I was sitting here going through some of my files, just looking at what I have captured over the last 8 months and I came across this photo...it was taken on an outing with my good friends, we had been together all day and being a person who does most everything alone I was getting a little edgy and needed a break from being with people, so I used the line, "Hey you guys keep going I'll catch up!" and I found this little cluster of trees and I ventured in and just sat down on the ground leaned back, closed my eyes and breathed, emptied my mind and just plain relaxed. After a few moments I opened my eyes and saw this shot and took it. When I got home a few days later, going through the photos I had taken, I came across this one and said to self, "I really like this, let's see what you can do with it!" and I played a very little bit with the windows photo processing on my computer, got a little frustrated and just slid the color slider down to no color and saved it. I seen it tonight and thought, "WOW! There is a wonderful capture of a time of solitude!" I looked at the picture info....this was my 275 shot I had taken with my Canon just 9 months ago....I'm now well over 10k....but I looked at this and the calm feeling that I had when I took it just flowed back into me... and of course I needed to share....thanks for allowing me to...

I was totally alone in 1946, standing on an ice-covered alpine lake so I could capture this view. I don't know how thick the ice was, but the air was frigid. The static electric discharge in the image apparently was produced when I advanced the film -- or maybe when the Compur shutter blades opened and closed for this one exposure. But I suddenly heard sounds and looked down to see thin spidery lines fanning out in the ice under my combat books. I was quite a few yards out from the shoreline, but I managed to carefully get back to the shore. I apologize for the 73-year-old negative's quality, but the scene was such a prime example of stunning solitude that I decided to share it with you. The site was Konigsee; today there are lake cruises there for tourists.

Hi, Tim! I apologize for not commenting earlier on the stunning first frame showing the reflecting pool. It stopped me when I first scanned through this Challenge but I was rushing to see the whole range of submissions and ran out of time to go back and comment. I don't recall ever seeing this angle, which REALLY emphasizes the fact that a major building evaporated, as if by magic. I get the impression the crowd of spectators around the rim was hushed.