For Princess Charlotte’s first birthday last May, the Duchess of Cambridge released some new photos of Charlotte. When I say that Kate released the photos, I mean that Kate actually took the photos and the Kensington Palace press office released the images. It’s all part and parcel of the Cambridges’ media strategy, which is to limit their kids’ exposure to the royal press and general public, and to skip the “middleman” of the royal press. Will and Kate love to release professionally-taken (and not so-professionally-taken) portraits of themselves and their kids in lieu of actual photo-ops. And this week, that choice is being celebrated by the Royal Photographic Society. Kate is being made a “lifetime honorary member” of the Royal Photographic Society because, hey, she’s a published photographer now.
The Duchess of Cambridge is one of the world’s most photographed women, but her intimate portraits of her two children have proved that she is as adept behind the camera as she is in front of it. After all, she studied photography as part of her university degree at St Andrews, and took the unusual but welcome step of taking many of the official photographs of Prince George and Princess Charlotte herself.
Usually these pictures were taken at the family’s home of Amner Hall in Norfolk.
Now the duchess has been made a lifetime honorary member of the Royal Photographic Society in recognition of her skill with the camera and her dedication to the art of photography.
Chief executive of the society, Michael Pritchard, said, “The Duchess of Cambridge has had a long-standing interest in photography and its history.
“She is the latest in a long line of royal photographers and the society is pleased to recognise her talent and enthusiasm through honorary membership. We look forward to a continuing relationship with her.”
Yeah… okay. While Kate’s photos of her kids are pretty cute, I think calling her a talented and enthusiastic photographer is a bit of a stretch. When she was first married, she took photos during her trip to Borneo and those photos were later published… to little acclaim. I have no doubt that if Kate applied herself and took some time to learn more about the craft of photography, she would be a half-decent photographer. But it feels like she just half-asses it and takes boring photos of her kids and everybody bends over backwards to kiss her ass for her trouble. That being said, Kate definitely lacks the steady stream of honors that most royal women enjoy, so I suppose being made an “honorary member” of something is a nice enough recognition for Kate’s bare minimum efforts. Just as long as the Royal Photographic Society isn’t counting on Kate to actually show up to any events or anything!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet and the Duchess of Cambridge/Kensington Palace.
… while actually talented photographers struggle.
My class from our BA in Photojournalism is absolutely seething at the continued sycophancy re her photography ‘skills’, whilst we’re all doing our very best to break even.
She. Is. A. Mediocre. Snapper.
Why do people keep falling over themselves to commend her fuzzy pictures from Borneo?!
I’m guessing she and Brooklyn Beckham must’ve attended the same photography course *roll eyes*
The Borneo pics are lame and some of them are really bad, for example the orangutan photo.
Some of those Borneo shots look like they’ve been badly photoshopped. The pro photographer I the article basically says this, he says that some of them were originally in colour and then changed to black and white.
The one with the orangutan was horrible, you can’t really see it it’s so dark.
Yep, some of them are really badly photoshopped.
So agree with you Amelia it makes us sick at this level of ass licking tgese people do
het photos are below average … she has no skill with photos she is sa show off at best its like the tennis she is useless when playing but to hear themselves boasting their prowess on it sickening she cant even play properly
they are so pushy pretending they are champions at everything..
She’s a poor photographer with a very expensive camera that does all the work with focusing etc for her.
The composition of the Borneo photos isn’t great; my tutor at college would have been awfully rude about them…
I thought “how bad could these Borneo pictures really be? Expensive camera, beautiful scenery… I bet they’re kinda cool if amateurish.”
Answer: really really bad. Good Lawd! I have no photography training or general creative talent and I’m pretty certain I took better pictures when I was 10 playing around with my parents’ crappy camera!
My daughter went to the School of Visual Atrs in NYC and has a Bachelors in Photography. Trust me, Kate is not any kind of talented photographer, sheesh. She tooks some ok pics of her own kids.
Exactly.
Urge more Cambridge ass kissing. Waity is mediocre at anything she is ‘interested’ in so why should this be any different. I remember during the gf years she went round all the galleries trying to get them to exhibit her photography ‘work’ they all said no. She thinks she’s creative but nope.
A, sure we’ll see a lot more article likes this to gloss over the xmas trolling they did, esp when the Queen was so ill. It made them look so so bad.
Ha, I hadn’t heard that before. Its kind of shocking there wasn’t one gallery that would show her work. But those ‘waity’ years were long and many weren’t sure she’d walk down that aisle.
Agreed. Twit probably spent tens of thousands on a digital Hasselblad (if she can even use a camera of this caliber)on Prince Charles endless Coutts credit card, snapped some turgid shots, had her poor paid minions gush, and thought she was Peter Lindbergh. It’s highly irritating, laughable but she’s so arrogant and thick she probably thinks she’s brilliant.
Chasing William for ten years with her mother has really paid off. This Middleton woman receives awards etc. only for being William’s wife.
Yeah, but everyone knows she’s only getting any accolades because they’re being polite to the mother of the eventual heirs to the throne
Honorary member for couple ordinary photos of the kids and dozen horrible photos of a nature… It’s so ridicules, how they can’t see that? Oh, of course, she is duchess, not some secretary Mary Johnson.
It’s a PR stunt for the Society. Look at all of the free advertising they are getting.
+1
+1
Does the free advertising also say, “We have no standards whatsoever”. It means that ALL members are in the same company as the untalented Ms Middleton.
Well, I think it’s marvellous. Did you realise that she has kids? Once you take a moment to consider how stressful it is to be a mum with two kids, albeit with a nanny and a stay-at-home dad, you may appreciate a little more how much commitment, hard work and adversity Kate has had to surmount in order to take these photos. Such tenacity. I think it’s a miracle she managed to find the time to have kids at all, let alone take photos of them.
Gawd bless ‘er! I knows my place.
Yours sincerely, No-one Ever.
Well, being wealthy enough to have to hire a nanny to take care of one’s children means one just MUST hire a nanny and then relay everything the nanny does wrong to the world and then one might be judge for hiring a nanny and it is just so awful! At least, that is what I get from the Eva Amurri story.
I need a ‘like’ button for this comment 👍👍👍
In all fairness, it’s really hard to take a bad picture of a cute kid.
Esp when u have pro lighting going on. Am no professional photographer but u can see that Charlotte was lit i those shots. They have a studio vibe to them.
Yes, it’s pretty obvious that those photos were taken under optimal lighting conditions, in a very perfectly furnished/decorated setting. I can take beautiful photos of my kid in our crummy and poorly lit apartment, or at the local peasant park, so for Kate to claim some extra special skills for getting a good photo under great conditions is laughable. And, in my (non-professional, but as a mother) experience, it’s much easier for the mother to get a kid to give a smile or laugh for the camera than almost anyone else. My husband is a very talented amateur photographer, I just take a bunch of snaps with my phone. In general, his photos are much nicer than mine, but when it comes to photographing our baby, my photos are miles better–I think it’s a combination of baby being most comfortable with Mom, and also when the babies are very young, the mother will probably have the best sense of when they are about to look especially cute since the mother usually spends the most time with them.
I just don’t understand why some people worship Bill and Kate Middleton.
It’s not like you have to be good at photography or anything.
A lifetime membership for someone Katie Keen’s age costs £2,800. So they’ve basically bunged her a couple of grand.
That’s nice, times are tough at Buck House, must be down to their last few squillions.
More importantly, congrats to you Sixer on your epic drunk darts victory over Christmas.
Thank you! Last night, my nephew put me in my place. Stood in front of the dart board and nonchalantly threw treble 20, treble 19 and treble 18. Horrid child stole my thunder!
Apparently I need my eyes checked because I thought you won at drunk farting. I was going to congratulate you for being a competitive female participant. 🙂
It’s a bit like the RSA, anyone can become a fellow and have those letters after their name. I know a few pretentious twits who are RSA fellows and just love to drop it into a conversation. I used to go to their talks a lot but stopped after one painful Q&A sessions with a middle aged idiot who asked the most obvious questions all while trying to sound intelligent.
Exactly. Still, they got themselves headlines for a day or two for the measly outlay of £2,800. Which, presumably, is what they wanted.
@Sixer
Thanks for explaining what a Royal Phographic Society membership actually entails.
And even as a “keen” amateur photographer she was too passive and lazy to take the initiative to join the society years ago when she supposedly first developed the interest.
You’re welcome and exactly.
They haven’t given her any kind of award. As a member, you can be awarded various types of distinction of the letters after your name type. But you have to submit your work to one of their panels to get this.
Kate has simply been given a membership that anyone – including people who have never taken a photo in their lives – can also have provided they pay the membership subscription.
And got themselves some pretty good publicity out of it. Maybe a couple of paying members too?
I wonder how many members they will lose with such a stunt?
Sometimes I ask myself whether TQ realizes that the Cambridges could mean the end of the British monarchy or not.
Honestly I think she does.
Kitty, well at least she won’t be around to watch it cave!!!!
When will Miss Perfect receive her honorary doctorate degree?
She actually has a real one.
She doesn’t have a *doctorate* thought, does she? She went to university but nothing beyond that…?
She has a doctorate?! Forgive my incredulity, but in WHAT?
Wiki says: She was a boarder at Marlborough College, a co-educational independent boarding school in Wiltshire, and graduated in 2005 from the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, with an undergraduate MA (2:1 Hons) in the history of art.
She doesn’t have a doctorate (PhD). Any university giving that woman a doctorate would be a complete joke in academia. Kate has an undergraduate degree from St. Andrews. By all accounts (fellow students and even a lecturer) she copied from others and was thought to be plagiarising but could not be proved. She was too busy being a mattress at university.
Mommy gets honored because she has an outdated title, great.
It’s not an honour. She’s been gifted a purchasable membership of an organisation.
I’m a member of the National Trust. Cos I like going to heritage sites and am prepared to pay for it.
She’s a member of the Royal Photographic Society. Cos she likes to take photos and someone else was prepared to pay for it.
Next year she will receive a cookery award because she knows how to make Chutney.
Grand Poobah of the Royal Chutney Society!
He he….Is the poobah’s hat shaped like a jar?
Dolittle knows how to use a camera and push buttons. She’s a genius!
Well, she always was a fan of buttons. So, give her a fake prize to make her look so accomplished and talented. Pathetic how they bend over backwards to try and make her happen. Too bad we saw through all the BS long ago.
If only she were a fan of buttons where they could do some good…like turning dresses into rompers. Spare us Middlebum!
So this preposterous story was actually true?! Give me the biggest break ever.
She’s “published,” what – maybe ten total? Fewer? – mediocre photos over six years. I’ve seen better photos taken by friends with iPhones on Facebook for the love of God.
What a joke. The only reason why she has been given this honorary lifetime membership is because she is part of the royal family.
Wow, is there no end to Kate’s talents?!
You can enjoy photography and not be an ace at it. She obviously is an enthusiastic amateur, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. If she enjoys it, and (as Sixer — my new heroine — said) if someone wants to comp her a membership, that’s fine with me. And I think I’m the only one here who actually felt a bit sorry for her with all the comments about her photographs from SE Asia. It’s hard to put that stuff out there for public consumption, and even harder when it’s slagged, so my hat’s off to her for even thinking of putting her photographs out again. Even if it is photos of her kids.
You know, I’m in agreement. I do feel sorry for the amount of abuse she got for those photos. I got my degrees in photography, web and graphic design, so I understand how difficult it can be to put your work out. Sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. But if you love what you do, you stick with it. Because the process is often the reward. And honestly, if she is doing something creative that doesn’t involve her physical appearance, that’s a step in the right direction. There are many other things about Kate that bug me, but showing interest in photography isn’t one of them.
The photos are nothing special, some are even really bad (bad lightning,…).
It’s no wonder that Kate and William are so arrogant, lazy and work-shy when so many royal asskissers exist.
+ 1,000
If she really wants to impress us, she should take a picture of her husband working!
Yasss, I totally agree! I’ve missed the snarkiness of this site. It’s great too be back around like minded individuals. Here’s to 2017.
And learn to photoshop hair.
I wont begrudge her an honorary award. She has a hobby she enjoys. I’ve taken a professional photography course and its harder than aim and click. If having a “good eye” doesn’t come naturally you really need to practice and work to perfect your skills.
No wonder she is so thin. She does’t have time to eat, what with being a professional photographer, full-time mommy and all those engagements!
LOL! Where does she find the energy?
This actually made me laugh and I’m grateful to Waity for that. It’s stories like this that will help me get through the next 4 (or God forbid 8) years.
Why is the bar set to low for her?
Because that’s all that’s left.
Maybe she doesn’t do Royal engagements because she is working undercover as a professional photographer?? Lol.
Another meaningless award for being Royal just like all the medals and honorary degrees given to other royals. I wonder if they’ll give her a wee badge she can pin on for next year’s ambassadors reception so she doesn’t look so undecorated.
