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Contributing Writer Storytelling & Travel Writing

Tom Bretherton

Tom Bretherton has spent the better part of two decades travelling, and the better part of that time paying attention. He has contributed to Light & Composition since 2014 with a writer's instinct for the particular — the name of a town, the timing of a conversation, the kind of detail that makes a story feel true. His Reflections are brief narratives that arrive at something universal by way of somewhere very specific.

621 Published Reflections

Reflections by Tom Bretherton

Showing 12 of 621 essays
The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
August 3, 2017

The Weight of Stillness

I remember sitting in a crowded train station in Mumbai, watching thousands of people blur past me in a frantic, rhythmic tide. Everyone was moving toward a destination, their eyes fixed on clocks or screens, their bodies leaning into the momentum of the day. Then, I saw an old man sitting on a worn suitcase […]
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Patience in the Green Photo of the Day
August 1, 2017

Patience in the Green

I remember sitting by a creek in the Daintree with a guide named Elias. We spent three hours in total silence, waiting for a flash of movement that never came. My legs were cramping, and the humidity felt like a heavy wool blanket, but Elias didn’t shift once. He told me later that the forest […]
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The First Breath of Green Photo of the Day
July 29, 2017

The First Breath of Green

I remember sitting on a rusted iron bench in a park in Utrecht, watching an elderly woman struggle to open a thermos of tea. It was that specific week in April when the air finally stops biting and starts to feel like a promise. She didn’t look at the flowers, but she sat in the […]
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The Weight of the Morning Photo of the Day
July 23, 2017

The Weight of the Morning

I remember a market in Luang Prabang where the humidity clung to your skin like a damp wool blanket. I had stopped at a stall to buy a handful of rambutans, and the woman selling them didn’t look up from her work. She was busy, her hands moving with a rhythmic, practiced efficiency that made […]
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The Weight of a Whisper Photo of the Day
July 21, 2017

The Weight of a Whisper

I once spent an afternoon in a garden in Kyoto with an elderly gardener who refused to use a leaf blower. He told me that if you move too quickly, you miss the conversation the wind is having with the branches. He spent three hours clearing a single path, his movements so deliberate they felt […]
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The Kitchen Table Ritual Photo of the Day
July 19, 2017

The Kitchen Table Ritual

My grandmother used to say that you can tell the character of a house by the smell of its oven on a Tuesday afternoon. She wasn’t talking about fancy dinners or holiday feasts, but the simple, quiet things—the kind of baking that happens when there is no guest list, just a need to fill the […]
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The Weight of Quiet Photo of the Day
July 13, 2017

The Weight of Quiet

I remember sitting in a small tea shop in Kyoto, watching an elderly man fold his napkin with the kind of precision usually reserved for origami. He didn’t look up, didn’t check his watch, and didn’t seem bothered by the rain drumming against the glass. There was a stillness in him that felt heavy, like […]
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The Edge of Certainty Photo of the Day
July 9, 2017

The Edge of Certainty

I remember standing on a narrow pier in Maine, watching a fisherman navigate a slick, moss-covered beam. He didn’t look down. He moved with a rhythmic, almost bored precision, as if the drop into the dark water was merely a suggestion rather than a threat. We spend so much of our lives trying to widen […]
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The Edge of the Map Photo of the Day
July 8, 2017

The Edge of the Map

I remember sitting on a wooden pier in Trat, watching a fisherman named Somchai mend his nets as the sky began to bruise into deep shades of violet and gold. He didn’t look up once. When I asked him if he ever got tired of the same view every evening, he just laughed and pointed […]
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The Weight of Small Things Photo of the Day
July 1, 2017

The Weight of Small Things

I remember sitting on the floor of my grandmother’s hallway in Bristol, watching my cousin clutch a worn-out rabbit by its single remaining ear. It was a ragged, matted thing, missing an eye and smelling faintly of dust and lavender. To anyone else, it was just a heap of synthetic fur, but to him, it […]
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The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
June 26, 2017

The Weight of Stone

I remember sitting on a low stone wall in a village near Northampton, watching an elderly man struggle to open a heavy iron gate. He didn’t rush. He leaned his shoulder against the cold metal, waiting for the latch to give, his movements as deliberate as the masonry surrounding us. We spoke briefly about the […]
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The Weight of Echoes Photo of the Day
June 24, 2017

The Weight of Echoes

I remember sitting in a small cafe in Siem Reap, watching a monk walk past the temple gates. He moved with a deliberate, rhythmic pace, as if he were measuring the distance between centuries rather than meters. There is a specific silence that lives in places built of stone and prayer. It isn’t an empty […]
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