Empire

 
From the publisher:
The French photographer Charles Fréger has spent the last ten years photographing various groups of young people in uniform and in costume (such as musicians, workmen, athletes and majorettes). His “Empire” series concentrates on some of the most prestigious military regiments in Europe. This book forms a sort of encyclopaedia of military uniforms, all of them taken from battles of the Napoleonic period. The unity in the poses, framing, light and colours and the similarities in age and uniform between the models photographed allow Charles Fréger to emphasise the singularity, the individuality and the poetry of these young subjects in the album.
 
Users can flick through a digital version of the album here (external link in French).
 
Note from napoleon.org: the humanity present in the portraits, revealed by the artificial distance imposed between the photographer and his subjects, breathes life into these (on occasions excessively) sparkling uniforms. A beautiful album. (I.D.)