresses what the photographer sees in his/her subject. All the rest is technology, all the rest is technology. I say this twice to stress the importance. Making yourself important and seeking recognition by camerawork or science is idle, what you do is register beauty or invent recipes for other people to see, to get better. If you do it successfully, then it may raise your self confidence and happiness, but only because you made other people happy by means of technology invented and constructed also by other, anonymous people, registering and manipulating things, materials and situations that you didn’t create by yourself. You are a competent messenger or cook, nothing more and nothing less. (Talking about cooks, do you think that the chef who discovered that chocolate goes very well together with chilli pepper by serendipity – he accidentally took the chilli powder instead of the vanilla – that this cook will admit his lucky error? I doubt this seriously :)
Do you have a serendipity-picture, and are you subscribed to www.aminus3.com? Then please post it, (see my general call for serendipity pictures on my photoblog).
2 comments:
Artistic people have a gift, or an eye, for serendipity. They put themselves into the position to recognise it.
Serendipity is less common among people who watch television all day (the more clever among us might find something useful or clever to say from TV viewing, but that's really *serendipshitty* which is somewhat different).
Almost all great things are discovered by accident. That is how creation works. It's serendipitious.
I've mention the concept of serendipity on my post at http://hydedailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/01/robin-under-hedge.html and linked here.
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