My Work Experience Week by Megan McClintock

My name is Megan McClintock, I am a student at JCC and for my work experience week I decided I wanted to do something photography related, as it is a career I have considered for the future, so I went to Christina Lauder Portraits.

During my week with Christina, I learnt new various photography skills such as how to work with lighting to make a photo look more soft and flattering or more hard and dramatic. Also I learnt how Christina likes to edit her photos in ‘Lightroom’ and ‘Photoshop’ before developing them.

Over a few days, I did a school project which was needed for homework. This was to produce a picture similar to David Hockney’s. For this, I had Jade standing against a background Christina had and I zoomed right in and took a photo of each block with a slight overlap, then we put them into photoshop and made the collage then added a few frame effects at the end so you could see the separate pictures. This took a long time as there was over 70 photos to put together! Also, the lens I used to take the photos was extremely heavy as it was the biggest one Christina had.

Another thing we did was have a photoshoot between us and as another girl from school went there to do her work experience at the same time. We took dresses in and did lots of different poses then afterwards we went through and edited the ones that we liked with the assistance of Christina.

On Wednesday we took a walk down to florist to get some flowers and nice pot to put them in so we could take some photographs of them and then edit them afterwards. (The photo used is Christina’s)

Being a photographer was more hard work then I expected it to be! You have to have the right angles, and backdrop and the lighting at the exact position and brightness. Also you have to have the perfect composition for the subject that is being photographed.

On Thursday because the weather was nice, me and Jade took a walk around Burbage to photograph main places for the kids at the playgroup where they could visit. We also had another try at a different Hockney style picture, but it didn’t finish off as well as we expected so we didn’t use it.

Overall, I had a fantastic week with Christina and enjoyed it a lot! I liked how every day we did and learnt something different and how it was relaxed yet we still got a lot of work done. I would definitely recommend visiting Christina for work experience or if you would like any photos taking. I would also like to thank Christina for a great week and being such a lovely, helpful lady throughout my week.

Comments

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 ...

Winner of the Master Photographers Association's UK Family Portrait Award

This year for the first time I decided to join the MPA (Master Photographers Association). As a qualified member this entitled me to compete amongst other professionals throughout the UK. Last night the awards ceremony was held at the Hinckley Island Hotel (amazingly close to home for a change) where I received the news that my family portrait won its category. I am over the moon that it was a unanimous decision from all judges who felt it stood out against all others in the category making it the clear winner. And to have John Stoddart, a man who has photographed a great number of A list celebrities, present the award telling me this is a fantastic image was the icing on the cake. I'll admit that I have never really regarded family groups as my strong suit. They are hard work and not always the most challenging creatively. Until now that is. This project which I consider to be a joint effort along with my clients involved much planning and creativity. Together we came up...

Family Portraits - With the Entire Family

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Mum and Dad, their Son and Daughter and their Son and Daughter's families. It made for a portrait of 10 people altogether which of course comes with its challenges. But we got their in the end and I'm thrilled with the results. The hardest part of course is getting everyone looking their best in the same photo. It rarely works out in such a large group but I managed to get several with only a couple of Photoshopping, head swapping requirements. But my skills are up to that challenge quite well these days so I'm almost always quite confident that everyone will be happy with themselves in the final family portrait chosen. And I have to admit I love the challenge of taking a great face from one image and making it fit so no one notices in another image. As is usually the case, I also photograph the large group in smaller subsections as its a good opportunity, while everyone is d...

Playing Dress-ups and Creating Fine Art Portraits with These Lovely Young Ladies

Now this is exactly what I like to do. This was not only a fun and creative session but it was also quite relaxed and low stress as each of these girls were old enough to both be patient with me and follow instructions. This allowed me to use my skills to pose and direct as needed, rather than what can happen with very young children who either don't understand the instructions or who really just want to do their own thing. Although the very young bring their own magic to a shoot, like a cuteness factor that can't be beat, being able to take my time and direct my subjects means I can create the vision that is in my head. Probably what is most frustrating about the very young is that I can often see exactly what I want to create but without a little help from the child its not always possible. In this case all four girls worked very well and I think they all enjoyed themselves too, even the youngest performed beautifully and I couldn't be happier with all their portra...

My Associate Panel

As I mentioned in my last blog, I achieved my Associateship in Portraiture with the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers). I just thought I would share with you the panel I submitted. Having sat through the assessment I see that there are a couple of images that I wish I hadn't chosen, more so due to not having enough variety rather than the lack of quality. but overall I am pleased with my submission. I always thought that once I achieved my Associateship I would be done with qualifications. Working towards a Fellowship just seems so unattainable. I don't think I can just sit here not striving towards a goal though. Besides, my husband has already set 5 year plan. So I guess I've not seen the end of qualifications just yet. But don't be expecting any news on this front for quite some time though. A fellowship is on an entirely new level and its going to take a lot of work.

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog