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Prince George celebrates 11th birthday
The new photograph of Prince George taken by his mother to mark his 11th birthday is in black and white for a very important reason.
Former commissioned royal photographer Ian Pelham-Turner says black and white photography is Princess Kate’s favourite way of doing things because it’s trendy and stylish.
The chosen medium is favoured by Kate, who trained in photography at Kensington and Chelsea Art College, because of its starkness in contrast to colour photographs, explains Ian.
He reveals to Express.co.uk that the princess is following in other royal photographer’s footsteps by shooting her family pictures in black and white to produce nostalgic and “symbolic” imagery which “keeps the Royal Family in the public eye.”
Ian explains: “She obviously loves taking photographs – it’s one of her biggest hobbies. She is a good photographer she’s created some very interesting images in the past.
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“The reality is she likes creating imagery that is – with black and white it’s a lot starker. It’s a much more focused image.
“Sometimes colour can take away from the distant aspects of the shot. With black and white it’s something that is symbolic of showing the royal family. Just a straight image of them without any distraction of colour.
“When you go through that type of college training they normally use film cameras to start off with and then they go to black and white. So for her having a black and white image is just something that’s quite trendy for her. The idea is to produce an image that is quite stylish.
“The black and white photograph has a look of the former queen on the image as well so again it might be nostalgia why it’s done in black and white at the same time.”
The sweet picture was posted on the Wales’ social media accounts on Monday morning with the message: “Wishing Prince George a very happy 11th birthday today!”
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Kate captured the candid shot at Windsor earlier this month. The future King looked smart and grown up, dressed in an open-necked white shirt and dark blazer and wearing a friendship bracelet on his left wrist.
He’s sitting on a bench as he beams at the camera. Last year, the youngster’s 10th birthday was marked by the release of a previously unseen picture taken by photographer Millie Pilkington.
Ian, who has photographed Prince George’s father William, and his uncle Harry from birth, says shooting the royals with a camera in black and white has always been preferred by the Firm.
“I go back to when I was a commissioned royal photographer they used to love black and white photography.
“I took William’s first Christmas baby shoot with Charles and Diana and the majority of that was done in black and white as well because in those days it was just the trendy thing to do.
“She takes different black and white images. William and Kate have been really trying to preserve their privacy for a long time now so it’s very seldom that they allow other photographers in. In my day when I was a commissioned royal photographer, a lot of the work I shot was black and white which was the period 43 years ago.
“It was one of those times when the etiquette of royal photographers was totally different in those days compared to today.”