I went to Cambridge yesterday, primarily to hand over my old 5D to its new owner, but also to take some photos with the new Mark II while allowing my friend to try out his new toy at the same time. The vibrant colours of the market were a good source of photos, but we were both rather disappointed by the attitude of the university staff. Whilst I was framing a photo (hand-held, I should add) outside Kings College Chapel, I was told we weren’t allowed to use tripods on the university grounds. I pointed out I wasn’t using the tripod, but as it was standing next to me, that counted as ‘using’ it apparently. When I asked why not, all we got was ‘it’s the rules’.

Something similar has happened to me before, next to the London Eye, where I concede that using a tripod could be construed as an obstruction given how busy it is there, but as we were pretty much the only people outside the chapel I can’t for the life of me understand why such a restriction would be in place. Of course we both left the grounds immediately, pondering the increasingly suspicious attitude of people towards photographers in general.

Anyway if you want to see the pictures I did manage to take, with or without a tripod, look no further.