PHOTOGRAPHING ROYALTY
- Thom Pierce
- Oct 3
- 4 min read
Category: Behind the Image
Location: Lesotho
Year: 2021
In early 2021, I was contacted by the US Ambassador to Lesotho. She had seen my series The Horsemen of Semonkong and she wanted to purchase a few artworks to remind her of her time in the mountain kingdom, when she returned home.
She came to our house in Melville, Johannesburg to collect the framed pieces and we had a chat about my work and the projects that I was planning. I mentioned to her that I had been thinking about a project called "All The Kings and Queens of Africa" - a conceptual series that explored the idea of post-colonial royalty in the modern era. She loved the idea and suggested that I start with the King of Lesotho, and made it her mission to make it happen.
A few months later, my wife, Nomatter, and I were invited to Maseru to stay at the ambassadors residence and a meeting with the King's secretary was organised. We had written ahead to formally ask permission and I had expressed my wishes to photograph portraits of the Royals in both their traditional and formal attire.
I really didn't think that they would go for it, it was such a random request, but because of the calibre of my work, my previous engagement with the country and an endorsement from the US Embassy, I was given permission to visit the royal residence.
We travelled up to their rural home in our old Subaru and waited nervously as they were informed of our arrival. Nomatter is a warm and friendly soul who is never lost for words, but on this occasion she was quieter than I have ever seen, before or since!
We couldn't have been more surprised by how humble, warm and kind the King and Queen were to us. They showed us around, chatted about Lesotho and the covid response, and allowed me to creatively direct the shoots without intervention.
We didn't have too long and I never want to waste people's time, even non-royalty, so I knew what I wanted to do from the start, and practiced the setup at home with my ever-suffering model/wife. I needed to keep it simple, my main aim was to create portraits that stood the test of time and that could be replicated in other locations.
It's so much easier to use a backdrop and lighting when you want continuity in a body of work. And to remove a distracting background with a backdrop is to focus in just on the person.
The setup was pretty simple. I wanted to go for a Hollywood style butterfly lighting pattern. I didn't want it to be too harsh though, I wanted a softness to the images and to have as much detail available to me in the edit. The portrait needed to be about the individual and the outfit, and it needed to be regal (obviously), respectful and polished.
Technical: As always, the intention justifies the method, so I used a charcoal grey Savage background paper, a mid-sized rectangular softbox and ring light on my Nikon D850. The Profoto B1 and Elinchrom softbox acted as the main light (also lighting the backdrop), and the Godox ring light filled in the shadows from the front. Simple but effective and, importantly, quick to assemble and predictable in it's look.
Hint: When I am shooting portraits inside with a backdrop I use a Benro ND filter on my camera. It allows me to block out any natural light whilst also keeping a wide aperture. It means I can get a shallow depth of field whilst also having full control of the lights, and it also means that, starting from darkness, I know exactly what settings I need to use every time. There is no guess work and I get to look like a consummate professional.
After each "studio" shoot we headed outside into to the harsh sunlight to shoot a quick environmental portrait. These were much harder to light beautifully because of the amount of trees and mountains around and the time of day.
In the end I threw in as much light as I could from the right hand side to fill in the shadows and let the sun do the rest. These portraits were not what we had come for, but it seemed a shame to miss the opportunity for a different style.
We returned to the ambassadors residence for dinner and a debrief about the shoot. There were riots happening in Maseru so the ambassador and her team were busy checking on the welfare of their colleagues. At the end of the evening she asked for a photograph of us with the Hindu Goddess of fertility in the hallway.
The last couple who had been photographed there had fallen pregnant soon after. Sure enough, within twelve months of the photograph being taken, we welcomed our first child, Maha, into the world. Coincidence? I think not.
A year and a half after Maha, our son Malakai came along so the "All The Kings and Queens of Africa" project took a back seat whilst we focused on family but I still think it would be a fascinating project to get off the ground. My idea now is that it could be a collaborative project between several photographers based around the continent.
If anyone is interested in taking this forward with me, let me know. National Geographic, if you are reading this get in touch. This would make a great feature I think!
Please leave your comments below...T
This is a beautiful read. I can't wait to see the completed project and congratulations on the kids. You and your wife seem like such warm people.