Andean Explorer ─ Colin Dodgson

A photobook reflecting on travel through film, darkroom practice and an attentiveness to both landscape and humble everyday forms.

Andean Explorer is a photobook by American photographer Colin Dodgson. Invited by Belmond, Dodgson travelled aboard the Andean Explorer, the luxury train that crosses the Peruvian Andes, and developed this body of work during the journey from Cusco to Arequipa. Alongside expansive views of the landscape, he photographed more modest and incidental details, carefully conveying the atmosphere of the trip. Locations such as Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon and the market at La Raya also appear in the book.

Working with film and printing the photographs himself in the darkroom, Dodgson gives the images a warm, delicate light and a tonal atmosphere reminiscent of dusk. Influenced as much by painting as by photography, his attention is directed not only toward the monumental landscape but also toward rough potatoes grown at 4,200 metres, stones, plastic bottles and strange objects found at markets along the railway. What emerges is not a simple record of travel, but a personal attempt to grasp its essence and fleeting impressions—an approach that resonates strongly with Belmond’s series of artist books.

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Title: Andean Explorer
Artist: Colin Dodgson
Publisher: RVB Books, 2025
Format: Hard linen cover
Size: 168 × 240 mm
Pages: 96
Language: English
Edition: First edition
ISBN: 978-2-492175-58-9