Photographing Dee - She may be famous someday

I have recently had the pleasure of photographing Dee Short, a recent graduate of Phil Winston's Theatreworks College in Blackpool. Dee had already had portfolio photographs from another photographer with whom she was unhappy with so I asked her to bring them along to see what it was she didn't like. Having seen them I saw straight away what was missing. Dee did not look comfortable or relaxed. They were lacking a sense of naturalness that I feel is essential for a performers portfolio collection.

So we set out to create a more natural selection of images. This will be done in 3 stages. For the first we decided to do a black background for a dramatic and classic look.

Admittedly, it isn't always easy getting a subject to relax and be themselves. You ca

n look at someone and see that they are beautiful but that doesn't automatically mean it will be easy to get a good photograph. A good photographer though should be able to get their subject to relax and become comfortable so that you can get that good photograph. It is obvious that Dee is a beautiful girl and I knew that with time I would be able to get what I wanted but it didn't happen straight away. I am sure that this was down to both of us needing to relax and get into the situation and this always takes time. But as the shoot went on I could see the transformation.

This is where I believe I am different from other photographers. I don't have any restrictions on clothing changes. I don't have an alotted time that each session must fit into. I don't do back to back appointments so there is never a rush. I like to work with my clients and have them feel that this is a team effort. With Dee, between outfit changes we reviewed the images to see what it is we liked and disliked about them and we discussed what we wanted to do next. I did this to help us both become more comfortable and to ensure that I was producing for Dee the type of images she was after.

I am very pleased with the results I was able to achieve from this shoot. And I am very much looking forward to the next two stages. The second will be an environmental shoot which will take place as soon as we can co-ordinate our schedules. And the third is something I am still working on but not yet ready for at this time. I still have some props to source and this wil

l take a little time. But as soon as I am ready I will be inviting Dee back and I will be very keen to add another blog to show everyone what I am up to.

Comments

Wedding Workshop in Nottingham

On Wednesday of this week I made the trek up to Nottingham (which wasn't actually much of a trek compared to most of the other delegates who travelled from as far as Glasgow, Portsmouth and South Wales) for a workshop held at Crash Taylor's home. Crash, a very talented photographer, specialising in weddings is someone I can highly recommend to anyone. Apart from spending the morning getting to know the other photographers we then spent the afternoon photographing a hired model, in her own wedding dress, as we wandered through Nottingham Castle. It provided me a chance to see how other photographers handled their weddings as well as a chance to experiment with equipment I haven't had a chance to play around with. Like in this image to the right. Here I used my flash, mounted on a tripod off to the side. This allowed me to achieve studio quality lighting out of the studio, a technique I will be using in my environmental portraiture. I can't seem to make up my mind on whi...

London in Spring, Whats Not to Love?

Well I know there is still a lot not to love but I'm choosing to see the great things about London at the moment. I am having a ball this year visiting London as often as I can. Which is unusual for me since I usually prefer the comfort of my own home, in rural old Leicestershire. Staying home and avoiding people has always been the easy option. But this year, possibly due to the wonderful weather we keep having, has me longing for venturing out. Again, just like my last trip, I headed out with my good friend Panikos Hajistilly . Living in North London he finds it easy to meet up for our shoots. This time though I had more of an idea of the sights I wanted to use as the backdrops for my portraits. With it being spring I was in search of colour, preferably flowers. Admittedly. I didn't quite get what I was looking for. The white fronted terraced houses with pink magnolia trees we did not find unfortunately. But I did make it to Peggy Porchen's which was a must see on m...

I am Still Me: A Story about a Transgender Boy

Meet Leo. Leo is 15 and currently going through an epic transformation that has momentarily turned the lives of himself and those around him upside down. A mum who once had the daughter she always longed for is now coping with the realisation that she will be living the rest of her life with a son instead. When your child is born you have certain expectations of the typical life they will lead but most of us know and accept that it won't necessarily end up the way we imagine. Not every person wants to marry, have kids or be involved with the opposite sex. Most of us have come to accept this and can adjust to whatever comes our way relatively easily. But few of us have expected to have to deal with a change in sex. Its not that we've hoped it won't happen, but just that it never occurred to us that it might. This is a new adjustment that we as a society are being presented with today, just like so many others that have come before. When I first heard that Phoebe ...

Teen Portraits - Prom Season is Just Around the Corner

If your child is heading to prom in the next couple of months I'd say there is probably no better time than now to have portraits created of your growing teen. With the purchase of a new (and probably expensive) outfit wouldn't it be nice to capture this milestone with a portrait created by a professional. Across the pond this is a hugely popular time to create portraits, and although I am not American (I'm Canadian) I wholeheartedly agree that this is a special moment to record. My prom was a key memory in my teen years and in fact I myself had professional portraits created also. I think I'll go dig them up if I can, though admittedly I think my mother has them back in Canada. I wonder if I can get her to scan one for me. My daughter is currently making plans for college and in the running is one that will move her away from home, as many others are probably experiencing for themselves, particularly those who are 18. This makes it all the more important to ...

Never Work With Children or Animals

Or so the saying goes. But I have to say that working with dogs has been so lovely. They have been almost entirely a dream to work with. I say almost entirely because we have had a few moments where a dog has needed to settle. And one moment where the dog had settled but one of my cats decided to have a look through the glass door which, as you can imagine, rather quickly unsettled the dog. Still, that didn't stop us from creating incredible work. In fact it was during that shoot with the cat instance when I created two of my favourite pieces, shown below. (It was while sitting on the couch here when he noticed the cat peering through the curtain) I don't know if I've just been lucky or all dogs are just easy to work with. I photographed a french bull dog puppy and I thought that would be tough as he hadn't had time to be properly trained yet. But he did everything we wanted in no time at all. And this included the props we used here (below), which to me...

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog