Catherine, Princess of Wales

[Deleted]

So let’s take a moment and remember where we are. I get that what was thrown at Kate was beyond the pale. But before we jump on our moral high horse, maybe we should look at our own posting history and see if there was speculation and discussion of people in the public sphere that maybe wasn’t the kindest. I know I have, I’ll be honest. I’ve been a member here for 19 years. Maybe that is a commentary on internet culture as a whole. Or cause for some self-reflection.

[dragonflie]

I agree BoroKat, with one caveat: I don't actually fault anyone for asking the question (like: hmm- I wonder what's up with Kate?)- kind of. (like- she DID actually tell us what she was doing- but...ppl didn't believe her or wanted more info- or something??). What I DO fault is papers and hostile gossip that was spread in a manic unhinged way- and then perpetuated and encouraged enmasse- for such a stupid reason. And then- more importantly for me: once the truth was revealed- so many ppl/"news" agencies are doubling down that it was Kate or KP or PR ppl's fault. Like- at THIS point can't anyone admit- oops- that was unhinged and we shouldn't have gone there just because she edited a photo.

I have been a part of this community for a long while. I'm not against speculation and gossip. But I was really thrown by the frenzy associated with her- even before she revealed how serious her issues were. 2 weeks ago I was like: is the world serious? Because she edited a photo? And she told all of us she was going away for a bit- but that wasn't enough. It didn't feel like it was really gossip anymore- it turned into an odd frenzy that made no sense. And even after she reveals: Yo world- I have cancer- can I get a minute- EVEN then people are STILL trying to act like it was all her fault. Like, why?

[wineoclock]

Mar 24, 2024 15:42:08 GMT -4 dragonflie said:

I agree BoroKat, with one caveat: I don't actually fault anyone for asking the question (like: hmm- I wonder what's up with Kate?)- kind of. (like- she DID actually tell us what she was doing- but...ppl didn't believe her or wanted more info- or something??). What I DO fault is papers and hostile gossip that was spread in a manic unhinged way- and then perpetuated and encouraged enmasse- for such a stupid reason. And then- more importantly for me: once the truth was revealed- so many ppl/"news" agencies are doubling down that it was Kate or KP or PR ppl's fault. Like- at THIS point can't anyone admit- oops- that was unhinged and we shouldn't have gone there just because she edited a photo.

I have been a part of this community for a long while. I'm not against speculation and gossip. But I was really thrown by the frenzy associated with her- even before she revealed how serious her issues were. 2 weeks ago I was like: is the world serious? Because she edited a photo? And she told all of us she was going away for a bit- but that wasn't enough. It didn't feel like it was really gossip anymore- it turned into an odd frenzy that made no sense. And even after she reveals: Yo world- I have cancer- can I get a minute- EVEN then people are STILL trying to act like it was all her fault. Like, why?

I don’t think anyone actually believes she edited that photo. And it’s one thing for a celebrity to post an edited photo on Instagram, and it’s another for a photo released by an institution like Kensington Palace to receive a kill notice by global wire news agencies because of how much it was altered.

I think the frenzy around this is easy to understand—they didn’t give much information and then did weird PR things, which is what caused people to question what was going on, and in a vacuum of information and bizarre PR, people started wondering if something worse was going on. Did it get unhinged? Yes, but that's because the internet in general is unhinged - see Chris Evan stans, Swifties, the Saint Meghan Markle subreddit, Hailey Bieber haters, etc.

The Mother’s Day photo, and subsequent refusal to release the unedited version, was a huge unforced error that caused the online discourse relegated to celeb gossip forums to tsunami into mainstream media and it's really when the wheels came off. The vast majority of the public didn’t even know Kate had surgery or care that she hadn't been seen since until the kill notice made it newsworthy and made the larger public pay attention and question what was going on. It was a massive PR failure by KP, and if I were William or Kate, I'd be looking into replacing my comms team.

[cancan]

Mar 24, 2024 16:52:29 GMT -4 wineoclock said:

Mar 24, 2024 15:42:08 GMT -4 dragonflie said:

I agree BoroKat, with one caveat: I don't actually fault anyone for asking the question (like: hmm- I wonder what's up with Kate?)- kind of. (like- she DID actually tell us what she was doing- but...ppl didn't believe her or wanted more info- or something??). What I DO fault is papers and hostile gossip that was spread in a manic unhinged way- and then perpetuated and encouraged enmasse- for such a stupid reason. And then- more importantly for me: once the truth was revealed- so many ppl/"news" agencies are doubling down that it was Kate or KP or PR ppl's fault. Like- at THIS point can't anyone admit- oops- that was unhinged and we shouldn't have gone there just because she edited a photo.

I have been a part of this community for a long while. I'm not against speculation and gossip. But I was really thrown by the frenzy associated with her- even before she revealed how serious her issues were. 2 weeks ago I was like: is the world serious? Because she edited a photo? And she told all of us she was going away for a bit- but that wasn't enough. It didn't feel like it was really gossip anymore- it turned into an odd frenzy that made no sense. And even after she reveals: Yo world- I have cancer- can I get a minute- EVEN then people are STILL trying to act like it was all her fault. Like, why?

I don’t think anyone actually believes she edited that photo. And it’s one thing for a celebrity to post an edited photo on Instagram, and it’s another for a photo released by an institution like Kensington Palace to receive a kill notice by global wire news agencies because of how much it was altered.

I think the frenzy around this is easy to understand—they didn’t give much information and then did weird PR things, which is what caused people to question what was going on, and in a vacuum of information and bizarre PR, people started wondering if something worse was going on. Did it get unhinged? Yes, but that's because the internet in general is unhinged - see Chris Evan stans, Swifties, the Saint Meghan Markle subreddit, Hailey Bieber haters, etc.

The Mother’s Day photo, and subsequent refusal to release the unedited version, was a huge unforced error that caused the online discourse relegated to celeb gossip forums to tsunami into mainstream media and it's really when the wheels came off. The vast majority of the public didn’t even know Kate had surgery or care that she hadn't been seen since until the kill notice made it newsworthy and made the larger public pay attention and question what was going on. It was a massive PR failure by KP, and if I were William or Kate, I'd be looking into replacing my comms team.

I have always believed she edited the photo herself. Still do.

[Ginger]

I believe she takes her photos herself, and I believe she does the amateurishly bad editing on them herself, exactly as she said.

This isn't about unkindness, it's about conspiracy theories, and "the palace" editing the photo and forcing Kate to take the fall is yet another one. Please stop.

If you espouse this stuff, you cede the right to go around calling other conspiracy theorists on the internet unhinged, because you are one of them.

[wineoclock]

Mar 24, 2024 18:27:09 GMT -4 Ginger said:

I believe she takes her photos herself, and I believe she does the amateurishly bad editing on them herself, exactly as she said.

This isn't about unkindness, it's about conspiracy theories, and "the palace" editing the photo and forcing Kate to take the fall is yet another one. Please stop.

If you espouse this stuff, you cede the right to go around calling other conspiracy theorists on the internet unhinged, because you are one of them.

It stretches credulity to believe that the Royal Family would release on its official channels a photo edited by someone who is not a professional. The "Kate edited the photo" damage control didn't pass the smell test for most people. Meghan and Harry release statements that stretch credulity and they get called out on this forum as it being BS. Why is that okay, but it's propagating a conspiracy theory to say that a statement released by Kate & Will/Kensington Palace doesn't seem truthful?

[seat6]

I absolutely believe Kate edited that photo herself. She’s an amateur photographer who, until now, has received praise for her family portraits.

A professional portrait photographer would have got the image right in the camera. This is what I was taught to do. Dodging, burning, and cloning is entirely possible but it is time consuming and someone who has 500 photos of a wedding to edit does not want to take the time to correct each one when time is money AND you are trying to protect your hands from repetitive use injuries.

Kate watched some videos on YouTube. She experimented with her photo editing software. She may even have had conversations with or shadowed professional photographers.

And she ALMOST got the shot she wanted and so she fixed it after the session on her computer.

She is not a photojournalist or a portrait photographer and that was her solution. Her staff may not have noticed. The other day, I was sending out a press release and someone sent me a file and said, “Here’s that photo you wanted for the press release.” I looked at the resolution and the size and I sent it out. Was the image altered? It was probably adjusted for exposure, balance, and contrast. It was definitely cropped. Was the hair smoothed out? Maybe. Was a piece of lint removed from the sweater? Maybe. I didn’t examine it that closely, because the person in the photo was a local receiving an award, not the Princess of Wales.

Kate likes photography. She likes cameras. People with this hobby love to mess about with their lenses and tripods and light kits and filters. They love to take a shot and make it greyscale and then put a vignette and a sepia tone on it.

The most logical explanation is the one that Kate has provided.

I would kind of like to see Kate go all out and start shooting with film and doing her own developing. She could push the process on color slides and give everything a turquoise tint. Or give black and white prints a chemical wash in the darkroom. If she’s going to be vilified for altering images, she might as well make a point of it.

[cancan]

Mar 24, 2024 19:40:15 GMT -4 wineoclock said:

Mar 24, 2024 18:27:09 GMT -4 Ginger said:

I believe she takes her photos herself, and I believe she does the amateurishly bad editing on them herself, exactly as she said.

This isn't about unkindness, it's about conspiracy theories, and "the palace" editing the photo and forcing Kate to take the fall is yet another one. Please stop.

If you espouse this stuff, you cede the right to go around calling other conspiracy theorists on the internet unhinged, because you are one of them.

It stretches credulity to believe that the Royal Family would release on its official channels a photo edited by someone who is not a professional. The "Kate edited the photo" damage control didn't pass the smell test for most people. Meghan and Harry release statements that stretch credulity and they get called out on this forum as it being BS. Why is that okay, but it's propagating a conspiracy theory to say that a statement released by Kate & Will/Kensington Palace doesn't seem truthful?

If one believes that Catherine has been *taking* publicly released photos for years, why does it strain credulity to believe that she is also *editing* the same photos?

[Ginger]

The news agencies reviewed all recent photos released by the royal family and only found one other photo that was significantly edited, and it was the photo of the Queen and grandchildren taken by Kate, edited in the exact same manner as the Mother's Day photo.

Mar 24, 2024 19:40:15 GMT -4 wineoclock said:

The "Kate edited the photo" damage control didn't pass the smell test for most people. Meghan and Harry release statements that stretch credulity and they get called out on this forum as it being BS. Why is that okay, but it's propagating a conspiracy theory to say that a statement released by Kate & Will/Kensington Palace doesn't seem truthful?

Your assessment of "most people" is based on which corners of the internet you frequent. There are many people for whom Chris Evans's marriage doesn't pass the smell test, or who think Meghan and Harry presented a doll at a photo call and said it was Archie. "Doesn't pass the smell test" is the rallying cry for conspiracy theorists, along with "we just want transparency" and "why the coverup?"

Thinking Meghan and Harry are highly self-regarding and full of shit is not a conspiracy theory.

[wineoclock]

Mar 24, 2024 21:08:16 GMT -4 Ginger said:

The news agencies reviewed all recent photos released by the royal family and only found one other photo that was significantly edited, and it was the photo of the Queen and grandchildren taken by Kate, edited in the exact same manner as the Mother's Day photo.

Mar 24, 2024 19:40:15 GMT -4 wineoclock said:

The "Kate edited the photo" damage control didn't pass the smell test for most people. Meghan and Harry release statements that stretch credulity and they get called out on this forum as it being BS. Why is that okay, but it's propagating a conspiracy theory to say that a statement released by Kate & Will/Kensington Palace doesn't seem truthful?

Your assessment of "most people" is based on which corners of the internet you frequent. There are many people for whom Chris Evans's marriage doesn't pass the smell test, or who think Meghan and Harry presented a doll at a photo call and said it was Archie. "Doesn't pass the smell test" is the rallying cry for conspiracy theorists, along with "we just want transparency" and "why the coverup?"

Thinking Meghan and Harry are highly self-regarding and full of shit is not a conspiracy theory.

Yes, thinking Meghan and Harry are full of shit is not a conspiracy theory, just like thinking the Royal Family is lying when they say Kate edited the photo is also not a conspiracy theory.

It's not just corners of the internet. Here's a Daily Show clip where they call BS on the photo editing claim: LINK

Mar 24, 2024 20:13:52 GMT -4 cancan said:

Mar 24, 2024 19:40:15 GMT -4 wineoclock said:

It stretches credulity to believe that the Royal Family would release on its official channels a photo edited by someone who is not a professional. The "Kate edited the photo" damage control didn't pass the smell test for most people. Meghan and Harry release statements that stretch credulity and they get called out on this forum as it being BS. Why is that okay, but it's propagating a conspiracy theory to say that a statement released by Kate & Will/Kensington Palace doesn't seem truthful?

If one believes that Catherine has been *taking* publicly released photos for years, why does it strain credulity to believe that she is also *editing* the same photos?

This wasn’t someone just playing around with the saturation and hue or airbrushing stray hairs. It looks to be a composite photo, spliced together from different photos. Her team had to have known that whatever they put out was going to be scrutinized, and it stretches credulity that they would let an amateur photographer take a stab at manipulating a high-profile photo to the degree that the Mother’s Day photo was altered.

You’re welcome to believe she edited it, just as I don’t believe she did. Regardless, no one here has any insider knowledge on what actually happened and can’t say for certain what did or did not occur. It’s speculation on both sides.