I love to travel, always have and I’m sure I always will. Travel broadens the mind and opens the world in the most wonderful way. It does’t matter how far or how near you go, there is always something to discover about this amazing world we live in. Nowhere is this more obvious right now than at the Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition currently showing in Greenwich.
We spent a fabulous couple of hours there on Bank Holiday Monday marvelling at the skills of the photographers and the moments they had captured. This exhibition is a show case for amateurs, professionals, beginners and seasoned photographers of all ages. There are images of people, buildings, landscapes animals birds and much more. Each image is unique but what they all have in common is the ability to make you stop and ask questions. Not just about how the image was captured, but more importantly (for me anyway) what was the story behind the image?
One of my favourite images is this one by L y Hoang Long: Fishing baskets, Tat Vien village, Vietnam. I love the vibrancy, and the sheer improbability of what this man is carrying on a bicycle. Having visited Vietnam a few years ago I clearly remember scenes like this and was immediately transported back there.
This exhibition positively encourages you to think about your own travels, and what inspires you. Visitors are asked to write on a luggage tag memories of their own travels. These were then tied to railings all around the exhibition. There were literally hundreds of them all documenting visitors own travel stories.
At the end of the exhibition was a white board covered in visitors comments about travel. I loved reading what others had written but also listening to folk talk to each other about their own travels. You were encouraged to stick pins into a world map of where you would most like to visit. This exhibition certainly had us re-living some of our travel memories as well as planning some future ones.
This exhibition is FREE, a suggested donation of £1 is made which is far less than the experience is actually worth, but it does mean it is accessible for all. If you have a few days of your summer holiday left and you are in London I can’t recommend it enough. However it does close on 4th September so time is running out. If you are unable to get to the exhibition you can see some of the other fabulous images here.
Images Changing Pages
