Traditional Regalia

Diary Entry:

For this project, I had to take pictures of cultures with regalia in it. Regalia refers to the regality, or the “look” of a person of royalty. This deals with the posture and the way that people are positioned in these portraits of regalia. For my first photo, I had to take a picture of my culture, in which I took of my Hispanic roots. For my second picture, I took a

Chinese fan and worked with that and the Chinese attire. Lastly, I took a picture of a militant, with the attire.

Theory Notes:

Regalia in portraits can be expressed or portrayed in different ways, depending on the time as well as culture. In a classical painting, for example Louis XIV during 1670, the family is in a group, but within that group there is a hierarchy. King Louis gets the crown, as well as the scepter and robe. His wife and other close family trickle down as you look at the picture from right to left. At the very front are the children, which have with them a harp and toys. There is also a painting in the painting of two smaller children. Maybe they had died, so to keep them in the family picture, they had a photo of them.

For the contemporary portrait of a royal family, I chose the British Royal Family, The House of Windsor. This picture has Queen Elizabeth II in the center, to show that she is the core or center of this family. On the far front left and right sides are

Princes Harry and William, along with their father Prince Charles. Behind them, are Duchesses, Dukes, Earls, Ladies, Countesses, and Princesses. Here there is also a sense of hierarchy, starting at the front, from core to the outside. Then everyone else behind is a member of the Royal House.

Printing Compositions:

This is my first print, which deals with the Chinese culture. In my picture, there is a conserved factor that adds a nice touch to the picture. The fan and the shirt is a big part in which lends to what culture it is. I used a Canon digital EOS 20D, with a 28-75 mm 1:2.8 MACRO for all of my pictures for this post.

My next print refers to my Hispanic culture. The purse was a key accessory, because I actually got it in Guatemala, where my father is from. What the girl is wearing is traditional to what many people in that region may wear, a simple shirt with a colorful skirt (falda). I added the regal-ness to the picture by the model's stance in the picture.

My final print is part of the American culture. It is a military uniform.This symbolizes patriotism of a country, and my model is standing at attention, which shows regality in the stance of a militant.

Image Bank:

Hiroshi Sugimoto –

Hiroshi Sugimoto took photos of waxworks by Madame Tussaud. He recreated these lifeless figures and made the portraits look as they may have back in the 15th century. This picture of Henry the VIII shows a sense of power that is known by everyone. Sugimoto was born in Tokyo, Japan. Many of his pictures are taken using a silver-print method in printing. He uses his keen eye to make everything seemingly perfect, as he takes a great deal of care with his pictures.

Steen Brogaard –
This is a picture of Denmark’s Prince Joachim and Princess Marie. Here there is a sense of who is in charge, which would be the Prince, for he is standing and it shows that he has dominance. Also, his military attire adds to his power. The princess is quite dainty and looks elegant with her sitting and her hands in a proper position. Steen Brogaard, who is a Danish photographer, took this picture. He has taken several pictures of the royal family and is well respected for his work. He also took picture of Prince Frederik, for his biography, Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark.

Annie Leibovitz –

This picture was recently taken of the President of the U.S. and his family. Although he is not royalty, he and his family are known in the public eye. This is a picture where the family seems very approachable, even though you know that the President is known as a very important man. This sense of regality is different than the one of the prince of Denmark, but still shows a sense of power.

Image Bank +:

William Hogarth –
William Hogarth was born in 1697, and lived until 1764. Born in London, he was an apprentice to a goldsmith. Later he became known as a painter, and one of his famous paints was A Rake’s Progress, drawn in 1735, which contains a set of 8 paintings in total. The pictures show you certain snapshots of a man that goes by the name of Tom Rakewell. Some of the scenes have him preparing for his father’s funeral, gets saved from prison, and finally, in the last scene, ends up in a mad house.

In 1745, Hogarth made another set of paintings, this time 6, with the title Marriage-`a-la-mode. These prints were used to tell a story of a marriage gone all wrong. The end of this picture story also ends in death of the main character. Also throughout his paintings, he started making life-sized portraits.

Annie Leibovitz –

Annie Leibovitz has been taking pictures for the past 30 years. She is from Waterbury, Connecticut, and attended the San Francisco Art Institution. She first went there for painting, but after going to Japan with her mother, she discovered that she wanted to study photography.

In 1970, she started working for Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco. On her first out-of-town assignment, she took a picture of John Lennon and it ended up on the front cover of the magazine. By 1973, she became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer.

In 1982, the art director of Vanity Fair asked her to contribute to the magazine. By the next year, she permanently started working for the magazine. Also, her first book, self-titled, became published.
She later starts working for Vogue in 1998. She has another book published called Women.
Annie met Susan Sontag at a photo shoot for Sontag’s book, Aids and It’s Metaphors. From there, they began a 15 year friendship that lasted until Sontag died of cancer. After her death, Leibovitz put together pictures of Sontag, even when she was ill, and published the in A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005.

Annie Leibovitz has an amazing eye for the detail in a picture, and she knows how to bring the personality of the person she is photographing in the picture. Also, her most recent picture with President Obama is an example of a “casual” regal picture. She can create a very nice picture, while still having the wholesomeness that people expect to see from the President and his family.