Walking In and Out of Time

"It was a beautiful September evening, windless, very peaceful. The park and the old, cream-painted houses facing it basked in the golden light of sunset. There were many sounds but no noises. The cries of playing children and the whir of London's traffic seemed quieter than usual, as if softened by the evening's gentleness....

At that moment the peace was shattered by an extremely strident motor horn. A large car was coming towards them. It drew up at a big house just ahead of them, and a tall women came out onto the front-door steps."
from 101 Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith


Today's photography focus was on contrasts during a walk to the Tower of London, and across the Tower Bridge. Once I began to look for them, I could find contrasts everywhere--buildings old and new, tourists young and old, windows open and closed, monkeys menacing and nurturing.

Taking a step back, I realized the Tower itself represented the devastating battles of life and death, justice and torture, wealth and destitution.

And within that conflict there are hundreds of stories made richer and more vivid by the contrasts they embody. Plot is tension, tension is contrast. The best stories change us in the best of ways.