Baby Sienna

Shortly before Christmas I had the joy of photographing a very young little girl. She was perhaps a little older than I would have liked but with patience we still managed to get most of the shots I was hoping for, even the lovely propped up on elbows pose which is one of my favourite poses for wee ones. As I've said before, less than 2 weeks is ideal for this type of shoot as baby is still so sleepy.

I also got the chance to use my new prop, a bed. I didn't though get to use the new (old) pram I recently bought from the Peterborough Antiques fair. That will have to wait till the next shoot.

I always get the required photos first and if time and baby permit I try something for myself. Well although we had the time, Sienna just wasn't that keen on being moved about. She was more interested in milk and Mummy. I was beginning to feel cruel every time we moved her. It had me wondering if she comes back when she's older will she have an uncomfortable feeling when she comes to the studio and not understand why.

I even managed to get one of Mum this time. I just love seeing the look of love in a mother's eyes when they look at their new baby. This is something I really wish I had of me with my daughter so she could see how much I loved her right from the start.

Mum and Dad had expressed an interest in a 9 in 1 arrangement but as Mum had brought many props to be added to the photos I came up with the idea of including 16 images instead so that I could include some of the special items given as gifts. Thankfully the idea worked and my clients choose the perfect frame for it. I'll be photographing this one when it comes back from the framers to share with you later.

Comments

Zoe returns, this time with baby!!!

This was a great opportunity for me to experiment in my new studio. Zoe let me do this with her baby bump a couple of months ago with great success so we took the time again, this time with her new baby. Some experiments were successful and some where not. But that comes with the territory. You can't find new and exciting ways to shoot without finding a few bad ways too. I'm just greatful that the only mess we needed to clean up in the end was a little wee. It could have been a whole lot worse.
As usual, Zoe photographs so well and I am again so pleased with the results. She is going to have some great images to show her daughter when she grows up. Zoe looks absolutely fantastic, and without any signs of having been pregnant just a few short weeks ago. Of course, apart from her bump she hardly showed any signs of even being pregnant. If only all women could be this lucky.

I had forgotten how easy it is to photograph newborns. They can't run or crawl away. Th…

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 seemed somewha…

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 was transi…

Family Portraits with Fine Art Flair

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Seeing as this family is actually made up now of two families we also did portraits in their respective groups which I chose to do in different style to their main group. I love adding a bit of style for the overall main group and what you see above is something that is proving popular with my clients. I love adding props and giving a sort of Vanity F…

Its a Dog's Life

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I honestly love photographing dogs. They are a joy to work with and its almost impossible to produce a bad portrait of a dog which does of course make my life a little easier. I am someone who really needs to love the work I create. I can't help but love the portraits I've created of all the dogs I've photographed over the years. And this shoot was certainly no exception.

I found it a real pleasure using a lighter background this time too. I do often gravitate towards darker looks but seeing as this dog had a light coloured coat I thought I'd produce lighter images. This gave me the chance to use a canvas I painted a couple of years ago but never really used and I absolutely love it now. I don…

Christina Lauder Portraits

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