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…

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Wallis has been a pleasure to work with. She is a stunning, confident young woman. In addition, she could bring props with her that I love. I've been wanting to photogra…

Isabelle's Photography Experience

I'm Isabelle Stratford from Redmoor Academy and I've been doing my work experience here at Christina Lauder Photography with my friend Sophie. I'm very interested in photography and currently taking it at GCSE and working here throughout the week has helped me learn several different things about the profession.
Sophie and I testing out the set up and lighting for prom
Our first day consisted of mainly watching Christina edit some photos and her explain different elements of what she does which then prepared us for the rest of the week when we began doing our own things. She also showed us many of her favourite final edited images that she keeps as samples and told us where she'd got her inspiration from to shoot in the style that she loves. To help her Sophie and I also completed some small tasks that needed doing like filing and clearing up. On Tuesday a client came in for a trial shoot in preparation for a prom so we helped set up for that but then watched as Chris…

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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…

4 Merits, 3 Finalists, 2 Awards and a Masters!

This past week at the Societies of Photographers Convention in London was just about perfect in every way. As always I look forward to this event with mixed emotions. As a judge and speaker anxiety levels can be high. And I always know that through both working and socialising it can be an exhausting experience that is often hard to get through. However the high I finish on is simply incredible and worth all the sleepless nights and hard work, in large part due to the incredible people with whom I get to spend this week.

(Photo Credit: Mike McNamee - Sitting on a panel)
(Photo Credit: Mike McNamee - The entire judging team including print handlers)
Being amongst the judging team just gets better and better each year. It is very intimidating sitting on that panel and being resposible for assigning a score and then often providing a critique to substantiate it however the rewarding feeling when doing it well is immense. I know I am still a relatively new judge but hope I can improve each…

Christina Lauder Portraits

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