Christina Lauder Portraits

Again, more variety for me. Now this really is different and quite a lot of fun, for a change. Its basically just me, on my own, in an empty restaurant before the lunch crowd arrives. Barnacles Restaurant Bar & Bistro is a great restaurant owned by a lovely family and located just off the A5 in Hinckley, Leicestershire. I can highly recommend it. If you want more details please check out this link. This may look like easy work and in some ways it is. What I find most difficult is positioning the camera on a tripod so that the obvious straight lines are running either perfectly horizontal or vertical as required. When photographing a room on an angle the horizontal lines won't be level but it looks better to find a vertical line to make perfectly parralel to the edge of the image. Without one line level it can result in an image that looks unnaturally wonky. If that were the case we'd likely find our attention goes more to trying to understand what we are seeing rather ...

As I've always said, and sorry to harp on about it, variety is what I like. So I've really been enjoying working with awake babies as its made a nice change for me. They still aren't of an age where they can take direction but they aren't terribly mobile yet either so its not too difficult to get them and keep them in a position that works. I'm quite a stickler for getting the lighting in my portraits just so, which means having my subjects in the right position is important. If they turn their head it could mean they are no longer in the right light. I generally start by sitting them where I need them and then either myself or with the help of parents we'll work at getting them looking in the right direction. Here I had Mum's help to get her to look to the side and at Mum's face which was the right eye level for the light here and a pleasing position for the portrait. When I want them to look into the camera I usually find that if...

This night I had been looking forward to since before I even knew I'd ever put on an exhibition seem to come and go so quickly. Before I knew it we were on our way home. Believe it or not its been something I always dreamed of, a night when people would come to see my work, work that I've become very proud of. I would like to thank everyone who came to support me. It means a lot to see so many friends and clients who've become friends take the time to visit. I really appreciate it. I also really appreciate my photographer for the evening, Mr. Ed Brown. All the photographs you see in this blog have very kindly been provided by my friend and fellow photographer. Ed is a fantastic wedding photographer based in Hinckley but serving clients far and wide. Its wonderful to have these images, first because it meant I didn't need to be worrying about a camera or doing a job on this night and second because I got to see this exhibit through someone else's eyes. Ed phot...

This has been a long time coming.  Probably for as long as I can remember I've wanted to be the sort of person who could put on an exhibit. I remember being 8 years old and asking for a camera because I wanted to produce the sort of photographs I admired from others. I always had a fascination with the family albums and our slide projector. I was forever asking to put on a slideshow, much to my parents annoyance. I remember vividly loving some photographs of me as a baby sitting on a shag carpet with the light coming in from a window to the side and thinking it was a fantastic photo. I realise now that I was already admiring good available light. I might dig that photo up one day and post it actually. So finally I've done it. My work is on display and it is everything I wanted it to be and more. I didn't realise how much seeing all these images in print would mean to me. I spend so much time working on them on a computer and sharing them on social media that I don...

And the tallest parents too.  Dad is 6'10" and Mum is 6'8", making this little one seem even smaller. Although she needed some coaxing at first, it didn't take long to see these huge smiles.  Mum and Dad clearly knew how to bring out the best in her and thankfully weren't afraid to bring out the song and dance to make it happen.   This beautiful girl made me long for the time when my daughter was this age and I still find it hard to believe its been nearly 11 years since she was.  And even harder to believe that at nearly 12 my little girl is no longer little, with the teenage years fast approaching and the attitude already firmly in place. It was great being able to do what I do for these clients.  Using my props and clothing and creating individual pieces that will stand proud in the homes of my clients.  The image at the top in the suitcase being the Mum and Dad's favourite of the lot. (Finally one where she isn't smiling - I...

As many of you know I regularly enter the Societies monthly image competition. It is through this that I have earned 4 Photographer of the Year titles over the past 2 years. Each month we can submit one image per category. The images awarded gold get put through to the annual competition where the Photographer of the Year is decided. So this month from over 1200 images just 33 were given a gold. The following 2 images are my images that received a gold. The highly commended images are given a second chance at being judged later on in the year and some of these images are then upgraded to gold. These also stand a chance at winning an annual award. Last year my Baby Photographer of the Year came from just such an image. And this image, which I nearly didn't enter because to be honest I'm not so sure it is worthy of a gold, this time received a highly commended. I'm happy with this and think its a fair score. This image was shot during a live demo at the Photog...