Selfies for the Queen
Scenes from London following the Queen's death
Everything I was seeing in the media following the Queen's death was focussed on the vast throngs of mourners duly paying their respect to the Queen. But on the ground I witnessed another type of participant - the kind I call the "tourist". I wanted to capture the tension between these two types of participants, the dichotomy between the tourists and the mourners.
We live in a time where in the midst of thousands and thousands of people paying their respect, it has become a cultural norm to interrupt this activity to take a selfie, to focus on photographing oneself rather than what was happening around them.
Family Portrait at Buckingham Palace, shows a family of three all brandishing their mobile phones with happiness and satisfaction. All three photo takers are together yet completely engulfed in their own moment; the mother taking a selfie with flower tributes to the queen behind her, the father taking a picture of Buckingham Palace with the flower tributes in front of him while the son reviews his photos with great satisfaction. Superficially together and yet each alone.
These images were taken at Buckingham Palace following Queen Elizabeth II's death and then opposite the Houses of Parliament just outside where the Queen was lying in state. Several of these images were taken just after the individuals had passed the Queen's coffin and exited Westminster Hall.
We live in a time where in the midst of thousands and thousands of people paying their respect, it has become a cultural norm to interrupt this activity to take a selfie, to focus on photographing oneself rather than what was happening around them.
Family Portrait at Buckingham Palace, shows a family of three all brandishing their mobile phones with happiness and satisfaction. All three photo takers are together yet completely engulfed in their own moment; the mother taking a selfie with flower tributes to the queen behind her, the father taking a picture of Buckingham Palace with the flower tributes in front of him while the son reviews his photos with great satisfaction. Superficially together and yet each alone.
These images were taken at Buckingham Palace following Queen Elizabeth II's death and then opposite the Houses of Parliament just outside where the Queen was lying in state. Several of these images were taken just after the individuals had passed the Queen's coffin and exited Westminster Hall.