"I have considered the eyes of the world for so long that I think it is time I had a little holiday from them. If one is not to please oneself in old age, when is one to please oneself? There is so little time left!" Vita Sackville-West, from All Passion Spent (p35). There is so little time left, no matter from what vantage point you are looking. I like photographing benches because to me a good bench means solitude. But it's also the place where I can stop--stop moving, stop thinking, stop wondering what just happened or what is about to happen. Where I can take a one minute holiday from the often overwhelming chaos taking place around me. I didn't need to wait until I reached my later years (rather than old, which sounds so . . . old), but I can honestly say it took me this long to really find pleasure in a good bench.
View from the Mezzanine, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida, December 2020