Peterborough Revisited: A Photographic Transformation

This may just be me, but if you grew up in a dull town and moved away as an adult, you try not to go back too often (sorry, Mum). But now and then, you do need to return.

The Reluctant Return

My hometown is Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK, a new town from the 1960s with concrete 60s and 70s shopping centres and offices dominating the town centre. The cost of living crisis and the death of the High Street has not been kind to Peterborough, with many empty shops and little to attract people to the town centre. When I am there, I rarely visit.

But this May, I found myself spending a month back home. My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary with a trip to Japan, so I ended up house and dog-sitting. So, Millie and I packed up from Gloucester and headed to Peterborough. There was one benefit to living in Peterborough: Millie’s commute to the office was halved. This meant driving into the town centre once a week to drop off and pick up Millie from the station.

The train from London to Peterborough arrives at 8:30 PM, usually a 15-minute drive for a quick pick-up and drive home. However, on this particular day, it was Peterborough United’s second leg of the League 1 playoffs at home, I expected the roads to be busy, and that 15-minute drive could turn out to be 30 or 40 minutes, which would be super annoying.

On the plus side, this day had clear blue skies and mid-20s temperatures, not a typical day. A perfect day for excited fans to gather in the city centre pre-match and enjoy the festivities. With the light starting to move into that perfect two-hour window around golden hour and wanting to beat the traffic, I grabbed my camera and headed to the station early.

The Unseen Beauty

There weren’t as many football fans as I expected, with London Road, Peterborough United’s Stadium sitting just outside the city centre, and it appeared fans had already headed in that direction. So, I decided to hunt out some subjects along Cowgate, a street with a few alfresco dining places.

Cowgate runs west to east into the heart of Peterborough Cathedral Square, a historic artery into the city. The street has existed since the 12th century and is lined with some of the city’s prettier buildings. With its orientation, the setting sun floods the whole street with a golden glow. And on this day, it was special, creating some stunning scenes. My favourite was a couple sat at the front of a pizza restaurant chatting with the chef. By perfect coincidence, their clothing matched the black and gold decor of the restaurant, and the lady’s blue linen shirt was a perfect complement to the chef’s blue check trousers. The golden light only added to this moment.

A couple chat to the chef after their pizza.

I continued my little stroll around the city, capturing all the things that caught my eye. With each shot, I started to notice more and more subjects and moments of beauty I previously ignored.

Looping back around into Cathedral Square, now flooded with the golden light of the setting sun, I noticed that the windows of the restaurants on the east side of the square lit up, reflecting the scene of the square back at me.

Wanting to experiment with some abstract reflections, I started to shoot at an angle to the windows, trying to capture some of the inside action overlaid with the scene of the square. The kitchen of Wagamama in Peterborough sits right next to the front window, with the seating area laid out in front, giving passers by a full view of the complete workings of the restaurant. The restaurant itself is also perfectly placed to catch the evening sun and, from certain angles, acts as a perfect mirror to reflect Cathedral Square.

Using these two elements, I snapped a few reflection shots and moved on as it was nearly time to get back to the station to meet Millie. These shots were just experiments, and I thought they might not work. But when I got home and opened up Lightroom to edit my photos, one of these shots of Wagamama really caught me by surprise, instantly becoming my favourite photo of the day. The different layers of the photo set Peterborough in a completely different light to my own biases. A vibrant and busy restaurant, warm and exciting, with the beautiful 17th-century architecture of the Guildhall reflected in the window.

A new found Vibrancy captured in the Window of Wagama’s

Through the Lens

It’s very interesting to me how having the intention to create photos completely changes how you view a place. When you want to capture the beauty, interest, and character of a place while shooting street photography, you spend your time searching out tiny details that you may otherwise miss. Suddenly, these details start to add up, and their sum makes the place more beautiful.

This definitely happened for Peterborough, a place I’ve known all my life, a place I avoided as dull, boring, and ugly. Suddenly, it came alive as I photographed it and changed my perception of my hometown.

If you’re like me and believe that the town you grew up in is dull, boring, or ugly, grab your camera and go for a walk. You might be surprised.