Through the Photographer’s Eye: Seeing Place Differently

Through the Photographer’s Eye: Seeing Place Differently

What happens when a photographer stops looking for photographs and lets a place reveal itself? In this illustrated Zoom talk, Mark Stothard MA ARPS, explores returning to Ouistreham after a year away and seeing the coastal town through a photographer’s eye. Using photographs, field notes and reflections from his project Across the Channel: Ouistreham Harbour Facing Britain, Mark considers how wandering, memory, observation and photography alter our relationship with a place. The talk introduces the idea of the dérive, an approach to walking without a predetermined route, and considers what happens when the photographer allows streets, buildings, weather, infrastructure, people and the coastline to shape the photographic encounter. From overhead wires and ageing doorways to graffiti, cafés, harbour structures and the Channel itself, apparently ordinary details become starting points for thinking about identity, memory, tourism and the changing character of places. The session also explores how photography and travel writing might move beyond conventional destination imagery. Rather than asking, “What does this place look like?”, Mark asks, “What does this place make us notice, feel and remember?” The result is an accessible, visually led discussion about photography, place, and the art of paying attention. Themes Returning to a place after a year away The dérive: letting the street choose the photograph Seeing beyond the postcard When the ordinary becomes photographic Photography as encounter rather than capture The city as a living, changing thing People, absence and the atmosphere of a place Beyond the human viewpoint From photography to travel writing What happens when we stop trying to find something?