Baby Alex

I just love the variety in my work. In fact, I love that although I call it work it rarely ever feels like work. Miley Cyrus once said in an interview that her dad told her (yes, I know that's Billy Ray Cyrus - I'm actually a fan of country music as well as a fan of Hannah Montana. Sad I know.) that if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life. Now I wouldn't go so far as to say I never work, but far more often than not I feel like I am doing my hobby for fun as opposed to being part of running a business.

I had a great session with Baby Alex and her parents. As with all my newborn and nearly newborn sessions we don't really have a time limit for the session. It is my policy not to book back to back sessions for babies as I never know how long the session will take and I don't want time pressures to affect and add stress to either myself or my clients. Babies don't perform at will. They have needs and usually if we take the time to meet those needs we will be able to get what we need from each session.

So this means if my clients are running behind, unable to get to their session on time its still okay because I know what its like to be a new parent. With all the best will in the world, sometimes you just can't get out the door when you planned to. It also means that we have a great opportunity to get to know our clients as we chat over coffee, tea and biscuits (which I'm actually trying to avoid at present) during feedings. Another reason it hardly feels like work as sometimes its more of a coffee morning.

Alex was a little older than ideal for this sort of session but we were lucky enough to get her to sleep for some of our poses which are always my favourite.

Mum and Dad came for their viewing not knowing what to expect with various options in mind depending on how many images they liked. I sat patiently waiting for their reaction after the slideshow waiting to see if my usual gauge to how well I did would be evident. I'm not 100% certain but I believe there were tears. Not many professions can mark their success by whether or not they can make their clients cry. As an indication of how many images they liked they purchased a single image in a frame, a multi image arrangement (below) and a portrait album so they can have most of the remaining images. I'd say that was a success.

I can't wait for the next baby. I'm currently waiting on 3 pregnant women to have theirs any day now.

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...

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.

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...

More Workshops for 2011!!

This year we've decided to launch a schedule of 5 training events. Our training is designed as an introduction to lighting and workflow or a confidence builder for those who feel they've lost their way or never really got it straight in the first place. The day is split in two with the first half looking at lighting. We cover high key, mid key and low key set ups explaining each light required in detail with time allowed for each attendee to have a play with the studio lights themselves. After lunch we then look at workflow. We take your through importing and sorting images in Lightroom, making adjustments and enhancements in Lightroom followed by exporting to Photoshop. We then take a closer look at the imges in Photoshop, going over the ways in which we treat all our images. This includes the use of Kubota Actions. These workshops are running on the following dates: Wednesday February 16th Tuesday March 8th Wed...

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog