Winner of Photo Challenge - Break Time
Choosing a winner this week was not easy, there were so many stunning and gorgeous photos submitted that I almost had to do a coin flip.
This was a fun challenge, good amount of submissions and so much diversity in what break time means for people. Picking a winner was not easy and it literally came down to the wire, but I believe that both the winner and the runner-ups represents break time perfectly in their own ways.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: This post is obviously too long for emails according to Substack, so if you want to see the post in its entirety I suggest you read it on either the Substack App or website. I highly recommend using your desktop to view it, all these submissions deserve it!
Next challenge is - July 7.
The Winner -
This photo is peak break time for me personally, a lot of nature, wide open space and beautiful weather. This photo represents the peace and tranquility that we all want from a small break, or at least it should.
Nature for me is important when taking a break, it can be as simple as a beautiful flower by the road side or a large open field, but nature helps to just wash all the stress and responsibilities away for a few minutes and for me, that’s very important.
Make sure to check out Brighde’s Substack, Tea-Time in the Mystic Corner. If you’re into poems, musings and many more things for inner healing, I’d say you’ve found your corner to take a small break at, so make sure to toss Brighde a subscription or a follow, you won’t regret it.
Honorable Mentions
Choosing the winner and runner-ups for this challenge is never easy, especially not when there’s low submissions. There are so many incredible and worthy winners this week as it is every week!
These honorable mentions are all winners, along with every single photo this week, but these ones had something special about them that I’m positive you’ll love as well.
The runner-ups for this challenge are;
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It’s a seriously stunning visualization of what grey weather can bring to enhance an object like an old building, especially in Central Park. Her other photo, which I highly recommend you check out as well, only emphasize the theme of Break Time.
Fantastic photos, Samantha!
Samantha is a writer, distributed by Simon & Schuster, which is nothing short of impressive to me and I highly recommend you check out her books. I guarantee you’ll find at least one book you’ll most likely love.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Samantha and her Substack, Turn the Page. If you’re into poetry and, potentially even photography, yes this is a push to Samantha to start publishing her photos here on Substack because yes please.
’s photo is another stunning nature shot. This time from India and I gotta say, this photo alone makes me want to travel to India and just sit down to have a coffee and just watch the nature.
Ishita’s break time this week consisted of chasing waterfalls, enjoying the sunset on the beach and staring at trees. To me, that is as close to bliss as you can come so I think I have to book a trip to India moving forward, especially for this beautiful view.
Check out Ishita’s Substack, Masters of Fate, while you’re here. I can almost guarantee you’ll find something to read that will capture your attention, Ishita’s writing is fantastic.
came in with this stunning photo of a book and some dried flowers. This style can never get old to me, mostly because there’s an infinite amount of ways you can do it and Giulia nails the minimalism and calmness that’s behind it.
I love it!
Giulia has a lot more stunning photographs on her Instagram, so I highly recommend you toss her a follow over at Insta as well.
Make sure to check out Giulia’s Substack, Calmfluencer by Giulia Bertelli. You won’t regret it if you’re into photography, because there’s some seriously stunning photos throughout her posts you might want to have a look at.
comes in with this beautiful break time photo of browsing books and I’m loving it. It’s a stunning photo that, to me, works extremely well for a break. Especially if you’re into books!
Make sure to toss Sara a follow on Instagram, I guarantee you’ll find quite a bit of beautiful photos there and she deserves a larger audience than she currently has.
Do not forget to subscribe to Sara and her Substack - Sara’s Lenses, while you’re at it. You’ll love her publication if you’re into photography and there’s a lot of stunning photos.
’s submission is beautiful, playful, lively and peaceful all at once. I’m loving this. I love the sound of running water and I love to look at it, Amanda nails this photo as it’s as ideal as it can come to a break time for me.
Do not forget to subscribe to Amanda and her Substack - The Mindful Writer. Amanda’s writing is beautiful and I’m loving how diverse her theme is with a mix of wonderings, life, love and much more. You’ll love her.
As always, I feature up to five runner-ups plus a winner. But, as there’s so many absolutely fantastic photos, I want to give a quick shout-out to as many as I possibly can.
Each week, I select my absolute favorite submissions for feature, accompanied by a well-deserved shout-out. For everyone else, a link to their submission will be provided. This way, I can showcase the best while ensuring all contributors receive the recognition they deserve.
This week I’ll showcase and shout out only six of my favorite submissions this week. That’s not to say that everyone else’s aren’t good or beautiful, it’s merely to make the post more readable and honestly, due to minor time constraints.
I hope to see all of you and many more in future challenges!
Photos show up in this order:
Thank you everyone who’s subscribed, followed, participated or just engaged in any way, you’re all awesome!
Here are all the other submissions I received this week, in no particular order, so make sure to check them out, leave a like and a comment, and who knows, maybe you’ll find someone to follow or subscribe to while you’re at it!
Next Challenge - July 7
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With the exception of subscribing, restacking and sharing my bi-weekly photo challenges and Behind the Lens posts, you can also support me (Patrik) by buying me a coffee through my Ko-Fi page.
Wow! Thank you so much, Patrik - for the contest idea, for curating it, for taking the time to actually add thoughtful comments and recommendations to contestants' publications....what a wonderful gift and inspiration to us all!!
I was so surprised when I woke up to find I was the declared 'winner' of this photo contest that I joined for the sweetness and the fun of it, thinking that my amateur i-phone photos would get rather lost amongst the more serious photographers on here...
I am really enjoying everyone's pictures, and the whole experience of joining in a mutual pursuit of capturing the charm of break-times... :-)
Thank you again for the inspiration and all your time and work, Patrik! You are appreciated <3
Enjoyed all of these great photos!