From serendipity to bahramdipity

Anders, how much, to what degree would you hold photography itself responsible for this dearth of serendipity?

If you imagine serendipity as something one mines or harvests, and one of the best tools for working that mine or field is the camera and you give cameras to 3 billion people, then perhaps its reasonable to expect a diminished supply of that kind of serendipity that is available to said 3 billion cameras? The unexpected turns into the expected unexpected and finally into the expected expected. Serendipity, as it is currently defined, is expected. To get out of that rut, one needs to re-work the definition to be something other than about the expected/unexpected.

Julie, you always manage to choose the most difficult option. "Being something other" does in my mind not help me out, if I walk down a street that I have passed hundreds of times and I only see - what I have seen hundreds of times. I'm still in my shoes ! What I can do is to pass in a another, more unknown street or, of course, travel to a new and unexplored place on earth - or drink a cognac more than usual when I grasp my camera!
Whether the 3 billion and their cameras change anything, I'm not sure. I'm not going to make the effort to look at their trillions of photos, anyway.
Maybe we photographers are member of a specie that still to a certain degree keep serendipity alive, because seeing new subjects, events, lights, colors perspectives - is part of our inherent approach. Howver, also in photography , the unexpected is not always what is "expected" or appreciated even by experts and trained viewers of photography. Their are norms and traditions also in the photographical trade if we are to be taken seriously. The ongoing threads on acceptable degrees of post-processing is an example.

Anders, but don't you often get, when you look at really good photographic work, a feeling of "YES!"; a feeling that it's exactly right, that it's something you somehow already knew but didn't know you knew? Which would make it not unexpected at all; just unrecognized until that really good picture showed it to you?

If one is constantly involved in research of unknown/unexplained phenomena or innovation of new applications then serendipity may play a greater role in one's life than if one is involved with well known/well tread subjects or phenomena. The photographer who questions much of what he does, or lurks into unfamilar subject territory, may well experience more serendipitous moments than one who is mainly applying standard methods to oft photographed subjects.

My question is what we, as photographers, can do to maintain and even develop the capacity of serendipity and not fall or stay in the trap of bahramdipity, which is the exactly the opposite ?

One thing I try to do is be aware of my peripheral vision. Even when my eye is up to the viewfinder, I try to have an awareness of what's going on beyond that. Often something serendipitous is just outside the frame or about to come into it.

Another is that I try to think of what might otherwise be considered distractions as possibilities. Sometimes, things that at first feel like they don't belong can actually add a lot of energy to a photo. It is the out of order that is often serendipitous and often eschewed by the photographer attempting to organize the world inside a frame.

Thirdly, I sometimes try to do something as simple as keeping myself and the camera moving or encouraging my subject to keep moving. Movement causes many accidents.

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You used "discovery" in speaking of serendipity and I think that's a key.

"Chance favors the prepared mind." --Pateur

Serendipity can and does add spice even to the most posed and planned shot. It's not about planning or not planning, IMO. It's about a state of openness and discovery, being accutely sensitive regardless of the plan, forethought, or pre-visualization.

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Even search engines can yield a lot of serendipity. The reason I love google, etc. is that I so often get sent on tangents and do, in fact, discover useful things I wasn't originally looking for. I find my google experiences full of serendipity, as are many of my Internet research experiences. That's often why they take me ten times longer than they needed to.

Anders, following in the spirit of the photograph lying, which was being discussed recently in Casual Conversations, a photograph can probably be infused with a feeling of serendipity by a keen photographer or by an imaginative viewer even if nothing serendipitous actually took place.

One thing I try to do is be aware of my peripheral vision. Even when my eye is up to the viewfinder, I try to have an awareness of what's going on beyond that.

Try using the rear LCD, it's a whole new way of seeing, especially to your peripheral awareness:)

The reason I love google, etc. is that I so often get sent on tangents and do, in fact, discover useful things I wasn't originally looking for

I often do the same search using yahoo and bing as well as google...Try it sometimes:)

Me? I often would take different routes, even to the same destinations and I always carry a digicam with me almost everywhere...My digicam to dslr ratio is maybe 20-1. Furthermore, I try (but not overtly) to befriend folks from various sexuality/ethnicity/culture/age/class...

If serendipity means literally discovering by accident, than we can't really "develop" a capacity for it, can we. We can't "cause" accidents to happen in order to exploit them in other words. I agree with Fred's quote from Pasteur: "chance favors the well prepared" which I think is the best we can do. Being well prepared I think comes from experience where we have done things over and over so many times it becomes automatic.

I do think that serendipity is somewhat different from things like "seeing" a nice sunset on a particular location and photographing it. To me that's just having a good eye for things.
I do have an example of a shot that came from serendipity. I had already framed up a shot of my favorite tree roots by the river. The camera was on a tripod and I took a couple of shots. Right at that time my dog, Lily, who often accompanies me on trips to the woods with my camera, happened to walk into the shot after a dip in the river. I automatically took the shot with her in it, and it has become one of my favorite photographs. Its not the kind of thing I would have tried to set up, but when I saw her in the frame I knew right away this was interesting.

"chance favors the well prepared"

If serendipity means literally discovering by accident, than we can't really "develop" a capacity for it, can we. We can't "cause" accidents to happen in order to exploit them in other words.

Chance also favors those whom take chances. Whether how one defines serendipity (expected, caused, etc...or not), one has a better chance going out with a camera than not...