Daily photos no 73: Colleagues

Today is a bit odd, and sad. It shouldn't be: it's my 45th birthday, but the death this week of one of my students has cast rather a shadow and reminded me of how much my students and colleagues mean to me. So these are just a few of my current and recent colleagues, none of whom I've seen for months other than in glitchy Zoom format.

One's work ID card is normally a daily humiliation: forced to carry around a distorted, howling facsimile of yourself as drawn by your worst enemy and give officious bullies an opportunity to sagely note that time has not been kind to you. No trained photographers are involved in the production of these things: a technician is given the cheapest camera on the market, and stands you in the least flattering light for the 2 seconds required.

I avoid this horrendous scenario with a variety of ruses. The card stays in my wallet because I believe in open campuses and the right to wander unrecognised as long as you're not actually committing a heinous crime. I also provided a photograph of a certain slightly inadequate and pitiful sit-com character whose name was frequently shouted at me on the street - nobody said a word for 7 years.

Anyway, I took pity on my colleagues and did their mug-shots the last time we had a fresh issue of cards, despite not being a portraitist at all. They're a handsome bunch. Well, they're a striking bunch, and I think their personalities come across in this selection.