Looking at the photo you may consider my city do not have enought benches; thats not correct.
Come walk with me across the streets, yards and parks of St.Petersburg, and you will see. Oh, by the way: till the end of summer I am out of town at my summer house.
Most simple, cheap and minimalistic way is to set up a bench from wood - endless natural eco-friendly resource. (Fungi also approve and welcome this material to be used, hehe!) This bench serves the customers of local shop in our village. Now I'm done with the pics I took especially for this post, and can swap to my archives, lets see what I noticed here and there during my walks across the city of ST.Petersburg.
I have to start with this one:
The good old classic from soviet epoch. Perfect! 100% of comfort, usability, eco-friendly (mostly wood) and reparable.
City parks, alleys, squares are full of them.
No shortage at all!
In the yards at Schastlivaya street in the residential suburb, I found an old version of such a bench. Sides are made from concrete, not iron.
Benches in a yard behind Nevsky avenue.
An intresting bench I've stumbled upon while exploring the nooks and crannies of Apraksin Dvor market; a unique gem of my collection.
This one actually is not from St.Petersburg -- I brought it from my trip to Poland back in 2009; no idea which city exactly it was, probably some little railway station. Made of wood, ergonomically shaped, warm, stunningly comfortable. The secret of its production have been lost long ago.
I found it so cool that made a capture and still remember my passion about it: it is a relic of a bygone era, representative of an extinct class of stuff "they don't make things like that anymore". Heh.
Эта скамейка не из Питера. Я привез фото из моей поездки в Польшу в 2009 году. Город назвать не смогу - это был какой-то безымянный полустанок на железной дороге. Потрясающая удобная для сидения эргономичная форма, деревянная, теплая и удобная для сидения. Пережиток прежних времен! Сейчас такое делать уже разучились, секрет утерян.
In my collection I have a photo of a boat's bench.
A brutal countryside bench hand-made from unplaned boards.
Nu, pagadeeeee!!! Bench decorated with a famous soviet cartoon character.
This modern urban tradition of decorating benches with sculptures, I assume it was borrowed to the city from Europe. In soviet era it wasnt well-spread, but now one can stumble upon such statues quite frequently. The 'sad angels' tho is a purely local thing. This certain statue is located at Lubashin Garden (in Rotonda).
I shoot several other such spots but sadly dont have my files at hand -- thus I borrowed this pic from 
The scene I captured during the peak of covid pandemia. With cafe and restaurants restricted sitting, street benches became a substitute for lunch tabls 😜
Elegant openwork benches at the Palace Square, near the Hermitage Museum.
Minimalistic and futuristic.
A distinctive feature: most of the bench remains unoccupied! People around here prefer to eat standing rather than sit on this bench... I think that's all you need to know about the convenience and appeal of this type of bench... this product of an unknown genius of urban design.
Обратите внимание на характерный штрих: большая часть скамейки остается не занятой! люди вокруг предпочитают кушать стоя, но не сидеть на этой скамейке... думаю, это всё что вам нужно знать об удобстве и привлекательности этой разновидности скамеек... этого продукта безвестного гения урбанистического дизайна.
Rugged benches carved from solid blocks of granite, integrated into the Neva River embankment. Super vandal-resistant!
Another edition of minimalism -- cheap and angry!
The benches from Letnii Sad have an intresting 'solo' form-factor. One can occupy them solely and have no fellows if any kind of converstion / socializing is not needed. (The shot was taken during our joint walk at said garden with 
No doubts, benches is mostly the summer vibes stuff, but in wintertime they dont disappear . A few wintertime pieces as well.
Exclusive 'design' of benches at Petrogradsky district.
( I think presented you these shots in my blog before, but I cant resist the temptation to add them to the mix).
This simple portable wooden bench is from the MITKI art center (note it has a handles at the sides!)
Скамейка (переносная - обратите внимание на ручки по бокам!) из арт-центра МИТЬКИ.
A local bakery has set up a bench for its customers. What a great idea!
Местная пекарня устроила скамеечку для своих посетителей. Хорошее дело!
Same case -- benches and tables are set up outdoors at cafe.
Nikolskii dvor space. Minimalistic benches on the background, and supercool ... hammocks? a swing?
I'm not quite sure what exactly it is, sort of a hybrid :) Let me wrap my blog here.
Hope you didnt get tired of the visuals!
My post goes for Hive Collectors community challenge - benches is the topic of the month!
| location: | St.Petersburg, Russia | various | natural light |
| camera/lens: | Canon 5dm3 | Sigma 50mm | raw-conv |
@qwerrie