Etymologically the word place means broad and flat. Plaza derives from the same root. It's where people and things live, the home, the living room. Of course, nothing and no one can escape being in the space we call place. Even a tomb is a place. You might conclude that no space is more or less a place than any other.

The true place allows people and things to come to life, to flourish. It's where I am and where my activity originates. Being and perception, thought and action are so related in a true place that that does merit a distinction from just any old place. It's not required that we go to a "power spot" or a holy place or a healing spa or a huge rock concert in order to find such a place. Our own home could be such a place or a temple could be, the local cafe or bar, a school, the center of government, a battlefield, a football stadium, a theater could be -- or they could not. Even a space that's not lived in can be more fully a place than a space that is.

The places shown here are just places. There's nothing which distinguishes them as special places. But can what distinguishes a true place from one that has deficiencies be captured in a photograph?