Sunday 30 August 2009

About public transport in the UK (9) [Despre transportul în comun în UK]

I don’t think there’s any train station in the UK (or any train station in the world!) where a photoholic like me wouldn’t be tempted to take some pictures.

Far from being a passionate trainspotter, I simply can’t help finding things worth being photographed (and subsequently shared to the world, as I am doing on this blog) in such places. Stations are true goldmines for photoholics!

Out of my initial 6,800 photos in the UK (2008) – to which I could add another 700-800 (2009) – at least some couple of hundred pics (more maybe?!) were taken in or around trains stations...

...or while I was on a train, and therefore more than once annoying people. It’s somehow risky, but as a foreigner you can always afford to be a bit rude, and not bother for being deemed a weirdo.

Does anyone want to make a truly broad image of the Brits (or any other nation for that matter)? Well, go and watch them commuting, eavesdrop on their conversations, take a glimpse at what they are reading, smell their lunch, and scrutinize their clothes!

There’s no better research tool for this type of cultural studies than gazing around at people in train and bus stations, public toilets (not through holes in walls in this case!), caught in traffic as pedestrians or motorists, shopping in supermarkets etc.

But in today’s Orwellian Britan, obsessed with security and the threat of terrorism, it seems that what my photoholic habits could have gotten me an ‘interview’ with the police.

Click here to see what happened to a guy who loved taking pictures in the wrong places. Today’s Britain is gettig a less and less friendly place for photoholics :-(

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

2 comments:

Theodora said...

Good work, pal!
Go ahead with shooting them and you'll be our hero!

Anonymous said...

ooops! I took many photos in different country (trains, trams, carriages, etc).
I never thought it could be interpreted so, but were simply beautiful or interesting images...
C.L.