Art on campus. Princeton Univ. April, 2015 By Paul Goldfinger © Click to enlarge
Friends meet inside Nassau Gate. By Paul Goldfinger © 2015 Click to enlarge
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Sometimes we get requests to use one of our photographs for some purpose. The usual protocol is to ask the photographer for permission to use an image which they found, often on the Internet. They also are asked to attribute the image by placing my name with the photograph or as a footnote. A few years ago my shot of the Eiffel Tower was used in an ad throughout Europe.
But I got some extra pleasure recently when a Princeton freshman contacted me. In a letter immaculately written, he said that he was working on a paper about the relationship of the University to slavery. I didn’t know that we had slaves in New Jersey or exactly what relationship he would write about, but he asked to use a black and white image* of mine taken on campus of Nassau Hall (1756). He wanted the photograph to headline his paper, and just to be sure I understood which image he was interested in, he attached the photo to his email.
Of course I said OK. This is one way to get into Princeton without even submitting one’s SAT scores. I hope we get an A.
Nassau Hall © by Paul Goldfinger. *
NATASHA PATAMAPONGS with a song for our freshman friend who, as a first year, is still a bit green. But it sounds like he is making a grand first impression.