I don’t wanna add to the pile of hate toward her personally, but this is actually insulting
Arrogance personified. ..both of them…
they still do nothing and the ass lickers abound they love just doing nothing of merit or substance abd we cant wait till theynare both kicked out abd have to fend for themselves
they constantly just want praise for doing nothing again they need to get off their lazy butts and work in the real world.. they play at everything they pretend they champion at sport in real cold light reality are useless and completely clueless ….too many servants running up their petulant backsides
I use to read a lot as a child. I was awarded the tittle of “Book’s Friend”. It had a badge and a certificate with my name. A ceremony was held with lots of people parents, teachers. I was 10. It was 1990 and it was almost the end of an era when this pointless ceremonies were held all the time to make us ordinary people feel good about ourself when we had nothing. Also was to show the good work of the institutions. Now this tittle probably means nothing but it strokes her ego a lot given that she likes that and gets the name of the institution out there. It doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that this gal does nothing meaningfull. She is bland and a nonentity. Imagine if Willy divorces her some years from now just because. What would she be then??? She has nothing in her life and you can hide behind the kids for so long
I agree that this is a ton of lip-service, but it’s mitigated by the fact that this is likely just a purchasable membership as someone else pointed. However, I’m a little confused at the level of derision about her photography skills. I mean, the girl’s no Ansel Adams or Annie Leibovitz or anything, and I agree that people shouldn’t praise her work unduly but? Why are people criticizing her for taking well-lit photos? It’s not a “skill” to be able to take photos in poor lighting and have them turn out good. They will simply never be as good as a photo where the subject is exceptionally lit, especially in natural lighting. And being able to find that light isn’t that easy, given that its often a question of timing and placement. It’s genuinely one of those things that takes a lot of practice to be able to do, and I’m always impressed by professional photographers who do such a good job of it.
Anyway, the photos of her kids are some of the best she’s done I thought. Say what you want about her amateur status, and I don’t think that anyone needs to heap a lot of praise on her for being outstandingly talented or anything, but they are striking, and it’s obvious that she cares enough about this hobby to want to keep going at it and continue improving (compare with the Borneo shots and the flat lighting and the horrible staging of those photos and it’s….just shudder worthy). I loathe the spin that the PR people are trying to put on this though. She’s not the first person in the RF to have an interest outside of her royal duties, and she won’t be the last, and trying to posit her as some sort of savant at photography is so grating.
A, did you know that Annie Leibovitz has at one point also been given an honorary life membership of the Royal Photographic Society? That puts AL, a professional, in the same category as numptie Kate. The photos of the kids are okay but hardly worthy of an honorary life membership which surely, in a professional field , should be for more than ‘enthusiasm’? OF COURSE she has been given this thing because of who she is married to, and most likely someone from BP tapping on the RPS’s shoulder, simply to focus the public’s attention AWAY from Kate’s dismal work record. She’s a joke.
Start the new year off with a positive PR on trying to find something that Kate excels in, scratching head oh yes. Firstly an expensive good camera that’s easy to use, a steady hand and hey presto with the addition of some computer touching up she passes into the royal photographer of the year, however can’t see her being asked to do professional studio shots of Charles.
“An expensive good camera that’s easy to use,” No offence, but that doesn’t exist. And a good camera is not necessarily going to give you a good picture. I say this as someone who has taken photographs with a DSLR that came out as blurry, horrible, poorly lit and poorly staged, because they lacked patience and forethought. A camera won’t save you if you’re just not going to give the effort, I’m afraid.
“a steady hand,” Again, don’t know if you’re being tongue-in-cheek or not, but um, you’d have a really miserable time photographing anything if all you had was a “steady hand.” Especially with the aforementioned expensive good camera, which almost never seem to come as a light-weight commodity.
Look, I agree with you that Kate is getting a LOT more credit for this shit than she deserves, especially since she’s not the first royal hobbyist or the last. But don’t knock the field of photography itself or dumb it down as something that’s “easy to do.” Everyone always makes that assumption, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why photographers are struggling to receive compensation for their work that they rightfully deserve.
Aaaah i see….so the whole time shes been holed up at Anmer shes not been living th life of a rich yummy mummy and doormat in residence for willnot, all this time shes been WORKING as a photographer honing her craft…..
Aaaah i see….so the whole time shes been holed up at Anmer shes not been living the life of a rich yummy mummy and doormat in residence for willnot, all this time shes been WORKING as a photographer honing her craft…..