Travels – Difference and Identity

In the outline of what I’m trying to achieve with my travel photo book I said it will ‘celebrate difference and individuality’. At one level this is quite straight forward, compare the Pyramids at Ghiza with Notre Dame in Paris, or the Alhambra in Grenada with the House of Wonders in Zanzibar, for example. It is also obvious where a place as a whole is unique, Venice being an obvious case in point. Defining and showing the difference and individuality become more challenging when considering natural landscapes and everyday buildings and places. It is also complicated by the frequent connections that occour, as explored in previous postings.

In way of teasing out difference and individuality is to look at places in terms of:
– Identity: size, function, geography, history
– Local distinctiveness: layout, spaces, architecture, history, products
– Sense of place: the numen, or ‘divine force or influence often associated with a place or natural object’, a feeling or atmosphere; a mixture of e.g. scenes, activities and behaviours, language, climate, fashions, smells & sounds and so on.

One of the challenges in selecting photographs is to overcome the limitations inherent in the medium, especially the absence of sound and small, qualities that can make physically very similar streets have very different senses of place.

The pictures below explore some of these issues.

Umayyad Mosque, DamascusPhoto: Great Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria, 2010.  The architecture and dress fix this within the Middle East.

 

 

 

 

Photo: Notre Dame Notre Dame de la Treille, Lille, 2012de la Treille, Lille, 2012.  The unique alabaster window/screen at the west end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hejaz Railway Station, Damascus, Syria, 2010Photo: Hejaz Railway Station, Damascus, Syria 2010.  A remnant of the Ottoman Middle East.

 

 

 

 

Venice 2011Photo: Venice, 2011. Street play, European clothes and the architectural hints are indicative of the distinctive qualities of the city away from the grand sights.

 

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