Lens-Artists Challenge #238 – Alone Time
“The endless ocean was his sole companion.”
Adelheid Manefeldt
This week Ann-Christine challenges us to discuss “Alone Time”. I’ve opened with something near and dear to my heart – a photographer at work. I love that he’d found a tiny island of sand from which to capture the beautiful scene in front of him. Also alone, the woman in the image below is also undertaking one of my favorite activities – a morning walk. Personally, I prefer Kiawah’s beach to the chilly East River of NYC although both are beautiful. You can see the iconic Statue of Liberty in the background of the image.
“Maybe this is who I really am. Not a loner exactly. But someone who can be alone.”
Gary Shteyngart
Below, yet another image focused on an individual alone in a favorite activity. This one features my brother, an excellent fisherman who lives in Colorado. One day during our visit, he and my husband were working the waters while my sister-in-law and I enjoyed a lovely walk in the surrounding nature. It’s a fond memory for me and hopefully for them as well.
“When you learn how to be alone you’ll discover the difference between alone and lonely.”
LJ Vanier
A less athletic but often solitary example of a pastime, I captured a plein-air painter at work while visiting one of the many estates on New York’s Hudson River. Home of the famous Hudson River School of landscape painters, perhaps she was inspired by some of the many scenes they may have captured.
“Solitude is the soil in which genius is planted, creativity grows, and legends bloom.”
Mike Norton
On a less active note, the next two images feature people alone and relaxing with a favorite activity – reading.
“Lingering is so very lonely when one lingers all alone.”
Mervyn Peake
“If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself.”
Paulo Coelho
Finally, some examples of places to be alone for those who seek them.
“Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for a moment that we’re not alone.”
Orson Welles
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
Maya Angelou
Thanks to Ann-Christine for the opportunity to highlight some of my own favorite activities when solitary is the option of choice. We look forward to seeing your thoughts on the subject. Be sure to link your responses to her beautiful post here, and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. Thanks also to Bren for guest-hosting last week’s Softness challenge. Hopefully we all learned a bit from the many terrific responses. We hope you’ll join us next week when I’ll be leading the challenge with “Finding Peace”. Until then, as always please stay safe, be kind and enjoy the journey.
Interested in joining the Lens-Artists challenge? Click here for more information.
Travels and Trifles 
What a peaceful post!! I love all of these…Such an important activity not practiced enough!! TU for adding a little peace into my life this AM!!!
The first one is wonderful, Tina. Perfect photo for the theme!
Alone but not lonely. All lovely images, Tina.
شكراً ♥️
Beautiful set of images and such apt quotes, Tina.
Thanks very much Rupali
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Somehow I missed this post, but better late than never. Some fabulous quotes here Tina, I particularly like “When you learn how to be alone you’ll discover the difference between alone and lonely.” Many hobbies are carried out in solitude – reading, knitting, fishing, walking and you have captured many perfectly. I really like the photo of the chap reading in Tel Aviv. I think since Covid lockdowns I have become much more solitary than before and even then I wasn’t keen on crowds. I like my own space and I like sometimes to just sit and be. Not reading or taking photos or even consciously looking around me, but just sitting and emptying my mind for maybe only a few minutes.
Thanks Jude – glad you found me 😊. Love your thought of just sitting and emptying the mind. There are books, videos and in-person courses on meditation but it seems you’ve found a simple and rewarding way to get the same benefits! I’m more solitary than most myself I think, so we are alike in that.
Wow!
Perfect examples.
You made me to have my time alone with your examples.
Thank you Tina Schell.
Love the quote “The endless ocean was his sole companion.” Adelheid Manefeldt and apt sea click.
Thanks Philo, glad you enjoyed this one. I loved that quote too!
You are welcome, Tina Schell.
lovely take on this topic, the one with the woman painting is like an art work . Music is also one that is often time spent alone. beautiful photos
Thanks very much Ritva – yes the woman painting was a very lucky moment for me. She was so focused on her art she couldn’t have cared less about my photographing her.
Nope, no pingback at all. And mine didn’t work on Ann-Christine’s this week either. Sigh.
Excellent. Alone, but observed.
Ah. I see now I already commented. Couldn’t find it at first. Never mind. 🤪
LOL thanks John – I know exactly what you mean. I’ve done that myself.
I’m going to update my post with a pingback to your post as a test, as pingbacks don’t seem to be working very well the last few weeks. We shall see.
I have a new avatar, so I’m recognizable, and no pingback showing. Hmm.
These photos are just perfect for this challenge Tina 🙂 I especially like the lone photographer and your treatment of the artist – you’ve made the photo itself look like the sort of work of art she might be painting!
