Photographer Granted Rare Access to Cambridge’s May Balls for 40 Years
A photographer has been granted unique access to Cambridge University’s famed May Balls for more than 40 years, and has documented this hidden world of late-night revelry in a new photography book.
Cambridge Balls is the new book by society photographer Dafydd Jones (published by ACC Art Books). Cambridge University’s colleges in the U.K. are not only known for academic success and well-known alumni, they are also famous for their annual May Balls, which are all-night events held at the end of the academic year.
Since 1981, Jones, who is known for his black-and-white photographs of British high society, has been granted access to these events. Over time, the photographer has built a visual record of more than 40 years of Cambridge May Balls, now published in Cambridge Balls.
The book shows a range of moments from across the decades. These include former British Prime Minister David Cameron in his Bullingdon attire (the Bullingdon Club is private all-male dining club for Oxford University students), rowing teams celebrating after races, and guests arriving by punt. Jones’ photographs also reveal how Cambridge’s May Ball events have changed over time, including more international student groups taking part in recent years.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Jones described his images as “an anthropological study of Cambridge celebrations.”
Jones says he first became interested in elite college social life while growing up in Oxford and photographing Oxford dining clubs. In 1981, he went to Cambridge with a small Olympus camera and black-and-white film to document May Week for the first time, despite not knowing anyone there. He arrived without accommodation, photographed gatecrashers at Trinity College, and later found a place to stay through another photographer.
Jones tells the Financial Times that he thinks people love the images because they capture a unique, emotional moment of celebration and transition at the end of university life.
“It’s a great subject,” Jones says. “At their final balls, not only were the partygoers celebrating the end of their exams, the balls were milestones in their lives, which would never be the same again. Some of the pictures are beautiful moments that are funny and eccentric too.”
“If anyone doesn’t want to be photographed, I leave them alone,” Jones adds. “No one has ever complained about any of the Oxbridge pictures. Some people have been disappointed not to be included.”
Cambridge Balls by Dafydd Jones is published by ACC Art Books and can be purchased here.
