RECREATING MASTERWORKS

CECIL BEATON

Beaton was a successful fashion photographer who had already become familiar with photographing the Royal Family, including a then-Princess Elizabeth, when the call to create the official coronation images was made. The photographs of the British Royal family by Sir Cecil Beaton (1904 – 1980) were central to shaping the monarchy's public image in the mid 20th century.

WHY REMAKE THIS IMAGE?

This recreation was almost wholly born out of the coincidence that my friend and collaborator Randi bears a striking resembalnce to a young Queen Elizabeth II. We had joked about it many times that we should do a QE2 inspired set of shoots - and we have. Randi’s closet of outfits from her extensive burlesque work provided most of the trappings needed, and digital filled in the rest.

This is one of my favourite “because I can,” images. I was more interested in issuing myself a creative challenge rather than out of a deep want to honour Cecil Beaton or revel in any technical elements of the image. This image doesn’t hold a special place in my heart, nor am I a monarchist in any way, but it is a legendary piece of history and should be given the appropriate reverence it deserves.

I have always chuckled that the backdrop looks painfully flat in the original, which it does because its a matte painting rather than the actual royal hall pictured.

There was also a Photoshop plugin that I was looking for an excuse to try out. Creating the Royal Sphere thing and getting somewhere believable reflections was a huge challenge, and required enough processing power that it crashed my screen recording app while rendering it.

THE MAKING OF THE IMAGE