High above the old city on Lindenhof Hill, an empty bench claims one of the best seats in Zurich. Beyond the stone wall, centuries of rooftops tumble toward the Limmat while the slender tower of the Predigerkirche rises above them. At the far edge of the frame, two strangers sit together in conversation, seemingly oblivious to both the remarkable view behind them and the photographer quietly preserving the moment.
There is something wonderfully human about this scene. The bench is empty, but the photograph isn’t. There are conversations happening, people moving through the city below, old buildings stacked against the hillside, and an unsettled sky hanging over all of it. That enormous vacant seat in the foreground almost feels reserved for whoever is looking at the photograph—an invitation to sit down, join those two strangers for a while, and watch Zurich carry on.
The black-and-white version strips away the distraction of color and pushes the image somewhere else entirely. Suddenly the bench, stone wall, old rooftops and two figures could belong to almost any decade. Zurich hasn’t stopped changing, but from this particular seat on Lindenhof Hill, for one photograph at least, time seems to have slowed down.
Bench Photography | Bench Photos | ©John J. Vicino