Laureate Dashboard Photographer's Profile Award Showcase The Gallery Publications Gears University Expeditions Career About Us Dev-Lab Learning & AI Future Curriculum Curiosity & Consciousness Sign In 📲 Install App Submit Your Work →
Contributing Writer Memory, Objects & Elegiac Prose

Marta Vidal

Marta Vidal is a writer and archivist whose work explores what physical objects hold — letters, worn photographs, things kept against all practical reason. She has contributed to Light & Composition since 2016. A photograph for Marta is always a form of preservation, something the photographer chose to keep. Her Reflections open with a specific object and arrive, gently, at what it means when the moment has long passed.

393 Published Reflections

Reflections by Marta Vidal

Showing 12 of 393 essays
The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
May 21, 2020

The Weight of Stone

I keep a small, smooth pebble in my desk drawer, pulled from the foundation of a house that no longer stands. It is heavy for its size, a dense anchor of limestone that once held up a family’s quiet evenings and their loud, sudden griefs. We often think of cities as fluid things, places that […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of a Welcome Photo of the Day
May 15, 2020

The Weight of a Welcome

I keep a small, tarnished silver tea tray in my kitchen, its surface etched with the faint, circular ghosts of cups that have long since been broken or given away. It was my grandmother’s, and she used it only when someone arrived from a long distance. She believed that the first few minutes of a […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Echo of Footsteps Photo of the Day
April 11, 2020

The Echo of Footsteps

I keep a small, rusted skeleton key in a velvet pouch, though I have no idea which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, cold to the touch, and worn smooth by hands that have long since turned to dust. There is a peculiar ache in holding something that has outlived its […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of Footsteps Photo of the Day
April 4, 2020

The Weight of Footsteps

I keep a small, rusted iron key in a velvet pouch, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, cold to the touch, and carries the faint, metallic scent of a house that no longer exists. We spend so much of our lives moving through spaces, […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of Water Photo of the Day
March 28, 2020

The Weight of Water

I keep a small, smooth stone on my desk, pulled from a riverbed I visited when I was still young enough to believe that time was a thing you could hold in your palm. It is cool to the touch, polished by years of relentless, patient friction against the current. There is a quiet violence […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of a Childhood Photo of the Day
March 2, 2020

The Weight of a Childhood

I keep a small, rusted tin box in my desk drawer, filled with the smooth, grey pebbles my brother and I collected from the riverbank when we were children. They are cold to the touch, heavy with the weight of afternoons that felt like they would never end. We did not know then that time […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of Silence Photo of the Day
February 23, 2020

The Weight of Silence

I keep a small, smooth stone in my pocket, pulled from a riverbed I haven’t visited in twenty years. It is cold to the touch, a heavy reminder of a place where the water moved faster than my thoughts ever could. We carry these fragments because they are anchors; they keep us from drifting away […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
February 13, 2020

The Weight of Stone

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn perfectly round by a current I will never see. It is heavy for its size, a dense anchor of silence that reminds me how much of the world exists entirely without our permission. We spend our lives trying to name things, to pin them […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
February 11, 2020

The Weight of Stone

I keep a small, smooth river stone in the pocket of my winter coat, a weight I often find myself rubbing between my thumb and forefinger when the world feels too thin. It was pulled from a creek bed years ago, back when time seemed to move with the slow, deliberate patience of water carving […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of Fading Gold Photo of the Day
February 11, 2020

The Weight of Fading Gold

I keep a pressed marigold inside a heavy dictionary, its edges now translucent and brittle as a moth’s wing. It was plucked in the final, frantic heat of August years ago, back when time felt like a river that would never run dry. When I touch it, the flower threatens to turn to dust, yet […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Weight of a Crumb Photo of the Day
February 5, 2020

The Weight of a Crumb

I keep a small, tarnished silver thimble in my desk drawer, a relic from a grandmother whose hands were always busy with mending. It is light, almost nothing, yet it carries the heavy silence of a house where every scrap of fabric was saved and every thread counted. We tend to measure our lives by […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
The Fabric of Secrets Photo of the Day
February 3, 2020

The Fabric of Secrets

I keep a small, frayed scrap of blue velvet in my desk drawer, a remnant from a dress my grandmother wore when I was barely tall enough to reach her waist. It is worn thin at the edges, the color muted by decades of sunlight and touch. When I press it against my palm, I […]
Visual Archive Read Essay →
Light & Composition University

Aspire to Write for Light & Composition?

Master the discipline of literary essayism, photographic criticism, and evocative narrative. Explore our accredited diplomas, masterclasses, and craft workshops.

Diploma in Creative Writing and Copywriting Professional Diploma
1-Year Comprehensive Curriculum $275.00

Diploma in Creative Writing and Copywriting

From the first story you dare to set down in your own voice to the single persuasive line that makes readers take notice. Master narrative non-fiction, storytelling, and high-impact editorial writing.

View Curriculum & Enroll →
Becoming a Writer Foundational Masterclass
Self-Paced / Core Curriculum $8.00

Becoming a Writer

For writing stories that move readers — that shape their feelings, raise their expectations, and show the world through your unique artistic lens.

View Curriculum & Enroll →
Basic Creative Writing Certificate Course
8-Week Intensive $75.00

Basic Creative Writing

Develop an instinct for rhythm, descriptive precision, and evocative prose. Learn the fundamentals of transforming visual observations into compelling essays.

View Curriculum & Enroll →
Advanced Creative Writing: Character, Setting, and Story Advanced Workshop
8-Week Masterclass $75.00

Advanced Creative Writing: Character, Setting, and Story

Deepen your narrative architecture. Master character interiority, sensory setting descriptions, and the literary craft of non-fiction and short essays.

View Curriculum & Enroll →
The Art of the Opening: Writing the Lede Craft Masterclass
Focused Masterclass $75.00

The Art of the Opening: Writing the Lede

The art of the opening sentence and decisive paragraph. Learn how to arrest attention and command the reader’s gaze from the very first line.

View Curriculum & Enroll →
A Photographer’s Guide to Writing Visual & Prose Synergy
Publication & Guide $5.00

A Photographer’s Guide to Writing

A guide for photographers who want to articulate the philosophy behind their images, write artist statements, and craft features for global publications.

View Curriculum & Enroll →
Explore All Diplomas & Degrees →