I've decided to finally write something about my time at university. Although, what I'm going to write about didn't exactly happen on campus. Last week all of the first year documentary photography students went to a place called Gregynog. You've most likely never heard of the place. It's in the middle of Wales. In the middle of nowhere. The trip was meant to force us to bond with the other students and the lecturers since there's no one else around. Apart from some strange occupational therapy people at the end of our stay...

I have to say that the high point of the trip weren't the lectures or the drinking or the insane amount of cheese people brought (we should've opened the blue cheese). Instead, it was talking to David Hurn in the bar in the basement of the house. It's interesting how I went from thinking of him as this great figure that I couldn't possible have anything in common with to thinking of him as human in, I don't know, less than a minute? The idea of being able to connect with a Magnum photographer on what I perceived as a high level was amazing, inspiring and enlightening.

The conversation I had with Hurn and two other girls dealt mainly with the idea of photographing conflict and how if affects the photographer. Being able to get told first hand what it's like made me think differently about what I perhaps would like to do as a photographer in the future. I do feel that in order to know that you don't like something you have to experience it once, but I know that it's not a tragedy if I hate it.

In other news, I just came back from town and took photographs in a store that's celebrating its 200th birthday this year. Also photographed a street musician. I've got to go and develop the film now. Once I find a scanner I will upload some of the photographs I've taken.