This Little Honey was a Doll to Work With

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 I'm quiet throughout but call there name or squeak a toy occasionally they will look in my direction. If I do this too often they can end up ignoring me. So I save those moments for when it counts.

This little girl was a sweetheart. Her big blue eyes are just gorgeous and she smiled so often. The only difficult part with her was getting the pearls out of her mouth. But given that she is teething I could understand why.

The tutu in these portraits is one I made myself. I'm terrible at sewing but when I saw this and realised it requires no sewing (well just a little) I decided to give it a go. I love all the lace and had great fun collecting it from various places. This is just one more thing I'm now on the lookout for whenever I'm out. I plan on building my collection as a sort of hobby. It makes for something nice to do while watching tv at night.

So once again, if you've got a little one at home you wish to have portraits of please get in touch so we can discuss your interests. The number is 01455 611069 or email me at christina@christinalauderportraits.com. I always look forward to the next challenge.

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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…

Do You Have a Little Pirate in Your Family?

If so, why not capture it in a beautiful portrait so you can cherish these memories forever?

I designed and built this set for a client. She came to me with a son and daughter and during the consultation we discussed the interests of the children, as I always do. Our ideas for portraits for her daughter were going to be easy. She loved the idea of modelling pretty dresses so her shoot was sorted. Her son on the other hand was more difficult. Where ever possible I try to incorporate something about the children into each portrait. That can mean books, sports, dance, musical instruments or anything a person has an interest in. In this case he hadn't yet developed any interests, other than pirates.

Now my client didn't want me to go to too much trouble. We agreed it wouldn't be easy to make anything pirate themed look as though it fit my style and level of quality. A shop bought costume wasn't going to cut it. But I just had to try. I love dark wood in my portraits and I …

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When I first heard that Phoebe was transi…

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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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