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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 a Threshold Photo of the Day
November 5, 2016

The Weight of a Threshold

I remember a house in a village near the coast where the paint on the front door had peeled away in long, sun-baked ribbons. My grandmother used to say that a door is never just a barrier; it is a promise of who might arrive and a record of who has already left. There was […]
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The Weight of Small Hands Photo of the Day
November 3, 2016

The Weight of Small Hands

I remember standing in the hallway of my grandfather’s house, watching him point out the cracks in the plaster. He didn’t see them as damage; he saw them as a map of the years he’d spent leaning against those walls. My own son was beside me, his hand tucked firmly into mine, his grip small […]
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The Rhythm of the City Photo of the Day
October 29, 2016

The Rhythm of the City

I remember standing on Westminster Bridge at two in the morning, shivering in a thin coat while the city finally caught its breath. A taxi driver named Arthur pulled over, his cab idling with a low, rhythmic hum. He told me that London only reveals its true pulse when the crowds disappear and the streetlights […]
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The Beauty of the Overlooked Photo of the Day
October 25, 2016

The Beauty of the Overlooked

I remember sitting on a rusted bench in a forgotten corner of a public garden in Leeds. A gardener named Arthur was busy pulling weeds, his hands stained dark with soil. He stopped for a moment, holding a common dandelion between his thumb and forefinger. He didn’t toss it aside. Instead, he held it up […]
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The Art of Staying Still Photo of the Day
October 22, 2016

The Art of Staying Still

I once spent an entire Tuesday sitting on a wooden bench in a park in Kyoto, watching an old man try to sketch a sparrow. Every time he raised his charcoal, the bird would hop a few inches to the left or flutter to a higher branch. He didn’t curse, and he didn’t pack up […]
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The Quiet After the Heat Photo of the Day
October 15, 2016

The Quiet After the Heat

I remember sitting on a stone wall in a village outside Pune, watching the light change as the afternoon lost its edge. An old man named Ramesh sat nearby, peeling a mango with a small, rusted knife. He didn’t say much, but he pointed toward the horizon where the sun was beginning to dip behind […]
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The Architecture of the Unseen Photo of the Day
October 13, 2016

The Architecture of the Unseen

My neighbor, Elias, spent three summers trying to evict a colony of wasps from his porch. He saw them as invaders, a threat to his Sunday morning coffee routine. One afternoon, I found him standing perfectly still, watching them work. He wasn’t swatting anymore. He pointed to the way they moved—not with malice, but with […]
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The Weight of a Glance Photo of the Day
October 12, 2016

The Weight of a Glance

I remember sitting in a crowded train station in Delhi, watching the blur of commuters rushing toward their lives. Everyone was looking at their phones or their watches, caught in the frantic rhythm of getting somewhere else. Then, a young woman stopped near a pillar. She didn’t look at a screen or a clock; she […]
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The Weight of a Harvest Photo of the Day
October 11, 2016

The Weight of a Harvest

I remember sitting in a small kitchen in Envigado, watching my grandmother prepare the afternoon meal. She didn’t use a recipe; she used her hands, testing the ripeness of a fruit with a gentle squeeze, listening for the subtle give of the skin. There is a quiet dignity in that kind of labor—the act of […]
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The Weight of Winter Photo of the Day
October 10, 2016

The Weight of Winter

I remember a morning in the high country where the air was so sharp it felt like breathing glass. My guide, a man named Bat-Erdene, didn’t speak for the first hour of our trek. He just walked, his breath blooming in front of him like small, white ghosts. When he finally stopped to adjust his […]
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The Unspoken Hello Photo of the Day
October 8, 2016

The Unspoken Hello

I remember sitting on a low stone wall in a village outside Luang Prabang, waiting for a rain shower to pass. A young boy, no older than seven, wandered over and stood about three feet away. He didn’t speak, and I didn’t reach for my notebook. We just watched the water turn the red dust […]
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The Art of Being Still Photo of the Day
October 7, 2016

The Art of Being Still

I remember sitting on a porch in rural Vermont with an old carpenter named Elias. He spent his days carving intricate wooden birds, yet he rarely left his workshop to see the real ones. When I asked him why he didn’t go out into the woods, he just tapped his chisel against the grain of […]
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