Where the river turns

‘I’m sharing this because this period marked a real turning point in my life. It changed how I see people, how I read situations, and how I approach my work.

In 2023, I came to the Arles Photo Festival for a few quiet days away from London, taking time to reset after a relationship that forced me to reassess a lot of things.

I spent a lot of time on the banks of the Rhône reflecting, journaling, gaining some distance and clarity.

Looking back, that process had already begun seven months earlier in Sri Lanka, during a short period away over Christmas. Through the people I met and the experiences that unfolded, something shifted. I found a renewed sense of energy to my photography.

To see a portrait I had taken there exhibited along that same riverbank in 2025 felt surreal, almost poetic. What had once been a place of rawness and reflection became part of the work itself.

It came later in life, but it was a defining lesson. It pushed me inward, and through my work, I found a way to make sense of it.

What followed was a deeper connection to what I do and to the people I have met along the way. Sometimes the hardest experiences shape the most meaningful work.’

Adam Docker