Comments on: Taking photographs: the difference between New York and Glasgow

By: Nikon or Canon

Nikon or Canon — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:42:08 +0000

[...] It is embarrassing to think that everything I have done has been with a point-and-shoot or a borrowed medium-format camera. I know, I know, the camera is not important, it is what you do with it, but I feel ready to take [...]

By: Laura Gonzalez

Laura Gonzalez — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 02:24:33 +0000

Your mention of English dress codes completely sold the book to me, as this is a mystery I have been wondering about for a while. Spanish men tend to cross dress only if there are guarantees that it will get them into a bar!

Your distinction between fear and privacy is absolutely fair and your succinct analysis goes deeper into the causes of what I experienced wandering around Glasgow with a camera. But if you look at it again and ask why that vehement defense of privacy, we might be coming up with the F-word again: fear of the other, fear of the neighbour. This is something that many nations experience today (including Spanish and Americans). I think, however, this fear of the other is visibly manifest in English culture, particularly through a relationship to “things”, stuff. In that way, it has possibly become more socio-cultural and less internalized (which could be pathological, as certain American attitudes demonstrate). I mean, I learned the concept of “drawing the curtains” 10 years ago, when I moved to the UK…

By: Mike Press

Mike Press — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:51:02 +0000

Interesting difference. I’ve noticed the same too. But you use the F-word to explain it – “fear”. I’m not sure that I agree. It’s more the P-word – “privacy”. Right now I’m reading “Watching the English” by Kate Fox – a highly readable account of anthropologicial research into English national characteristics (I know, it’s Glasgow and they’re not English, but stick with me on this for a bit). I was actually recommended this book by a member of our security services to help with the research I’m doing on design and counter-terror. She argues – and provides a whole range of examples – that “it is impossible to overstate the importance of privacy in English culture”. Most of the English rituals – greeting, conversation, flirting, queueing, pub behaviour, shopping, etc – are shaped by the overwhelming need for privacy. Indeed so is building design. In my experience (and I may regret saying this on a website) this need for privacy is more acute north of the border. Kate Fox also points out that this privacy thing leads to behaviours which quite understandably drive Americans and Southern Europeans totally nuts with exasperation. Interesting chapter on dress codes – nothing specific on shoes – but interesting observations on why the English like fancy dress, and why straight English men cross dress at the drop of a hat.