this is not a photo op:

I just remembered. This picture, it's a classic picture, taken from the best vantage point on the South Bank for the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Nothing special. It's a pretty time of day I caught it at, yes, but a postcard shot, really. So somebody stenciled on the post right next to where I took this picture this phrase: THIS IS NOT A PHOTO OP.

Okay. They got what they wanted. My attention. Your attention. And thought. But is it not a photo op? What does this landscape mean to whoever stenciled this? Are they trying to say that these National Monuments are something more to them, this punk kid who decided to stencil something 'meaningful' on the Thames walk? Big Ben is an icon - and by becoming a graphic icon it's become something of a photo op, don't you think? Perhaps they are trying to tell us to look deeper, to look deeper within London because there are more things to London than this classic landscape. But this, this is still beautiful. The architecture of Parliament is like nothing I've seen before and it would be a lie to say that the clock tower isn't stunning looking, no matter how many times I've seen it. Nothing in my life isn't a photo op. I've wished more than once that I could blink my eyes and retain exactly what I was seeing in an image, physically, mentally, whatever. Would I be any better off, in being true to myself, if I didn't pick up my camera and snap this? Would I be any more wholesome, would I get it more?