Nick Robinson Images

This photograph was taken during the summer of 2006 in Central Park, New York. It depicts part of stone bench and surrounding flagstones which were created as a memorial to a New York couple. The memorial overlooks Shakepeare's Garden and is unusually secluded and peaceful - extraordinarily so, given it's location right at the centre of one the world's busiest cities.

In spite of the season, blustery weather had blown leaves from the surrounding trees and rain had wetted the stone surfaces. The autumnal colour of the leaves and the sheen on the stone was at once beautiful and sad. I could not imagine anyone actually sitting on the bench - to me, it suggested an inevitable vacancy. Strangely, the sense of loss induced by this place was strongly mitigated by its permanence, the elegant simplicity of the stonework and the exquisite colour of the dying leaves. This photograph reminds me that nothing is ever truly lost even though all things must change.