Many of us carry cameras every day, everywhere we go. And often the images that surprise us and delight us most are those that are taken while we are waiting for something else to happen.

Finnish photographer Arja Hyytiainen once described the pleasure of travelling by train through Europe (and making photographs) like this: “When you are on a train you can be in a magical state; you have already left but you have not yet arrived.”

One of my snaps from a train stop in Berlin

This contest is seeking great photographs that capture that sense of noticing things while commuting, or waiting, in a state of transition, or pause — suspended temporarily apart from the day-to-day flow of life, and open to observation. Active and passive at the same time. Maybe in a private "zone" while in a public place...

Likewise, it is often those photos that we take for the hell of it, in between our “serious” photos, that capture the kind of punctum that Roland Barthes celebrated.

So, with these loose guidelines, please post ONE photo that best captures this feeling for you.

Here is the Lens Culture group site at Flickr to post your photo:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/lensculture-contest-1/

At the end of September, we will select the best of the entries and publish them in Lens Culture. And, “in between” now and then, we will post some of the best photos in the blog at Lens Culture.

Thanks, and cheers.

Jim Casper
Editor, Lens Culture