A photographer who captured a black and white portrait of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has responded to claims he edited a willow tree into the background of the shot.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were caught up in the royal photo editing furore after the Princess of Wales admitted to retouching a Mother's Day photograph, sparking a global discussion about the ethics of photo editing. images.
In the wake of Kate's revelations, it was claimed that a large willow tree was added to the portrait of Harry and pregnant Meghan, taken on Valentine's Day by acclaimed artist Misan Hariman.
But Hariman has since criticized the claims, posting on X/Twitter that such suggestions were false.
He said sarcastically: “Apparently he was changing trees and meadows. And I admitted it on an episode of a podcast called Private Passions. This is crazy.”
He added: “How so? [podcast] The exchange could mean that I admit that manipulating an image is insidious.”
(Duke and Duchess of Sussex)
Hariman also accused the podcast host of using leading questions, which he said he tried to ignore before denying any tinkering. He then shared the original image complete with the willow tree in the background.
The Princess of Wales's photo-editing faux pas put a number of other royal photos in the spotlight, and CNN and other photo agencies plan to review their back catalogues.
Meanwhile, unknown sources at Page Six, an American tabloid site, claimed that Meghan “would never make that mistake” and that the Sussexes “would have been wiped out” if they had handed over edited photographs of themselves.
Misan Harriman, a photographer and close friend of Meghan's, took the orchestrated black-and-white photo in her California garden, then shared how he took the photo thousands of miles from London using special technology on his iPad, allowing him to instruct the couple. posing and remotely pressing the shutter.
The original image before being converted to black and white.
(Misan Harriman @misanharriman/Twitter)
In 2022, during an appearance on BBC Radio 3's Private Passions podcast, she was asked about photography to mark pregnancy.
He said on the show: “It's amazing what you can do with technology.”
When the presenter asked the photographer if they were under a willow tree, he admitted that they were lying in a meadow.
The edited photograph that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge shared on Mother's Day
(Prince of Wales )
Harriman said: “They were lost in their love, at home, in their garden, comfortable, celebrating a new joy.
In another interview, she told Vogue: “With the tree of life behind them and the garden representing fertility, life and advancement, they needed no direction, because they are, and always have been, dancing through life together.” as absolute beings. soulmates.”
“When you see people who have the connection that they have, it's like reading the pages of a book.”
