The disposable cameras that were once ubiquitously used to document holidays of yore have been replaced, for the most part, by limitless filtered and hashtagged images shared via Instagram. But in spite of a drastic shift in medium, travel photography remains more or less the same; we ritualistically document the places that we visit. With such a wealth of aesthetic possibility, how do you choose what to record on your excursions to unfamiliar terrains?
Looking for the transcendental in the everyday, Polly Brown’s Travel series is a ‘what to look for’ list for creating location-less travel images. By breaking down her own aesthetic and analysing her own travel photographs, Brown presents a muted hinterland questioning of what it is we ultimately seek in an image. She dodges the tired clichés of waterfalls and ancient monuments, local cultures and exotic spice markets; instead, the series questions what it means to document somewhere ‘other’, what it is we want to remember, and what ultimately transports us.
