Skip to main content

My Memorable Week with Christina by Cerys Cross

Hi, my name is Cerys and I spent the week with Christina on work experience. I am a student at John Cleveland College and we had the opportunity to work with someone to gain experience for the ‘real world’.  I chose Christina, as photography really interests me and I intend developing my skills.

Throughout the week I have learnt many new techniques and skills, such as, studio lighting, using natural light, how my camera works, Photoshop and more. This interested me and I was always intrigued to learn more.

To begin the week, Ellie and I captured portraits of each other. These weren’t of very high quality, as we didn’t have much skill in this field. Fortunately, Christina educated us and taught us how to position different lights, reflectors and backgrounds. This opened our eyes to new ideas and we became more confident. Once we felt we had sufficient amount of photos, Ellie and I imported them all onto the computer where we chose our favourite photographs. We were lucky enough to process a few photos, using software such as Photoshop, Lightroom and Colour efex, which was very enjoyable. This educated us even further. As this was our first time using these pieces of software, we weren’t fast and knew the ins and outs of every tool. But as the week continued, we learnt more and more. This is my favourite and final image I captured of Ellie.


Ellie and I have a school photography project to complete, so we took the opportunity of using Christina’s studio to complete this. We set up a scene, in the style of Cindy Sherman film stills, and we each took it in turns to model and take photographs. It was enjoyable and different to be in front of the camera, but I think I still prefer being behind the camera, taking the photos. To finalize our project, we imported the photos and processed the few we loved. Again, we learnt more about techniques and tools. To create the look we needed to achieve, we added Film Grain, using Nik software, which makes the photograph seem older and changed the colours to black and white. Doing this really achieved the Cindy Sherman look as you can see. It was such a brilliant opportunity to use Christina's lovely, well equipped studio for this project!



On Wednesday, we did something different, but I had such a good time. I'd never done anything like this before which made it such a wonderful experience. Ellie and I photographed the LOROS Colour Fun Mile. Below will be a few of my favourite photos for you to look at, and hopefully enjoy. We arrived at the event early so we could capture the pre-race vibes. Everyone was queuing to get their pure white t-shirts, colours to throw and to donate to an amazing charity. When the participants started to deliver the vibrance of colour into the air, we captured some lovely images of laughing friends and family. Judging by everyones faces, they thoroughly enjoyed their time. I know for sure Ellie and I did!






Our last day. Christina kindly set up the studio for us to use. This was in aid of us learning about studio photography. Using key light, fill lights, reflectors and a backdrop. Below will be some finished, processed photographs. This was really interesting and great to learn even more skills. We learned how to face the light for more flattering portraits and different places to stand for a range of images. 


Overall, I had such an amazing and inspirational week with Christina and I loved every minute. I intend to take everything I have learnt and use it to continue taking photos. I will well and truly miss coming to the studio and going out to meetings with Christina and Ellie. I have been challenged to things I never thought I could achieve. I'm proud of how much i've improved. I'm proud of my work.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wedding Workshop in Nottingham

On Wednesday of this week I made the trek up to Nottingham (which wasn't actually much of a trek compared to most of the other delegates who travelled from as far as Glasgow, Portsmouth and South Wales) for a workshop held at Crash Taylor's home. Crash, a very talented photographer, specialising in weddings is someone I can highly recommend to anyone. Apart from spending the morning getting to know the other photographers we then spent the afternoon photographing a hired model, in her own wedding dress, as we wandered through Nottingham Castle. It provided me a chance to see how other photographers handled their weddings as well as a chance to experiment with equipment I haven't had a chance to play around with. Like in this image to the right. Here I used my flash, mounted on a tripod off to the side. This allowed me to achieve studio quality lighting out of the studio, a technique I will be using in my environmental portraiture. I can't seem to make up my mind on whi...

London in Spring, Whats Not to Love?

Well I know there is still a lot not to love but I'm choosing to see the great things about London at the moment. I am having a ball this year visiting London as often as I can. Which is unusual for me since I usually prefer the comfort of my own home, in rural old Leicestershire. Staying home and avoiding people has always been the easy option. But this year, possibly due to the wonderful weather we keep having, has me longing for venturing out. Again, just like my last trip, I headed out with my good friend Panikos Hajistilly . Living in North London he finds it easy to meet up for our shoots. This time though I had more of an idea of the sights I wanted to use as the backdrops for my portraits. With it being spring I was in search of colour, preferably flowers. Admittedly. I didn't quite get what I was looking for. The white fronted terraced houses with pink magnolia trees we did not find unfortunately. But I did make it to Peggy Porchen's which was a must see on m...

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 ...

Teen Portraits - Prom Season is Just Around the Corner

If your child is heading to prom in the next couple of months I'd say there is probably no better time than now to have portraits created of your growing teen. With the purchase of a new (and probably expensive) outfit wouldn't it be nice to capture this milestone with a portrait created by a professional. Across the pond this is a hugely popular time to create portraits, and although I am not American (I'm Canadian) I wholeheartedly agree that this is a special moment to record. My prom was a key memory in my teen years and in fact I myself had professional portraits created also. I think I'll go dig them up if I can, though admittedly I think my mother has them back in Canada. I wonder if I can get her to scan one for me. My daughter is currently making plans for college and in the running is one that will move her away from home, as many others are probably experiencing for themselves, particularly those who are 18. This makes it all the more important to ...

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...