Her long dark hair splayed upwards and outwards. Just the hair, and it could be an advert. Her face turning away, scrunched up in pain. Not hairspray but pepper spray, aimed at the woman in a red dress protesting against the closure of a public park in the centre of Istanbul. The man with the king size aerosol, a Turkish police officer dressed head to toe in protective gear, shoots his stuff right at her. He has never been more intent; he will never look less intelligent.

In China a crowd with arms raised to acclaim the spectacular high tide on the Qinglang River (an annual event). Superstitious? In each and every instance their hands are joined above their heads, the better to hold camera phones. The all-important ritual of I-Was-There and This-Is-Me: characteristic customs of our age.