Sunday

Sunday. An image from the early 1970s taken with the new 28mm f/3.5 Nikkor lens that I'd bought for the Nikkormat FTn. It was very exciting – I'd never been able to achieve that dramatic perspective before. And it was sharp: in a moment of madness a couple of years later I blew up the Ilford FP4 frame to make a 30" x 20" print, and some telephone wires above the buildings in the background are quite acceptably sharp at that size.

The only thing that annoyed me about the lens, despite it being my favourite focal length, and very well used, was the long turn from infinity to closest focus, which made focussing quite difficult. I seem to remember it was more than 180 degrees. Much later I exchanged the lens for the f/2.8, which I still have, and which focusses closer, with a 90 degree turn, is half a stop brighter, and seems to be even sharper!

I was pleased with the picture, and still like it a lot. It was taken early one Sunday morning, straight into the sun. Those lovely old cobbles, with the iron strip down the middle, fill two-thirds of the image, yet without the man in the distance it would be nothing.

The subject is a small bridge over the River Lea Navigation, at the end of Bull Plain in Hertford for those who know the town. Visiting recently [2007] I was horrified to see that the local council has vandalised the ancient cobblestones by painting double yellow lines on both sides of the narrow road. I cannot think that even the stupidest driver would think about parking on the bridge, which would completely block the road.

• 1974 Essex International Salon of Photography: Highly Commended

• 1975 Annual Exhibition of the Pictorial Group of the RPS

• 1976 East Anglian Federation (EAF) Exhibition

• 1976 Selected to represent the EAF in the PAGB Competitions, and accepted

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