Skip to main content

Special Portraits of a Special Little Boy


Last year when I was working on my Fellowship panel I put out a casting call for children who would be suitable for the portraits I had in mind. In doing so I received a message to consider this little boy for my project. Unfortunately he was a little young at the time, being under 2 when really 2 was the minimum age I was willing to consider and in the end it turned out that 3 was the youngest I chose to work with. And this was for the simple reason that I needed the children to be able to follow instructions so that I could be very precise in my posing of them. But I couldn't resist this little boy and felt I wanted to work him.


You'll probably notice that the image above looks very similar to the one above it. I couldn't make my mind up which I liked best. To be honest I like the hand placement of the second image and the expression of the first. This is how closely I look at my portraits so try my best to make all elements just so. In each portrait I create I consider both hands and feet along with the lighting, props, clothing and finally the expression. For me the perfect expression without the other elements still just makes for an average shot. Its everything together that makes a great portrait.


I've had experience with children with Downs Syndrome before. As a young teenager I spent a lot of time babysitting one such child who lived down the road from me. I always loved his personality and to be honest never really saw him any different to the other children, apart from he seemed younger than his age. I also regularly photograph children of all sorts of abilities when I do the school photos at Menphys Nursery each autumn and there I've come across some real characters too. So I wanted to see if I could create the sort of portraits I did for my Fellowship panel with a child that might not follow directions as easily.


And it looks like I can. It wasn't as easy as some sessions but it wasn't the most difficult either and that is not to say it was anything to do with Downs Syndrome. He is a young child who has good days and bad like all other children. I've experienced the same difficulties with many other children. It could even go back to the idea that he just seems younger than his age. And not many 2 year olds perform perfectly for these sessions. And we may have been  asking a lot from him. He came to me straight from school which I think could have been part of the problem. Not only were we taking him out of his routine, but we were also asking him to work and be patient after a long day at school. With that in mind, I think he did very well. I got from this session almost everything I was hoping for. The only thing I was missing was the beaming happy face looking directly into the lense. If I managed to get that it would have been a perfect session.


So this is something I'd like to do again. I've been thinking for a while now that I'd like to begin a project that involves all sorts of young children with Downs Syndrome to see just what they can do and show the world that although they have their differences they are still very much the same as other children. In fact, I'd like to show that what makes them different is what also makes them very special.


I look forward to building on this idea of mine and hope to show more in the near future.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

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...

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 ...

Fine Art Portraits of a Beautiful Young Girl

So this is really becoming my thing lately. I am having so much fun working with children individually where I can direct and interact in ways that bring the best out of my subject. This has certainly become a process now of creating rather than taking photographs. And its what I have always wanted to be, a portrait artist rather than a photographer. I cannot put into words fully just how rewarding this is. For each of these shoots (as with nearly all of my shoots) we begin with a consultation where we discuss what we would like to achieve in the shoot. Here we will consider the type of clothing and any possible props. We will look at both the clients clothes and my ever growing collection so we can pick what will work best. In all circumstances we are heavily guided by what the child in the portraits wants to wear as I see this as vitally important. If he or she is uncomfortable its going to show and the portraits won't work. But most are happy to play dressups and wear a com...

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...