Today (I wrote this text on the 28th of April, 2025), I will write some thoughts about benches in the cityscape.
I have been doing street photography since October 2015. Since the middle of August 2024, I’ve also been rucking while walking and doing street photography. Between October 2015 and August 2024, I rarely used benches. I did not need them to stop and rest. Still, since I’ve been rucking, benches have become an inseparable part of my photo walking. They serve not only as a resting place but also as a vantage point for my photography. The elevated view from a bench often provides a unique perspective for my shots. I need benches to rest. The more I ruck, the more I see there is no way to predict how many times I will have to sit and relax on the bench.
It all depends on how many hours I slept and if I walk in the middle of the day or at the end of it.
There were photo-walks with rucking when I made three stops at benches to rest. Also, there were photo-walks with rucking without any stops. While writing all these things, I recalled one thing. Earlier, before I started intermittent dry fasting (for today, for most of the days, I do not drink anything for 12 hours), I had other stops while walking. These stops were called WCs. Indeed, often, it was hard to find a clean public toilet in the capital of Poland.
Nevertheless, luckily, since I started doing intermittent dry fasting, I no longer pee while walking.
That’s why the only stops I make are on the benches to rest and take off for a few minutes, a heavy burden from my back and shoulders. For today, I walk with 32 kg (71 lbs) on my back. Today, I made 10k steps and made two stops on benches. During one of the stops, I decided I would write something about it. That’s how the idea for this text appeared. By finishing this text, I want to stress that I aim to use breaks on benches to take photographs from there. After all, I believe we can take great pictures from literally every place in this magical world.
