Phones with cameras have changed so much

I remember a few years ago, a friend of mine was really distressed when she was told off inside the Royal Opera House auditorium for having her mobile phone out to look at something. It was half an hour before the opera began and she wasn’t making a call or taking a photo.

Yesterday, at the Sergei Polunin “Rasputin” at the Palladium, before the performance, ushers stood facing the audience with placards telling them NO PHOTOGRAPHY and SWITCH OFF YOUR CAMERA PHONES. That’s all they did. People continued to use their phones but they said nothing, and did nothing.

Sergei was stunning and received a standing ovation, but the sound of the applause was more muted than the large audience would have suggested. That was because more than two thirds of them were filming with their phones and you can’t clap at the same time.

I went over to Tate Britain this morning and thoroughly enjoyed the Van Gogh Exhibition. (It’s worth having the audio guide).

Apart from a few items, photography without flash was allowed, and the scene in my blip is more typical than people just looking at the paintings.

It’s odd. If you’re that keen you could buy a print or a postcard.

I confess to taking photos of explanations by the side. It saves taking notes. But I don’t want my personal photo of Sunflowers or Starry Night. I just want to enjoy them.