In late 2020, I traveled overseas and spotted lonely chairs in other countries as well. From there, taking photos of single chairs morphed into a passion within my hobby of film photography. Later on, I began taking pictures on my phone as well (despite my strong love for film), and when I posted my captions on Instagram, I would use the hashtag #takeaseat.

Eventually, I shared my observations with friends, and some of them also started taking pictures of single chairs and sending them to me. Others told me about #nochairleftbehind and @vacant.chairs.mag.

To honor my quest for lonely chairs, I wanted to share my observations and photos on a more sustainable platform than social media. Hence, the idea of creating this website was born. I started going through all the shots I’ve captured over the past five years and surprisingly found many photos of lonely chairs before this idea sprung up. The chairs originated from Porto, Lisbon, Dnipro, Berlin, Riga, Tallinn, Antibes, and New York. However, the maximum concentration of lonely chairs in a given area I encountered at one of the COVID-19 vaccination centers in Lisbon. Ironically so, considering I started noticing this phenomenon in Portugal at the very beginning of the pandemic.

On this website, you’ll find a handpicked collection of my favorite photos of chairs, with no set rules on the medium used (film or digital) nor composition or editing features. What you will find here instead is an opportunity to virtually take a seat with me.

I am grateful to Dima, Nastya, and Julija, for helping me create this website.

My name is Olga Shatokha, and I am a hobby photographer, originally from Dnipro, Ukraine, but living in Lisbon, Portugal. My favorite medium is a 35mm point-and-shoot camera, and my favorite photography style is still life. My professional career is not connected to photography or any other arts. Whether you’d like to send me a picture of a lonely chair or find out more about my photography, please visit my Instagram page.