Belmond returns to photo London as presenting partner with solo exhibition by Colin Dodgson

APRIL 2025 - Belmond proudly announces its return to Photo London (15-18 May 2025) as Presenting Partner for the third consecutive year, exhibiting a solo exhibition by Colin Dodgson. Entitled, ‘I Lost my Train of Thought’, this newly commissioned series offers a visual odyssey of the epic high Andes, as captured from aboard the Andean Explorer, A Belmond Train, Peru - the only luxury sleeper train in South America and one of the highest-altitude train journeys in the world. It was from this elevated everchanging vantage point that photographer Colin Dodgson embarked in a four-day journey to convey the unique majesty of Peru.

Dodgson’s Peru series is part of Belmond Legends, which pairs internationally-renowned photographers with legendary Belmond properties, joining notable artists such as Chris Rhodes, Coco Capitán, Rosie Marks and François Halard. His epic journey will also be encapsulated in an art book as part of Belmond’s ‘As Seen By’ collection, published by esteemed Parisian art house, RVB Books and distributed internationally.

Belmond further reaffirms its commitment to contemporary travel photography with a platform dedicated to emerging talent : the Belmond Photographic Residency, now in its second year, will open for 2025 submissions on the first day of Photo London.

‘I LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT’: A POETIC ODYSSEY

Aboard the Andean Explorer, Dodgson’s lyrical photographs of the four-day journey - from Cusco to Arequipa, with stops at Lake Titicaca, the floating island of Uro, the Colca Canyon and the market at La Raya - reveal a palpable sensitivity to the particular rhythms and atmospheres of a given place and capture intimate moments onboard. Hand-printed by the artist, they are imbued with a warm, luminous glow, a muted and distinctive palette that often evokes the last moments of daylight.

Colin Dodgson is an American photographer whose work intertwines fine art and commercial commissions, distinguished by his adept use of analogue methodologies and natural light. Favouring spontaneity and imperfection, he conjures a painterly, oneiric quality through the alchemy of traditional darkroom printing techniques. His images exude both curiosity and wry humour, often unearthing subtle absurdities through diverse firsthand encounters.

“From about the age of 12 to 20, all I thought about was surfing,” says Dodgson, who grew up in Southern California. A practice subject to the vagaries of currents, waves and wind, it instilled in him a sense of patience and openness that is evident in his photographic approach to the Andean Explorer.

“When I take pictures, I collect things”, he explains, listing objects ranging from a plastic bottle to a rock to a pouch filled with liquid used to sell drinks on the side of the road. “I want to possess them and engage with them.” His fascination with the mundane and sometimes absurd is also evident in images of a pop-up market on the railway tracks, which he describes as “an anthropological study. There was everything: an orange, shampoo, a dishwasher, a car engine, a door, baby stuff... magical.” Just like his photographs, born of intuition and chance.

Dodgson recalls his fascination with the Dutch Golden Age where still life dominated the art scene with food and plants playing as protagonist to painters who documented the Dutch Republic’s status as a preeminent trading centre, renowned for its global sourcing of exotic goods. Dodgson replicates this sentiment through his Andean photography, making use of a variety of indigenous gnarled potatoes, a recurring central figure in his photographs as he came to learn that potatoes originated in Peru, grown at altitudes of up to 4,200 metres.

For his solo show at Photo London, Dodgson has interspersed imagery taken aboard the Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train, Malaysia, drawing parallels and contrasts between train journeys around the world.

Belmond’s collection of trains spans three continents and invites guests to discover a new pace of travel, immersing themselves in the spirit of Slow Luxury.

BELMOND PHOTOGRAPHIC RESIDENCY

Submissions for the 2025 Belmond Photographic Residency will open on the first day of Photo London (15 May 2025) via residency.belmond.com. The Residency is open to all nationalities and ages, with the requirement that the talent is not yet or has not been represented by an agent or gallery. The new jury, yet to be announced, will focus on supporting future perspectives of travel photography and visionary artistic talent.

In December 2024, Belmond proudly announced the inaugural winner of the first Belmond Photographic Residency: Cecy Young. From over 800 applications, a shortlist of 18 talented photographers from 10 countries were reviewed by Belmond’s distinguished jury, comprised of esteemed figures in the photography and arts community to include: Simon Baker (Director of Maison Européenne de la Photographie), Carla Sozzani (Gallerist and Founder of Fondazione Sozzani), Coco Capitán (Photographer), Antwaun Sargent (Writer and Curator), Ekow Eshun (Writer and Curator), Matthieu Charon (Co-Founder of RVB Books), and Arnaud Champenois (Senior Vice President of Global Brand, Belmond).

This new initiative underscores Belmond's dedication to contemporary travel photography, providing a platform for emerging talent while showcasing their groundbreaking work. As a cornerstone of Belmond's annual cultural calendar, the initiative includes a €15,000 financial award, the publication of a new book with RVB, and an exhibition for each year’s selected artist. The Residency honours photographers whose creative vision offers a fresh perspective on travel photography, coupled with a distinctive artistic voice.

INFORMATION

EXHIBITION – Belmond and Colin Dodgson will be presenting ‘I Lost my Train of Thought’ at Somerset House during Photo London, from 15th to 18th May 2025. See here for more information.

BOOK – Published by RVB Books, the collectible art book of the same work will be distributed worldwide and online from 15th May 2025.

BELMOND PHOTOGRAPHIC RESIDENCY – Submissions open from 15th May via Belmond Photographic Residency.

ABOUT COLIN DODGSON AND TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY

Highly sought after by magazines and fashion houses from Vogue to Dazed, from Vivienne Westwood to Gucci for his gentle, dreamy approach, Dodgson often travels to such exotic destinations, as in two books created in collaboration with the World Land Trust, Deeper Green (2019), about the rainforests of Belize and 100% Ciento por Ciento (2023), shot in wildlife reserves in southern Argentina, both of which show the delicate details of conservation work that can go unseen. He refers to such trips as “residencies” to avoid making a distinction between commercial work and what he produces for himself: “When I travel, I try to expand my visual language. I never want to get to the point where I’ve exhausted a subject. I want to keep seeing, to keep learning. I don’t want to be redundant, as in typical travel photography, but to take the ingredients and make something new out of them.”

ABOUT ANDEAN EXPLORER, A BELMOND TRAIN, PERU

The Andean Explorer, A Belmond Train, Peru is South America’s first luxury sleeper train, with overnight journeys across the Andean plains between the ancient Incan capital Cusco and UNESCO World Heritage site Arequipa. The 35-room train hosts 9 bunk bed cabins, 17 twin bed cabins, and 9 suite cabins – all with their own en-suite bathroom. Guests can head to one of the two dining cars for world-class feasting followed by evening cocktails in the lounge car or the Observation Car, to watch as the train swirls through the world’s deepest canyons. Located in the Picaflor carriage, which means 'hummingbird', the Andean Explorer’s sumptuous Spa Car offers treatments using botanical blends, direct from nature. Excursions include sunrise at one of the world’s highest altitudes overlooking Lake Titicaca, stargazing over a campfire, visiting the indigenous people of the floating Uros islands, and gazing at the prehistoric Sumbay caves.