These Breathtaking Photos Give You the Best Views from Montreal's Benches

With every bench comes a view, and the support needed to truly sit back and appreciate it. Inspired by the various Montreal benches he encounters every day and the breathtaking views they give us, staff photographer Kalden Dhatsenpa decided to document a series of benches that offer the city’s best perspectives. Take look at some of Montreal’s most spectacular scenes, from the vantage point of the benches used by Montrealers across town.

Yasujirō Ozu was a celebrated Japanese director of the mid 20th century. He was praised for his disregard for standard cinema “rules” as well as his zen approach to filmmaking. One technique he used is called a “pillow shot”. This entails using images of scenery, objects, or rooms to soften transitions between scenes and provide pauses and breath to the narrative.

Benches can provide the same kind of respite for busy days. The narratives of our lives progress every day and the pauses we find can be like oases of stillness and a brief reprieve from the hustle and bustle. Benches provide a comfortable space for these lulls. They let us take in our surroundings and allow us to rest, for however long our agendas let us. This series explores a fraction of these spaces in Montreal.