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

Male Nude Masterclass at the Societies Convention in London

Here are the results from my masterclass at the convention just over a week ago. During this talk I set out to show 3 different lighting techniques using just 2 lights and a white background. I sometimes use more than 2 lights but I wanted to show that good photos can be produced with the minimum of kit. For the first we used a beauty dish to light our model with a second light for the background to give us a high key result. Had I been in my studio I would have used 2 lights to light my background but for such a tight crop the one light (centralised) was clearly good enough. For the second I used a softbox (strip light) on one side with barn doors on the second light on the other side. In hindsight I wish I had a grid with me to soften the light coming from the barn doors side. Not being in my studio I didn't have all my kit to hand so had to use what was available on the day. I found the bare bulb a little too strong here. Notice how we managed to get the whi

Fine Art Portraits of a Beautiful Young Girl

So this is really becoming my thing lately. I am having so much fun working with children individually where I can direct and interact in ways that bring the best out of my subject. This has certainly become a process now of creating rather than taking photographs. And its what I have always wanted to be, a portrait artist rather than a photographer. I cannot put into words fully just how rewarding this is. For each of these shoots (as with nearly all of my shoots) we begin with a consultation where we discuss what we would like to achieve in the shoot. Here we will consider the type of clothing and any possible props. We will look at both the clients clothes and my ever growing collection so we can pick what will work best. In all circumstances we are heavily guided by what the child in the portraits wants to wear as I see this as vitally important. If he or she is uncomfortable its going to show and the portraits won't work. But most are happy to play dressups and wear a com

Portraits Even a Teenager Boy Loves

Finally I've had the opportunity to photograph a young man in my studio again. And funnily enough this was the second time that week which is absolutely superb. In both cases these young men were just as enthusiastic to be involved as I was, which is something I don't often get when I'm working with very young children, my usual subjects. With young children I find my energy in their cuteness. But with young adults I get energy from their excitement over how the portraits are working out. I get such a buzz from the experience and that can keep me going for hours, often editing the photos straight after the shoot for hours more. Shoots for teenagers is something I've been wanting to focus on for some time. Its not something that I often get asked for though unfortunately. It tends to be parents of very young children who want to capture moments that are slipping through their fingers at lightening speed. Maybe its teenage moodiness that means these moments don&

Family Portraits with Fine Art Flair

I have a love and hate relationship with family portraits. I love the finished piece and creating something that is truly special to the family. I love that in years to come something I made is going to be a cherished and valueable memento for this family. What I struggle with, is getting all members of the group to look their best at exactly the same moment in time. You would be surprised at how difficult this actually is, particularly when it comes to 6 children. But I always get there in the end, whether it is the luck of a moment or with the aid of Photoshop. I ensure that everyone in the portrait is looking their best, even the dog. 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 Vani

Family Photos with Flair - Vanity Fair Style Family Portraits

This style of portrait continues to be the eye catching success I had always hoped it would be. Once again I created a beautiful family portrait that I am really proud of and I know this family loves too. Over the years I have developed this style through influences such as Vanity Fair and the many photographers I follow, though I hope that there is something in here that is entirely my own. Having my work easily identified as my own was a goal of mine from the start. Getting to the point where people will want not just a portrait but a Christina Lauder portrait is where I've always wanted to be and I'm hoping I'm on way. These portraits were created for the family of two professional photographers who wanted some portraits of their own. Family portraits isn't really something one can do of oneself, at least not easily. So they needed the services of another and I was honoured to be chosen for the job. They chose me not just for my style but also for my ab

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog