The changing season

Same landscape, never the same. My daily commute by bicycle documented using a phone camera between 2016-2017 in Cambridge, UK.

The river Cam in Cambridge in December, partly frozen and seen from a bridge

When in July 2016 I started a new job, I switched from working from home to going to the office. My commute started from north-est, near Fen Ditton, and ended at the Science Park.

Every day I enthusiastically picked up my bicyle and pedalled through the beautiful Ditton Meadows and Stoubridge Common, crossed the river Cam at the Green Dragon Bridge and reached the Science Park via Green End Road. It was before the Cambridge North Station was built, making my journey shorter and safer along the Guided Busway extension.

The project

I decided to take at least a picture a day in a bid to appreciate my surroundings. Although the idea was to do it for a year, I managed to shoot for nine months. In the middle of the project I found myself in a photography rut: I was tired of the same scenery, or simply too in a rush to stop the commute. The following is a selection of the pictures organised by month.

July

August

Cows are a big feature in this commute. They’re peaceful and pretty much still but would sometimes stand on the path. As their size can be intimidating, I tried to leave them alone. That sometimes meant dismounting and walking on the grass.

September

October

Everything went from beautiful to stunning. I will be forever thankful to the woman in the yellow jacket for her good taste and perfect timing.

November

At this point I started to use the bus often, which was cumbersome. I took the citi 3 to the city centre, then the citi 2 toward the Science Park. A cummute that took no less than 45 minutes. At the end of month, the first frost appeared.

December

On the morning of 5 December I slipped on black ice in Green End Road. A kind woman stopped her car to help me get up from the curb and beneath my bicycle. I hurt my hands and left knee. During the following months I bought a lighter bicycle, but it took me a few months to gain the confidence to cycle again.

March

May

June

Conclusions

Putting aside a few difficulties encountered with this project, I happily completed it. Now I have a visual record of the period where I felt as closed to nature as I was during my childhood. I loved cycling, even when it rained — a bit less when it was freezing — and combining it with photography has been a lifeline during challenging times.

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Filed under  PROJECTS
Tags  PHOTOGRAPHYSTORYTELLINGCAMBRIDGEUKNATURE

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