Thanks Sarah, I must admit I did think about impressionism both in her work and mine. Obviously hers is a much more challenging creation!!
Beautiful set of photos. I love the impressionistic treatment of the painter, and the very next photo has tremendously attention-grabbing depth of field.
Thanks I.J., especially appreciate your comment because that was my intent on the image.
Tina, I love your people shots so much – the moods captured and the humanity nuances felt – it reminded me as to how
important I think “people shots” are in general. And another thing I like about people shots – or street shots – or walker captures and pianters in action – is that the photos are so “one of a kind”
and the closing photos of “places to have alone time” offered a nice wind down
Thanks very much Yvette. Honestly I don’t often photograph people because I’m very shy about it but those images didn’t require me to let the people know I was capturing them!
A wonderful set, Tina. I love the painterly effect that you added to En Plein Air.
Thanks Susan – that was a fun sighting!
Love all of your photos. Your piano is beautiful!!
Thanks Nora – it is absolutely my favorite possession ever! It was a gift from my husband some 30 years ago and has brought me much joy.
Such a nice collection Tina. There is no mistake that the beach photo with the photographer would be near and dear to your heart. The photo of him is so peaceful, as is the beach. I love the strength of the differentiation of alone and lonely. I have written about that concept before, and love that you brought it back to light. thank you. The photo of the man reading on the bench was a great capture. Now go look again at that photo. There is a woman in the back riding her bike, and when I saw the photo, I thought…hmm…alone time looks different for all of us, doesn’t it? While he is engrossed in his book, she is loving her ride.
Thanks Donna – yes the woman on the bike….I purposely left her in the image and liked that she was out of focus as an accent rather than a part of the main subject. My thinking was that he was so engrossed in his reading he probably never noticed her – or me for that matter! Yes we all DO find our own special kinds of alone time, don’t we?
I loved the photo, all of them.
Love the way you have captured these various individuals Tina
Many thanks Karina!
Your captures of alone time are just perfect, Tina! I’ve taken pics of folks walking alone many times. I have one of a well-dressed gentleman standing (with his back to me) at the beach on the Columbia River Gorge where the windsurfers and kiters were gearing up. He had so much longing in his posture I had to wonder what he was thinking. I enjoy my alone time. When I go for walks with my dog, I rarely listen to anything, just enjoy the quiet. Your filtered capture and the gentleman reading paper are fabulous images!
Thanks very much Terri – your photo of the man at the CRG sounds great. I love catching people unaware and unposed. Moments of solace I think.
Great photos and insights. I tend to lean towards lone, though I usually have company.
Thanks John – I really do enjoy my alone time, but love good company as well.
Hi, Tina. Your post brings back memories of your beautiful part of the world. I didn’t realize your brother was an avid fisherman–another activity that is so well-suited to “alone time.” The man reading on a park bench is a terrific image and tells a great story. The same is true about the woman on the beach. Lovely! I hope you’re enjoying the new week–wherever you are!
Many thanks Patti – yes actually two of my brothers are really excellent fishermen and have actually helped my husband become an excellent one as well. I love walking along with my sister in law while they fish as it’s always in a beautiful, natural area. The others you mentioned were serendipity – both totally engrossed in their reading with no interest in me or my camera at all 😊. Enjoying the west coast this week but quite cold, much more so than usual.
That sounds like you’ve figured out the best way to enjoy your time together with your brothers. The weather has been so unpredictable. I always think of what Mark Twain supposedly said: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”
Great examples for the challenge. Very beautiful image, as usual.
thanks so much Ana, glad you enjoyed.
I really like to have “alone time” from time to time.
What I found quite striking is the NYC photo. It must be hard to find alone time in a big city like that.
Excellent series, Tina.
Nice to see your name pop up Rabirius, many thanks for the lovely comment. It is indeed unusual to find alone time in NYC, that was a lucky encounter. I often do a run in that area in the mid-morning. It’s so pretty along the river and there are fun shops and restaurants on the opposite side. it was a fleeting moment of solitude that day!
Tina, I love that you chose images of other people enjoying their alone time. The Winter Walk in NYC and En Plein Air are my favorites.
Thanks very much Beth – the En Plein Air was a lucky encounter. I’d taken my camera for a visit to one of the historic mansions along the Hudson and there she was, right where I’d have put her if I’d had my ‘druthers 😊
Lovely scenes Tina..The plein-air one itself looks like a painting 😀… About the walk – I just went out to get some fresh air and it was so cold (not Canada cold but still) that I returned within 10 minutes and longed to be back in India where it’s already getting warmer, although I would prefer to be there without the mosquitoes 😂! One just can’t get everything..sigh…
You’re so right PR – we have the same issue on Kiawah. When the weather is perfect the bugs are out enjoying it too LOL. We’ve been out in the U.S. West this week and it’s been much colder than usual. A crazy year for weather.
Beautiful and peaceful alone time series, Tina. Each tells a wonderful story. Your beautiful piano image reminds me how I got up at 4 am to practice before I went to work. 🙂
Thanks Amy – now THAT is what I call commitment!! When covid came I stopped going to my weekly jazz piano lessons because I was taking them at the college in town. After each lesson my husband and I would go out to dinner. Sadly, my piano teacher left the area during the time when there were really no musical opportunities for income.
Crazy, In hinsight… The last piece I learned from her was Liebestraum (Love Dream), then she moved to Portland with her husband.
I always enjoy your photos. A photographer needs a lot of alone time. I look at your photos and see how much you enjoy that time, capturing the interesting moments around you.
Thanks so much Dan, that’s a lovely compliment. I’ll admit I’ve gotten a bit lazy about using my iPhone instead of my camera. I really have to start getting out with it more often. I love shooting alone but I also love being out with a “photo-buddy”. Nice to share as well as to be solitary.
A beautiful variety on alone time’s preciousness, Tina. You captured the joy of it, and it is beautifully presented as usual. The quotes to go with the images are perfect – Orson Welles’ was clever. I love that island photographer, so beautifully captured, and the “En Plein Air” is a dream!
Thanks so much Ann-Christine. I enjoyed your creative challenge this week as well as the creative responses I’ve seen so far. I also remember how excited I was when I came upon that woman painting the beautiful landscape in front of her.
thank you, Tina, I am also enjoying the many creative answers, and I love the different ways to go. There is much to learn!
You’ve created a gallery of street photography that meets the challenge, Tina! I especially love the images of the two people reading.
Many thanks John – those are both a bit out of my usual box so I’m glad you chose to highlight them!
Perfectly expressing the joys of solitude
Thanks Margaret – hadn’t thought of that phrase but you’ve described it perfectly!
I love your take on the challenge, Tina. En plein Air shows that you know how to pick the perfect shot for that kind of editing. It’s breathtakingly beautiful.
So glad you appreciated that one Sofia – I was fortunate to come upon her but thought the editing improved the image. Made my day for you to have said so!
It’s simply magical.
What a beautiful post! The first photo is beautiful. I love being alone too, but I also love company 😊
I agree wholeheartedly Aletta – I too love alone time as well as companionship. It all depends on why it’s chosen (or not) I suppose 😊
I agree😊
Love these responses to this weeks challenge.
Thanks so much Anne – an interesting subject this week I thought. From melancholy to delight, alone time will differ depending on whether it was chosen or enforced.
Love this. We had a serendipitous moment, although unlikable. Early today I was drafting a future beach walk about solitude … and your images not only confirmed my thoughts, but also expanded a few. Thanks. Well done, Tina!
Many thanks Frank – you’ll have to link to us when you do your post. Funny how serendipity sometimes happens!
That first one is great but I like them all. This is expresses my thoughts: “If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself.” I like alone time but that doesn’t mean I’m lonely. It means I’m gathering my soul to for the next bit of the journey.
Amen to that Janet – I agree wholeheartedly. Although it might be different if it’s not by choice. Fortunately I’ve not experienced that in my life.
That first photo is beautiful, Tina. And look at that little bird alone with the photographer. Alone together–how lovely is that.
LOL, must admit I hadn’t noticed the bird Lois! But I appreciated the photographer being there just when I needed him! Lovely indeed.
Excellent examples, Tina. I especially liked the beach photographer.
Hope you and Bailey are doing well!😍
Sharon
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Hi Sharon, great to hear from you. We were in Palm Springs area this past week and thought of you often. All good here, wishing the same for you!
You never cease to amaze me … in the right places at the right time to capture the perfect pic! How about that guy on an island unto himself … love the painter
LOL, I don’t even think he knew I was there Ms L! Actually, I don’t think she did either! Thanks GF.
Lovely photos on this theme
Many thanks VJ
These are wonderful Tina. Love the first photo 🙂
Thanks Brian – how nice of him to be there just when I needed him 😊
That first is my favourite of your images, Tina. Those kind of sandbank ‘islands’ occur very naturally here too, and I love looking back to land from that perspective.
Thanks Jo – I found myself wondering how he’d get back to the beach but somehow he did LOL!
A bit of a paddle never hurt anyone 🤣🩵
Beautiful examples of people enjoying or treasuring their alone time. In our busy busy lives, we don’t often take that kind of time for ourselves.
I suppose Covid has taught us many lessons Laurel – how to deal with time alone especially!