A photographer commissioned to take pictures of a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace felt "great privilege" to be involved.
Ben Murphy was honoured to photograph the Royal Childhood display – which looks back at nine generations of princes and princesses at play – at Queen Elizabeth’s official residence and wanted to do his best to reflect the "historical significance" of the items on display.
He said: "I knew this was a special and important commission. It was a great privilege to be given access to this extraordinary place and I felt that I had to produce work that reflected the historical significance of the building and the garments, objects, toys and ephemera assembled for the exhibition. I was acutely aware of the symbolism and significances of every object and every space."
Ben was thankful for the natural light of the stunning palace and felt it would "betray the integrity" of the building if he were to add lighting of his own.
He added to the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I always work with natural or available light. This is part of my process and important in the creation of my photographic identity. The atmosphere and stillness created by natural light is critical to my work and to conveying a true sense of place as I see it.
"Buckingham Palace, like many great houses, was designed to make effective use of natural light. In their grand rooms, daylight becomes an integral and beautiful part of the experience of being in those spaces. It would betray the integrity of the place to try to impose my own artificial light. There are exceptions of course where available light is artificial and unavoidable however I invariably prefer the painterly quality of diffused daylight."
Photographer honoured to shoot exhibition
