Benches by Cayuga Lake
Documentary Typology Series, Spring 2025
This project began with quiet observation, noticing how the same benches in Stewart Park seemed to gather moments that were easy to overlook yet meaningful.
These three simple benches, worn smooth by weather and human touch, hold space for our community's daily moments, both witnessed and unseen. Each photograph captures intimate interactions-fleeting instances of contemplation, connection, or solitude against the backdrop of Cayuga Lake. My typology approach reveals the paradox of these settings: structurally identical yet uniquely imprinted by those who temporarily claim them.
What followed was an exploration of presence, environment, and the quiet beauty found in everyday encounters.
Through this work, I invite viewers to pause alongside these benches, to recognize how seemingly ordinary subjects become vessels for extraordinary human stories, and how in documenting these brief encounters, we might preserve something essential about our shared humanity.
Sophie Khan, left, and her father, Matthew Khan, take a selfie while sitting on a swing bench overlooking Cayuga Lake at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York.
Izzy O’Connor, left, and her mother Grace O’Connor, sit on a swing bench overlooking Cayuga Lake at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York.
Seth Moran reads a book on a swing bench as a child strolls by at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York.
After a day's work, Tessa David unwinds on a swing bench overlooking Cayuga Lake at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York.
Couple Josh Rivas, left, and Nadia Boyer, sit on a swing bench overlooking Cayuga Lake at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York.
Couple Audrey Schultz, left, and Lucas Kline, sit on a swing bench overlooking Cayuga Lake at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York
On a spring afternoon, two children sit on a swing bench overlooking Cayuga Lake while another explores the shoreline at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York.
After a walk at Stewart Park, friends Brie Huang, left, and Ava Sato, rest on a swing bench in Ithaca, New York.
Visitors relax on a swing bench under a weeping willow at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York, enjoying the afternoon sunshine along Cayuga Lake.