The last 3 visits to this wonderful city have been amazing for my street photography, it has been like shooting in a new city, it has just felt fresh. I had one day that went as wrong as any day can go wrong, as I talked about in one of my last blogs, even though the day went wrong I still had fun.
The 3 days I'm talking about here have all had to be shortened, I’ve just not been feeling great and my health has started to take a turn for the worst again. So to help with this I've started to take steps to help me coup with all the walking I do, stopping for coffee each time I start feeling a bit crap is one of the things I do, of course I make sure I sit by a window so that I can carry on shooting, all the steps I have put into place have helped. I'm not going to let my health stop me from doing my one and only passion in life.
The first of the 3 days was like shooting fish in a barrel, I just couldn't miss, I was on fire. It was a Tuesday, unlike most cities Cambridge is very different in that it doesn’t matter which day of the week you visit it is always busy. It is a very diverse city most of the people you find on the streets midweek will be tourists and of course students. Now mix this up with warm sunny weather and the city is packed a specially on Kings Parade and in the market. However, get a cold dark wet day and the city is deserted, which allows for very different looking street photos.
I ended up spending most of my time in Cambridge market, when the light is good (which it has been) the market is the perfect place to get some interesting photos,
using the colors of the veg, market stalls, etc against the harsh light and shadows. There is also a spot I’ve found where I can sit on the floor, this allows me to get some very interesting perspectives and produce some very different looking street photos. This spot does put me in the way of everyone and I get some funny looks.
The weather has also been on my side, unlike previous years the weather here in the UK has been warm and sunny, so the light has been perfect for street shooting.
The first day I ended up going home with just over 170 photos, I mean 170 photos, this has never happened to me before, like I said above I just couldn’t miss. After having such a successful day, I had to go back the next day. My second day wasn’t as successful as the previous one, but I still ended up with a good series of photos. I then had 2 days rest and I decided to head back up on Saturday, this was a mistake, within 30 minutes of arriving I had been sick twice and I just wasn’t feeling great, I felt dizzy and a bit lost, I’m happy to say even though I was feeling like crap I still had a very productive day and I’ve always said if you come away with one good photo, you’ve had a good day. I ended up with at least 5 from this day.
I always try to get myself in the right frame of mind before arriving in Cambridge and these past 3 days I’ve done this by watching the film everybody street while traveling there, well, I say watching, but I mostly just listen to the film, not only does the film and the film's soundtrack get me in the zone, but it also relaxes me, sometimes a little too much.
I spent a good portion of the three days by myself which is the way I prefer it, I did, however, meet up with Craig (sixstreetunder)and Matt (the13thsecond), both photographers inspire me and both treat street photography with the respect it deserves, we don’t get in each other’s way (at least I hope we don’t) and I treasure the time I spend with both.
