My reason for being in Cambridge is two-fold. Firstly, I am here to photograph this beautiful university. Secondly, I am here to work with Saffron, a model from this area. In all honesty, she is my primary reason for being here. She contacted me a week or so ago and told me that she liked my work and wondered whether I would be interested in coming down and working with her. I did and it is for that reason that I find myself here today. But Cambridge is one of my favourite cities in England and I decided that I would come here a day early and spend a couple of mornings out and about photographing the empty university, whilst I pass the time waiting to work with Saffron. I found myself trudging the lonely streets at a little after 4am this morning, circling the university looking for a gate which wasn't padlocked or a viewpoint that wasn't obstructed. It seemed that The Avenue Bridge was my only opportunity and as I set up my equipment, the most beautiful red sky began its birth to the left, behind Kings College. I knew it wouldn't be around long and I managed to fire off a handful of shots before the morning light watered it down. With these shots in the bank, I continued to walk around Cambridge, unnerved at just how peaceful the streets were and also how much of the city was off limits. As I circled Johns, Clare and Kings Colleges, I eventually noticed one of the porters placing some cones out in front of one of the gates. I spoke to him for a moment and asked him how, if at all, it was possible to get any shots of the courtyards of any of the colleges. He looked left, looked right and then deliberately warned me that we were on CCTV. He turned his head away from the spying camera and told me that he would sneak me in. Inside, I set up my tripod as quickly as I could, knowing that I wouldn't have long before I would have to leave. As I fired off a few shots, I asked him why tripods were banned inside every college. He told me that it was because it could be used as a weapon. I am guessing that by the same token the disabled people will soon be banned, as their walking sticks could be used for a full on assault. He knew as well as I did that the reason they are banned is that professional photographers use them and the university do not want to water down the immense profit they make by selling their image rights. As with everything, it always comes down to money. So I left the porter and made my way back onto the empty streets, spending about another hour looking for some great compositions before I headed home. My morning visit to Cambridge left me with a feeling of how I wished I had also gone to university when I was young, and hadn't left it quite so late in life. The peace, the protection, the freedom you must have behind those thick stone walls must be everything a young scholar needs.
Holy Trinity
