World Travel Market 2013.

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Caption:

WORLD TRAVELMARKET: 

A BRIEF LOOK INTO ONE OF LONDON’S MOST EXCLUSIVE GLOBAL TRAVEL EVENTS.

This year saw a variety of international tour operators and travel professionals gather in the confines of the Excel Exhibition Centre for World Travel Market; one of London's most exclusive global travel events. As my first time visiting, it was overwhelming to see its increasing popularity as a place to network with other like-minded experts within the field of leisure and tourism. The open area hosted uniquely stunning exhibits that had been divided up into different continents of the world and a mixture of sit in cafes and restaurants meant universal cuisine was readily available.

A range of educational seminars were held upstairs in a number of different conference rooms; including a lecture regarding the Youth Travel Industry. David Chapman, Director General at the WYSE Travel Confederation, outlined the company's most recent 'New Horizons' survey, that measures the travel profile of young people around the world, comparing the desires of an average "backpacker" to that of the more upmarket "flashpacker." He revealed "what we've seen is a very significant growth in the over 30 age group" whilst continuing to add "this reflects that the youth travel market is getting progressively older." Their findings showed that there was a decline in the original "backpacker" tradition, making way for the rise of the contemporary "flashpacker" as people look to find more value for money when it comes to planning their journey. "We're often asked, what is the difference between a hotel and hostel? And the answer is the 's' which stands for social" said Chapman. The report further states that youth travellers now make up 20% of international tourism*.

Eadweard Muybridge @ Tate Britain (8/1/11).

Got lost at Waterloo station. Had my first experience in a London taxi. Took a couple of wrong turns and ended up at Buckingham Palace. Then visited my first ever exhibition at Tate Britain as research for my current photography project. 

Needless to say, my recent trip to London was an eventful one.

'And since, in our passage through this world, painful circumstances occur more frequently than pleasing ones, and since our sense of evil is, I fear, more acute than our sense of good, we become the victims of our feelings, unless in some degree command them.'

- The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe, 1764



As well as Gothic Literature (cue Dickens and Doyle), one of the main influences of my work has been photographer Eadweard Muybridge, with his exploration into the concept of movement by capturing what is impossible to see with the naked eye.

"Sir Frederick Leighton, president of the Royal Academy, told me that when he first saw my pictures they made him laugh, so at variance were they with artists' notions of animal motion. Then he said he studied them and stopped laughing." [Eadweard Muybridge, 1885]

My visit to the exhibition gave me valuable insight into the mind of Muybridge and his interpretation of movement, shooting at different viewpoints and presenting them in a range of compositions. I was even privileged enough to be able to view the original negatives. 

THE FACTS:

• Muybridge emerged as a landscape photographer after the American Civil War (1867).
• First experimented with recording movement in 1877 when he was asked by Leland Stanford (horse trainer and breeder) to study whether a horse had all four feet off the ground during a full gallop. The series was entitled 'The Horse in Motion'.
• Invented the Zoopraxiscope which consisted of two rotating discs that recreated movement.
• Published his work under the name of 'Helios' (meaning "God of the Sun"). He branded his products with the logo of a winged camera and a glowing orb of radiating light.

  
  

To see more on this project, check out my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/amy_moore/.