This week, Anne hosts the challenge. It’s part of the regular “Looking Back” series, where newer followers of the Lens-Artists Challenges can respond to previous challenges, and old-timers like me can update our challenge responses. Anne poses the challenge with this: “I’ve often said in this blog that when I’m out with my camera, I forget my stressors. But what relaxes you? What gets you away from the stresses of daily life. What’s your passion?” You can read her entire challenge post here.

I’ve divided my response into three sets of images, all related to travel. I start off with a pair of photos of people enjoying the evening while fishing. On a sunset cruise in Naples Bay, we passed these two fishermen trying their luck. As we left them to their cast and calm, the horizon ahead was already warming into the colors of evening.

After watching those fishermen ease their lines into the quiet water, we, too, settled into the unhurried rhythm of the evening. There’s something about the end of the day out on the bay—the soft slap of the wake, the warm air settling in, the sense that nothing more is required of you—that invites you to breathe a little deeper. As we left the fishermen and continued our cruise toward the Gulf of Mexico, the sky shifted toward gold, the perfect backdrop for a day winding gently to its close.

Las Vegas has always had an attraction for me, but not for the cliché of gambling. For several years during my working career, one of my duties was to attend national conferences on computer networking. After I retired, Lynn and I would occasionally venture to the gambling mecca to relax and enjoy the many tourist attractions. On one trip, we stopped at the iconic Googie sign—Las Vegas’s own slice of mid‑century futurism—and, not willing to wait in line to have our photo taken by it, I found it more interesting to watch people calmly standing in line for their turn beneath the emblem. Googie is one of those wonderfully over‑the‑top styles, and if you haven’t heard the term before, I’ve got a quick primer here.

As I noted above, I’ve never been interested in gambling much. I remember on earlier trips, I would risk only $20 to play Blackjack on the $2 tables, then $50 on the $3 tables. At $5 a bet, I completely lost interest, but I always thought it might be fun to learn Craps. In 2022, we discovered just what I needed. Tucked inside the Fashion Show Mall was Casino Quest, a hands‑on, non‑gambling space where you can learn everything from Blackjack to Craps on real casino tables. They sell casino‑grade gear, offer lessons and workshops, and encourage visitors to take photos as they practice. It turned out to be the perfect place to finally explore the game without risking more than a few practice chips. I never tried what I learned on a real Craps table, but I did play one of the “bubble” craps’ machines, and in my first attempt, I won enough money to cover my tuition at the school. Any time someone breaks even in Vegas, that’s a win in my book.

Of course, photography is my primary relaxation, whether I’m out capturing new images or back home editing them to bring out their best. I couldn’t leave Las Vegas without sharing a couple of my favorites. This view of the New York‑New York Hotel and Casino remains one of my best night compositions—at least in my opinion—and it still brings back the quiet satisfaction of getting everything to line up just right.

One evening, we visited downtown Las Vegas to walk on Fremont Street and take in the Fremont Street Experience. Part of downtown Vegas has an electronic display covering the street, and cars are no longer allowed to drive the iconic part of old town Las Vegas. Beneath the screen, which displays nightly shows free for visitors, two levels of zipline travel the length of the experience. We didn’t take a ride on the zipline, but we did enjoy our first and, so far, our only visit to Fremont Street.

Aviation has been a relaxing avocation for me since learning to fly in my late 40s. My pilot experience was limited to small, two- or four-passenger, winged aircraft, but I always enjoyed the occasional helicopter or balloon ride. At a family reunion in 2017, several of us found ourselves standing in a large vacant lot early one morning, watching two pilots and their crews prepare a pair of hot‑air balloons for launch. Each gondola held about a dozen passengers, and once we lifted off, our pilot guided us on a quiet—well, mostly quiet—drift over Albuquerque, New Mexico. The only interruptions came when the burner roared to life, sending a wave of heat into the balloon and triggering a chorus of dogs below, all barking at the strange visitor floating overhead.

Inflating a balloon is a surprisingly intricate operation. It begins with the gondola lying on its side and the envelope stretched out across the ground. As hot air is blown into the opening, the crew works inside the balloon to make sure the fabric unfolds cleanly and fills as it should. Here, a family member captures a crewman doing just that. And even though I’ve only been on two balloon rides myself, our group witnessing the inflation, which clearly makes us seasoned experts… or at least very enthusiastic spectators.

As the crew prepared to lift the balloon upright, our family watched with the kind of focus usually reserved for fireworks or magic tricks. The burner’s blast of flame roared into the envelope, flooding it with heat and light. It’s a dramatic moment—beautiful, but also one that demands absolute attention from the crew. With all that synthetic fabric so close to an open flame, keeping the balloon from scorching is a top priority; one stray flare‑up would mean an expensive, flight‑ending disaster. Fortunately, these teams know their choreography well, and within moments the balloon began to rise, taking shape for the morning’s flight.

Once we were airborne, our pilot surprised us by pulling out a jar of soapy water and a wand for making giant bubbles. They drifted around the gondola, catching the light and delighting everyone on board. Naturally, I reached for my camera. Later, while processing the images, I noticed something unexpected: the bubbles acted like tiny lenses. With the camera focused on them, the world below blurred into soft shapes—yet inside each bubble, the landscape appeared sharp and crisp. I’d love to hear the technical explanation someday, but for now I’m content to enjoy the magic of it. And honestly, watching those bubbles float past at a few hundred feet up might be one of the most unexpectedly relaxing moments I’ve ever had in the air.

That’s all for my response to Anne’s reboot of “Time to Relax.” I’ve been enjoying everyone else’s entries, though I admit I’m running a bit behind on comments thanks to some family travel over the last couple of days. I should be caught up by tomorrow. Thanks, Anne, for giving me the chance to share ten images that highlight some of the ways I unwind. Last week, Ann‑Christine invited us to revisit a trip in 5–10 images, and as it turns out, this week gave me another opportunity to share a few more travel moments—again in ten images or fewer. Next week, it’s Egidio’s turn to host. Be sure to follow his blog here so you don’t miss his post, which goes live on Saturday, March 21, at noon Eastern Time. For those interested in the technical side, you can view the images and their metadata in my Flickr gallery here. For more information about the Lens-Artist Challenges, check here.

John Steiner