I decided to take some time out from the disassociated studio yesterday, and go for a wander around the nearby campus of the University of New South Wales.
It may have been cool outside, but the crystal clear blue sky was saying to me “good light, grab the camera!”
Despite being able to see UNSW from my lounge room windows, it has probably been two years since I was last there.
Yet I always get a buzz out of being there for some reason, it’s like a strange sort of home coming, and I experience a feeling deja vu, or nostalgia, that I can’t quite quantify.
I have trod the hallowed and historic halls of Oxford and Cambridge, yet never felt such a sensation there.
I didn’t study at UNSW, nor even work there, yet every time I set foot on the campus I feel as if I am returning to a place that was once an integral part of my past.
As I roam the extensive campus (UNSW even has its own postcode!), at times feeling like I’m Peter Lorre, striding the sets of some forgotten movie, I sometimes feel friends or acquaintances, long vanished from my life, will be there, waiting, when I walk around the next corner…
And yet there are one or two familiar faces in the crowds that form this microcosm within a microcosm, this place that is a city unto itself. But that’s no surprise.
After all, many UNSW students live in Randwick, and also work in the local cafes and supermarkets, places I go to daily.
Ponderously though, it is the people I’ve never seen before who sometimes nod at, or acknowledge me, like I am familiar, or somehow a part of this place, that intrigues me.
Back to the future, perhaps?
Update: more photos of the UNSW campus are on my Flickr page.
It is a relief to feel a part of a living breathing institution that you contributed to. I get the same feeling going back to my campus…
Ahhh my father’s family (Hughes) came from Wales. Your photos make us feel like we are standing right there.
Catherine, the redhead
I just got back from my 5-year college reunion – it was surreal. Revisiting ws a strange but refreshing experience to be sure. I felt a comraderie with the folks who were just graduating (and still around to ‘work’ for reunion weekend). I think that a place can create a commonality of experience, even with people you don’t know.
[...] of John Lampard, who’s based in Sydney, Australia. John has posted some photographs of the campus of the University of New South Wales. I realise it’s winter there, but we rarely get warm colours like those here in Scotland; [...]
Thanks for the thoughts everyone.
@Kurt – I’ve never been one for reunions… I hated school and have no desire to relive it. ;)
With the “rise” of MySpace, Friendster, and Facebook, et al, though reunions seem a little redundant… you can look old school mates up online and see what happened to them. Takes the suspense out of it all it does :)
[...] around the University of New South Wales with a post called Trypt by [...]