Travel photography

A project by Mark Selby.

Photographs can act as powerful mnemonic representations of our personal memories, indicative of time, place and experience. However as digital photographic technologies strive for ease, convenience and instantaneity, photographs are mass–produced. The camera democratizes experience, recording differing experiences in identical ways. Often not valued as memories, photographs become mundane representations of unremarkable and unfamiliar events whose mnemonic value is increasingly diluted.
Photographic Memories is an ongoing project that intends to make photography an integral component of experience. Like the map, or the ticket, the camera becomes necessary to the journey. Here photography encourages the experience of travel, capturing it in ways more appropriate to the activity.

Oct 19

Travel photography

Three really strong themes emerged from the questionnaires: Family, friends and travelling. The pride of a well crafted image although common did not come up as often as expected.
It occurred to me then that the event, or experience that the photo was capturing was much more important than the image itself. In other words, it is the experience that the image reminds us of that is important.
I decided to concentrate on travel photography because beside being a personal interest, travel is a definable event whereas a subject like ‘family’ is not only deeply personal and individual but also not focussed around a specific. In short it was a little less abstruse and hopefully a little easier to get to grips with in such a short space of time.