Picturing the Shard

Here are some more photographs from my wander along the Thames the other week, crossing Tower Bridge and London Bridge - up one side of the river and down the other. Of course, there was no getting away from the Shard. Soaring upwards out of the muddle of buildings on the south bank, it duplicates itself in myriad forms, whether reflected and distorted in the many glass windows facing the river like some crazed doppelganger of its true self, or rising dreamlike through the clouds mirrored in a puddle. Compared to many of the buildings appearing on the skyline in the City of London, the Shard is elegant and graceful. It is one of a kind, although if and when other skyscrapers inevitably start to mushroom around it, its presence will be diminished. Even though it is an emblem for the worst excesses of greed and extreme wealth in our society, I can't help but appreciate its beauty......