My parents gave me my first 35mm camera for my 14th birthday in 1959. It was an Agfa Silette Vario with an F2.8 lens which cost about £10 and took great pictures. Colour film was very expensive in those days. It was very slow too – 10 ASA originally, but the 25 ASA Kodachrome 2 came out in the early sixties. The improved technology meant that the images deteriorated far less over time than most other colour films, hence their good condition.

Most of the architectural shots were taken in the summer term just before I left in June 1964. I was on the science side and was lucky enough to get a scholarship to Oxford at Christmas, but then had to stay on another two terms to get the second language O level that the matriculation requirements demanded. That done, I brought in my camera on a particularly lovely day and wandered around photographing the buildings as a keepsake!

Alan Shepherd (OE1956-64)