Consider how frequently advertising associates physical height with confidence or leadership.
A taller person may be positioned prominently in an image.
A shorter person may be placed farther to the side.
Those decisions can influence the impression of authority, even when no written statement accompanies the picture.
Similarly, images of romantic couples may reproduce familiar expectations about physical proportions.
Wade’s discussion of Charles and Diana invites viewers to recognize these conventions and question whether they are as natural or inevitable as they sometimes seem.
Her interpretation, however, should not be confused with definitive evidence about the intentions of every royal photographer.
It is possible for an image to reinforce a cultural expectation without that being the conscious goal of the people creating it.
A photographer might position two people according to a familiar aesthetic convention simply because the arrangement looks balanced.
A royal couple might stand on different levels because of the setting.
