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Worlds of Travel

44 images Created 4 Dec 2010

From a book about Heathrow Airport; the Himalayas; the English seaside; populous world cities; remote spots, or merely the incongruous and the intriguing - the work hangs together from a thread of Travel-related images from commissioned and personal projects.

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  • Two young girls dressed in traditional Spanish flamenco attire stop at the childrens' fairground during a lull in the celebrations for the April Feria, Seville. A pair of eyes painted on the front of the train ride engine looks across to one of the girls' similarly-designed dress. It is part of a lively event that Seville holds annually in the vast area on the far bank of the Guadalquivir River. Rows of temporary marquee tents, or casetas, host families, corporations and friends into the late hours during the April Fair which begins begins two weeks after the Semana Santa, or Easter Holy Week in the Andalusian capital.
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  • A young girl in transit between India and the US, entertains herself by throwing her pet toy tiger as far as the ceiling in a departure window of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. In front of a Boeing 777 jet airliner's nose and cockpit, the girl is a silhouette against the large windows that allow in the natural light. Behind the parked aircraft, another British Airways passenger jet taxies past, its tail at right-angles to the stationary airplane although they both look like the same plane. With her family baggage next to her, the child is enjoying some hours of freedom before another long-haul flight westwards. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
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  • Tourists finding their way around Soho and the West End with the help of a large city map of London.
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  • On both sides of the railway track, thousands of commuters desperate to get home after a long day at work in central London, line the platforms to we see from an aerial perspective. But the rail workers' union has called for industrial action and there are no trains yet for these passengers to board for north or southbound services. Sensibly away from the edges, people are standing up to six-deep in anticipation of a ride home as the exodus to the suburbs hits its peak time. 37 per cent of workers in the capital used rail or underground travel as their main form of transport to work, according to regional and local statistics compiled by the Office for National Statistics.
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  • A father supports his son on his shoulders as a giant four-engined airliner passes directly overhead, about to land at London's Heathrow airport, England. Seen from a low angle, we see the graphic cruciform shape of the aircraft as it screams past two powerful airfield landing lights that help guide arriving aircraft to the runway. The backlit scene is largely monochrome apart from the boys red t-shirt and yellow-faced watch which are lit by flash, underexposing the overcast sky. Prior to 9/11, British airport authorities and police tolerated plane spotters near runway fences but with heightened terrorist alerts, these enthusiasts are told to move on or face arrest. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
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  • A lone passenger gazes out from the departure lounge at Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport terminal to where airliners are parked. It is late evening and blue light outside makes the orange interior look warm. Designed by Paul Andreu, Charles de Gaulle became a symbol for airport modernity - a Le Corbusier concept of rail stations and ?autodromes.? Charles de Gaulle?s role as airport and rail station fuses into one, thus becoming an ?Aérogare? where trains and planes whisk the new world traveller of the late ?60s, away beyond an ever-extending horizon. From here, the Air France Concorde crashed on the aviation employment town of Gonesse on July 25th 2000. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
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  • Arriving British Airways flight deck and cabin crew stride through arrivals after long-haul flight to Heathrow Airport's T5
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  • Air passengers exit and enter a transit train at Chicago O'Hare airport, Illinois USA. They pull suitcases behind them as they negotiate the airport terminal transport system that takes them across the sprawling complex of terminals and tunnels. A large central yellow traffic arrow saying OUT is most prominent telling arriving people to keep in the middle, allowing those departing to enter the carriage from the sides. There is a slight blur to the picture showing the hurrying nature of modern air travel, vastly different from the pioneering days of flight for only the socially elite. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903..
    aviation_corbis49-10-11-2000.jpg
  • Having just disembarked from a Carnival Cruise ship at the port of Miami, Florida, two tourists carry and pull their baggage along to a waiting coaches that will transport them for onward journeys. Comically they also wear wide sombrero hats bought in Cancun during their vacation around the Gulf of Mexico, the destination of this popular cruise line whose base is Miami. Stitched with garish colours the souvenirs provide shelter from the overhead tropical sun though the woman of this couple chooses to hang hers over a shoulder and keeps her original hat on her head. This may be the couples' honeymoon or just a special annual holiday away from the kids or a humdrum lifestyle where the weather is far from the intensity of Florida, a favourite resort for Americans not liking foreign travel.
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  • Lone lady awaiting her luggage from domestic baggage reclaim carousel at Heathrow's Terminal 5.
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  • Through a transparent floor passengers await a lift to arrive at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 'Heathrow Express' station
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  • Wing tips and tails from British Airways 747-400 jet airliners are almost touching during their respective turnrounds while on the apron outside Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 building. A passing aircraft taxies past on the left and the other two planes have wingtip devices increase the lift generated at the wingtip which smooth the airflow across the upper wing near the tip and reduce the lift-induced drag caused by wingtip vortices. This improves lift-to-drag ratio and increases fuel efficiency, in powered aircraft. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). ..
