Ok I always thought I can handle english preety well but this time I really don't understand. Can someone please explain it so that a non english speaker understands? Is this something like that scientist (Isaac Newton if I remember well) discovered his stuff while an apple felt on his head, and another discovered that things have density while taking a bath?
Ok I always thought I can handle english preety well but this time I really don't understand. Can someone please explain it so that a non english speaker understands? Is this something like that scientist (Isaac Newton if I remember well) discovered his stuff while an apple felt on his head, and another discovered that things have density while taking a bath?
i belief everyone here having the same problem, WHAT A TITLE FOR THIS WEEK!!! But it is challenging, no wonder this site name DPChallenge!
I know it's usual to complain about having shot something that would be perfect for the challenge theme, just the week before, but this is taking it too far!
I don't have my dictionary handy -- someone else will provide the actual definition. I'll try and explain the meaning of the word.
First a photographic example: You are walking along a street in a city. You have your camera with you but you are not there to shoot pictures but to buy bread. You see two people sitting on a bench. Every thing is just right for taking a picture. There is a beam of sunlight hitting the two people just right. The background is perfect. You happen to be at the right place at the right time but didn't plan it this way. That's serendipity.
The connection to Issac Newton is that, as the story goes, didn't set out to have the apple fall on his head. He was in the right place at the right time to have this happen. He put the events together so he made the most of the situation.
It's like a good coinsidence (?spelling). This is very easy to know but very difficult to show in a shot. Any set up shot in a studio would not be Serendipity as it didn't just happen - you made it happen. One could argue against that (and people will LOL). Perfect timing is a part of it, so is the improbability that it would happen just as you were there to experience it.
There will be loads of "doesn't fit the challenge"! I hope that helps.
Oooooh it's another of my challenge suggestions and I'm not sure if I'll be able to enter. I'm going to do my VERY BEST to take an entry this weekend...
I just thought it would be nice to have a freeer (as in, more free), more open challenge theme. Serendipity is one of my very favourite words in the whole world.
I hope it will lead to LESS not MORE cries of "Does not meet the challenge" but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
An example from an english teacher: you go to the library for a book, that book isn't there but the one next to it turns out to be a book you love but wouldn't have discovered otherwise.
I think it´s like a lucky strike... isn´t it? Somebody had watched the film of "Serendipity" with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale? It´s a fantastic film.
Ellen, I LOVE your example, how wonderful!
I know it's going to be a hard challenge and people will be cursing me for suggesting it but I'm already pleased I did just to come across that wonderful example and others previous.
:o)
It is a tough word. You might find a little more help at [url=//www.your dictionary.com]www.yourdictionary.com[/url]
I learned this word at a young age and always enjoyed just saying it. It seems to trip off the tongue for this native English speaker.
The reason I learned it? In the '70's a new shop opened in our town called "Serendipty." It was filled with hand-made things from around the world, soaps and candles, and even some antiques--a real odd collection of things. (I think shops like this are much more common now--but at the time it was novel.) It seemed that the owner just filled the store with whatever she came across and found interesting.
A word I've always associated with serendipity is potpourri--but the second word lacks the element of discovery or chance.
Note also that a common form of the word used in speech is "serendipitous." For examples type: "is serendipitous" (Include the quotes.) into Google.
I actually think it could be a very interesting challenge, my basic idea is of objects within object that don’t belong together, like the examples I made with the baby in the beer mug, or baby in cabbage patch. I was also thinking about having an cut apple, but instead of seeds for it to have diamonds (well glass really) in side. Another image comes to mind is that of some plant in the middle of a dessert or dry lands. That’s my view of serendipity, something somewhere where its not expected. I guess..
I know it's usual to complain about having shot something that would be perfect for the challenge theme, just the week before, but this is taking it too far!
Somebody had watched the film of "Serendipity" with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale? It´s a fantastic film.
Alexis, what's the film about, if that's not a silly question?
Ok... ok.. it´s a difficult proof to me explain it in english, but I´m going to try it. In this film, John Cusack mets Kate Beckinsale in a shop and they fall in love, but he´s going to get marry with his girlfriend... It was a serendipity... and I don´t want to tell you more, because I think it´s better that you watch the film... IMHO, it´s one of the best love films that I had watched.
When I was still teaching Teen Leadership Skills in a middle school, serendipity was one of the words we talked about, and how to make the most of opportunities that present themselves to you. I helped the kids to understand the meaning of serendipity as a "happy accident." Their examples to me were always like "getting two packs of M&Ms out of the vending machine at once" or "finding a dollar on the sidewalk," but as grownups we can probably find more "happy accident" examples that would fit this challenge nicely. I can't wait! Have your cameras at the ready and be prepared when opportunity knocks. When the shot of a lifetime presents itself to you, and your camera is within reach, and there's nothing obstructing the view, and the planets are in line...that's serendipity.
Somebody had watched the film of "Serendipity" with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale? It´s a fantastic film.
Alexis, what's the film about, if that's not a silly question?
Ok... ok.. it´s a difficult proof to me explain it in english, but I´m going to try it. In this film, John Cusack mets Kate Beckinsale in a shop and they fall in love, but he´s going to get marry with his girlfriend... It was a serendipity... and I don´t want to tell you more, because I think it´s better that you watch the film... IMHO, it´s one of the best love films that I had watched.
Oh oh oh I am senile - I saw the film recently and I really enjoyed it... I only watched it because of the title (how could I have forgotten so quickly) and, although I'm not always a fan of the mushy film, I thought this one was nicely done...
