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| Duchess of Cambridge continues royal enthusiasm for photography | Duchess of Cambridge continues royal enthusiasm for photography |
| (5 months later) | |
| She isn't a Tony Armstrong-Jones, but the Duchess of Cambridge is following some illustrious forebears in being a photo enthusiast. Royal interest in photography goes all the way back to the Royal Photographic Society founding patron, Prince Albert. Lord Snowdon's celebrated portraits have continued the trend. The Queen, too, has wielded a nice little Leica in her time. Looking at the duchess's pictures, a couple of things stand out: the use of black and white and the lack of people. | She isn't a Tony Armstrong-Jones, but the Duchess of Cambridge is following some illustrious forebears in being a photo enthusiast. Royal interest in photography goes all the way back to the Royal Photographic Society founding patron, Prince Albert. Lord Snowdon's celebrated portraits have continued the trend. The Queen, too, has wielded a nice little Leica in her time. Looking at the duchess's pictures, a couple of things stand out: the use of black and white and the lack of people. |
| Using black and white is a cool thing to do; the images look a bit more serious than the average holiday snap, even if the content is no better. It works well with the strong shapes of the tropical trees, and shooting the sunlight breaking through the trunks and creepers has been the making of the photograph. | Using black and white is a cool thing to do; the images look a bit more serious than the average holiday snap, even if the content is no better. It works well with the strong shapes of the tropical trees, and shooting the sunlight breaking through the trunks and creepers has been the making of the photograph. |
| Kate should have stuck with the monotone in the other pictures. It would have made a more cogent folio and the blue haze in the colour image, although pleasant enough, isn't as strong as the black and white. The colour photos would have benefited from more contrast, especially the palm oil plants, which is a good, slightly abstract, "pattern" picture. | Kate should have stuck with the monotone in the other pictures. It would have made a more cogent folio and the blue haze in the colour image, although pleasant enough, isn't as strong as the black and white. The colour photos would have benefited from more contrast, especially the palm oil plants, which is a good, slightly abstract, "pattern" picture. |
| But the thing that these pictures sorely lack are people. A landscape photograph has to be pretty exceptional (an Ansel Adams?) not to need the scale and interest a human figure gives. Anyone who has sat through a slide show of family travel snaps will know that the only pictures that really engage – among all those seascapes, old ruins and sunsets – are the ones with people, even if they are gurning at the camera and burnt red by too much holiday sun. | But the thing that these pictures sorely lack are people. A landscape photograph has to be pretty exceptional (an Ansel Adams?) not to need the scale and interest a human figure gives. Anyone who has sat through a slide show of family travel snaps will know that the only pictures that really engage – among all those seascapes, old ruins and sunsets – are the ones with people, even if they are gurning at the camera and burnt red by too much holiday sun. |
| Anyone would pose for the duchess; she should use that advantage in future. And like Adams, stick to black and white. | Anyone would pose for the duchess; she should use that advantage in future. And like Adams, stick to black and white. |
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