Portraits of a Couple of Great Teenage Girls

One recent client came to me to purchase the wonderful birthday gift of a portrait session for her daughter's 13 year old friend. What a great idea for the two girls to play models for the afternoon.

I really love these sessions because its such fun working with subjects that really want to be there. They aren't being bribed to behave. They aren't reluctantly contributing to the family portrait. And they aren't desperate for a feed or a nap. They can take direction and they see the experience as a real treat. And that reminds me of just how lucky I am to do what I do for a living. It is an exciting job and its easy to forget that when doing the day to day stuff.

The aim was to produce a few portraits of the two together so they could each have a keepsake of this shared experience. And then it was to let the girls have a bit of fun in a sort of fashion shoot. I always love the simple beauty of a black background so I began with this. For me its best to get a guaranteed winner at the start and then enjoy the remainder of the session having fun and trying different things.

The girls particularly liked a couple of backgrounds I have in my studio. I have a large PVC board with one side covered in magazine covers and portraits and the other side covered in wallpaper. We had a go at both.

Then I finished off with the white background. We ended up spending a total of 3 hours on this shoot which included numerous outfit changes and a whole lot of mess. My studio resembled a teenage girl's bedroom before a big party. Thankfully though, it cleans rather quickly once they pack there things and leave, taking their suitcases full of choice with them. It looked a little like they were moving in when they arrived. But bringing all this choice is important and exactly what I asked for so I'm not complaining.

If you have a young girl (or boy for that matter) who you think would enjoy such a session please get in touch so we can discuss your requirements. Call us on 01455 611069 or send us an email at christina_lauder@btconnect.com.

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

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 Vanity F…

Its a Dog's Life

When life gets tough I always look at dogs or my cats and think how lucky they are. I know not all are treated well but those lucky enough to be in a good home, like the ones who come into my studio, have a really great life. They look so happy and its a wonderful thing to see.

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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