Touring Paris over the summer, I chanced upon an outdoor exhibit by the Notre Dame Cathedral restoration. Part of the signage reads:
FACES OF THE RESTORATION WORKSITE
This exhibition celebrates the men and women who, through their exceptional skills and dedication, have been making this high standard restoration possible within the set deadlines.
For a week, Studio Harcourt Paris, high-quality portrait photographers whose timeless signature service is the creation of black-and-white portraits, set up its studio at the site headquarters to take 100 individual and group portraits of nearly 500 people and partners involved in the cathedral’s restoration.
These portraits incarnate the thousands of people at work since 2019. Like sculptures in light and shadow, these portraits offer an insight into the extraordinary endeavor that is the restoration of Notre Dame de Paris.
For the unfamiliar, Studio Harcourt is a photography studio founded during the late modernist era before the first world war. You’ve most likely seen the photos – the ‘Harcourt Style’ that peppered the golden age of Hollywood. Contrasting black and white photos that play a lot with lighting define this style, with a photoshoot costing around USD $2,000.
As Studio Harcourt celebrates its 90th year this 2024, they have partnered up with HONOR in the new 200 series. I’ve been playing around with the HONOR 200 Pro, which claims to be a mini Harcourt Studio setup in all of its 6.78” of screen real estate.
As a phone, the HONOR 200 Pro checks all the boxes of a semi flagship device: fast charging, powerful processor, great battery, and whopping storage. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor is a toned down sibling of the more powerful Snapdragon 8, but whispers claim it is more powerful than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor of the previous year. It comes with 12GB + 12GB of RAM (additional RAM ℅ HONOR RAM Turbo) The 100W fast charging complements the 5200mAh battery. The HONOR 200 Pro comes with 512GB of storage.
But what sets this phone apart is the camera system that, when pushed to portrait mode, activates the Harcourt AI mode. HONOR claims that the AI has been trained to study thousands of Harcourt Studio photos across 90 years and can mimic this photography style. They claim to have studied subjects of different skin tones in 400 days to train the algorithm for best portrait shots. There are three modes: Harcourt Color, Harcourt Vibrant, and Harcourt Classic (black && white). The two color modes are similar to Natural and Vivid modes on other camera phones and as far as portrait cameras go, they can definitely capture natural skin features and tone. Harcourt Classic is where it’s all at. As far as black and white portraits go, I would describe the vibe as having more intense black and whites. Shooting in this mode is great at natural light, but it works amazingly well in low lit rooms as you play with light and shadows. Speaking of cameras, the HONOR 200 Pro comes with a triple camera system that allows for this AI portraiture to happen. A 50-50-12MP setup (wide-telephoto-ultrawide) is decent enough for a mid-range phone.
For pricing, the HONOR 200 Pro costs P29,999 while the HONOR 200 is pegged at P24,999. The main difference between the two is that the more affordable variant comes with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor. You can preorder the AI Portrait Master HONOR 200 from July 17 to 26 2024 to get free JBL Soundgear Frames worth P9,499. These are the shades with really crisp audio.