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  • We look down behind an airline passenger who is alone on seating in the departures concourse of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. Mourning the death of a mother, the lady sits with a floral tribute to the recently-deceased relative whose name 'Mum' is laid out next to her in pink flowers. On her lap is the organic Soil Association's magazine Living Earth. Perhaps the woman is on her way to a family funeral and is flying from T5 on this sad flight. Amid the otherwise bustling international airport, the woman seeks solace and tries to sleep before her check-in zone opens. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). .
    heathrow_airport1122-12-08-2009.jpg
  • Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson sits in the replica model of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo during its unveiling of at the New York Wired NextFest at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Under construction by Burt Rutan in Mojave, California and looking more like a Stanley Kubrick movie set from '2001 A Space Odyssey,' than the future for everyday holidays, SpaceShipTwo is a re-usable orbiting vehicle that will become an important tool for Man's leisure time in space when affordable commercial space tourism starts in around 2009. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom paying $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience just 6 minutes of weighlessness. From these circular portholes, astronauts will see 1,000 miles having taken off from the new Spaceport America, New Mexico. ..
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  • Posing in the open doorway of an Airbus A319CJ Business jet, four female cabin crew members wear the uniforms of Qatar Airways whose airline has made a public relations stop at the Farnborough Air Show to publicise this new model of executive service. Airline stewards and stewardesses are nowadays more commonly referred to as cabin crew or flight attendants. They stand close together with broad grins showing their varied ethnicity. Middle-Eastern airlines generally recruit men and women from western Europe, Asia, Australasia and the Indian sub-continent dependent on routes and aircraft type. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903..
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  • A cargo handler operates a loader to place freight containers into the hold of a Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A340 at Male.
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  • After their flight from Italy where they have been performing a series of summer concerts, some young musicians stop to await instructions from their accompanying teacher at Oakham School, England. Amid the hectic concourse of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5, a cellist has removed her precious string instrument to inspect it for damage after its shipment in the hold of a British Airways flight. As their friends look on, a fellow-player helps re-wrap the cello in a pink towel before the whole group re-assemble again to begin their evening journey home. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport530-14-07-2009.jpg
  • Stranded passenger awaits next flight in the morning from near-empty departures concourse at Heathrow's terminal 5.
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  • In the darkness of a taxiway at the southern end of Heathrow Airport, the bright lights of an engineering hangar spill out into the night. A Boeing 747 Jumbo jet sits nose-in behind another during a scheduled set of maintenance tasks that every aircraft needs to keep to in order for its continued airworthiness. The unmistakable shape of this large aircraft is a half-silhouette against the intensity of the hangar and blue flare spots that arise from the internal glass in the camera's lens. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). .
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  • Airliner and jet engines in mid-day heat of arid Sonoran Desert at Mojave airport facility, awaiting recycling for scrap value.
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  • A Royal Mail lorry speeds up the darkening M1 motorway loaded with parcels and letters.
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  • The A30 highway runs deep into the South-West of England - from Exeter in the county of Devon to Penzance in the narrow peninsular of Cornwall. On certain dates in the calendar routes like this, near the Cornish town of Bodmin, England, come to a standstill from the huge volume of cars and private vehicles, all heading down to costal resorts and better weather. We see here a huge tailback of traffic that is queueing along one side of the British dual-carriageway (two lanes in each direction) from close-up  to the distance down and up a natural hill in this undulating landscape. The cars have edged forward are nose to tail for hours in summer heatwave and tempers fray, children arguing in the back and an otherwise relaxed holiday mood suddenly goes bad.
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  • As the late light turns into twilight blue, the warm orange glow of two caravan campers can be seen through both the front and rear windows of their caravan at the Trewethett Farm Caravan Club Site, Tintagel, Cornwall.  The wife watches TV at the back while the husband reads his newspaper shows the small world that caravanners enclose themselves in when on a camping holiday. Caravanning is one the favourite leisure pastimes in Britain, its association, the elite Caravan Club, was founded in 1907 and now represents nearly 1 million members (caravanners, motor caravanners and trailer tenters) and has an  annual turnover of £86 million. On the open road, the caravan is as ridiculed and despised for its slowness and the width it occupies on narrow country lanes.
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  • London bus passengers endure the misery of another morning commute into the city unaware of Narnia movie poster.
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  • Largely American passengers re-join their cruise holiday voyage around the Gulf of Mexico during a day's stop-over in Cancun, Mexico. Reflected in the puddles of recent seasonal rain, they queue up on the port's quayside to have their identity passes checked before being allowed back on board the Fun Ship Ecstasy. Seen above them and in reflected in the water at their feet are some of the many windows and portholes of this enormous vessel belonging to the Vegas-style Carnival Cruise lines company. The Panamanian-registered MS Ecstasy is a 70,367 ton cruise ship carrying 2,052 passengers and 920 crew whose routes are mainly around the Gulf and Carribean Sea.
    carnival_cruises03-15-12-2007 .jpg
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