Beauty Found In Everything From Killer Bears To Bins

Londonist Rating: ★★★★☆

As soon as we saw the polar bear with the bloodied face — capturing both the power and beauty of this majestic predator — we knew Travel Photographer of the Year had won us over.  

Other highlights of the Royal Geographical Society's annual exhibition include a motorcyclist riding through a plague of locusts, and daredevil honey extractors toiling in the Himalayan Foothills. Culture and religion are also on show; we particularly admired the composition of a man reading a bible, with the light filtering through a cruciform hole in the wall.

And although there are plenty of sweeping landscapes and vivid characters, beauty is also found in the mundane; one young photographer has a great eye for colour composition, capturing a visually striking image of a purple dustbin against a bright red wall.

This isn't a perfect exhibition. Images of local customs have great stories to tell, but aren't always as arresting as other categories. And on a practical note, we would have liked some of the images to be larger. Minor nitpicking aside, we enjoyed this incredibly diverse display — another great year for this annual extravaganza.

Travel Photographer of the Year is on at The Royal Geographical Society, Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR until 5 September. Entrance is free.

Nearby at the Natural History Museum there are corals, butterflies and wildlife photography. The Science Museum has exhibitions looking at revelations in photography, Churchill's scientists and a new information age gallery. Plus the V&A features photography with facing history and the historical photographs of Linnaeus Tripe, plus a look at shoes and an exhibition asking what is luxury?.