Mother and Daughter Fine Art Portrait Session

Mother and Daughter Fine Art Portrait Session - The Individual Portraits

As a follow on from my Mother's Day promotion blog (click here to see the Mother's day promotion blog post) I wanted to share the individual portraits that were taken on the day. I think I'm in love. I never quite know the direction a session is going to take until we begin. I always have ideas and a plan of course but it still comes down to the people in the room, particularly when working with children.

On this occasion I had never met this young lady. I usually try to meet with the people I am photographing prior to our session so I know who I am working with and more importantly they know me. But this time I had already met the mother on more than one occasion so we didn't really find it necessary to meet again. Besides, at the age of 12 I was comfortable knowing she'd be fine with me. Younger children I would definitely prefer to meet first so that they aren't spending their day with a complete stranger causing an uncomfortableness that could show in the portraits.

This lovely young lady was well up for the task ahead. I could tell she enjoyed it and it wasn't long before she looked very comfortable in her portraits. Actually, while we're here I'd like to explain that everyone (well almost everyone) is a little uncomfortable at first. Quite often the first several images are poor as this unease shows. As we go on however, this wears off and we get into a grove that produces beautiful and natural looking images.

I am very much in love with my dark background images here. This background is one I painted myself, on canvas. This sort of background has been of interest to me for sometime and it wasn't until recently that I learned where I could order such backgrounds. They are actually from America and frequently used by the likes of Annie Leibowitz for such publications as Vanity Fair. So you can imagine where the appeal comes from. And of course that means they are out of my budget at this moment in time.

So I took on the task of creating one myself, which still wasn't cheap when factoring the cost of the canvas, the cost of the paints, and the hours of painting and re-painting to get it to where I like it. And to be honest I'm toying with painting it again as its just a little too dark for me. But before I do that I'm going to buy another canvas and create an entirely different one before I risk ruining one I already quite like. I can't wait for the budget to allow me to do this. For now with a trip home to Canada to pay for and a few other props already on order I have to wait for the canvas.

I also had fun creating a few different portraits this time, which is something I like to do in most shoots. Its these trial shots that often give me new ideas for future shoots and contribute so much to my inspiration and creativity. Which is why I pulled out the pink paper for a few and used my white wall in a way I've not used before. I bought the pink paper years ago and I've hardly used it.

I got this idea from one of my fellow brand ambassadors on the Bowens stand at the convention in London last month. I have always been in the habit of having my subjects sit several feet away from my backdrop and it never really occurred to me to have them lean against it. So I tried it here and quite liked the result. I think this is something I will keep working with.

And now here is a couple of images of Mum in her wedding dress. This is something I'd very much like to begin doing on a regular basis, creating some beautiful portraits of brides after their wedding. I have no interest at all in photographing weddings. Its not my thing. I am perfectly happy in the comfort of my studio. But I like the idea of bridal portraits after the fact.

We only did a few here because this shoot was about so much and this was just a small part of it as a trial. But I loved working with all this tulle and an up do so I hope I get to do this again soon.

If bridal portraits is something you are interested in please get in touch and let's see what we can do. You might be able to help with my portfolio building for this area of work. Please email me at christina@christinalauderportraits.com if interested.

Comments

Burbage Carnival 2009

For the past few years my husband and I have been attending the Burbage Carnival and remarking to ourselves at how much better it could be. The carnival seemed to be declining in recent years. Earlier this year I met someone (Harvey) who mentioned that he joined the committe. When I asked him why he said he had been remarking that the carnival could do with some improvements. The response he received was rather than complain why don't you join the committee and do something about it. Its hard to argue with that. The following week I found myself, along with my husband, at the Burbage Carnival meeting. And we've been attending (most meetings) ever since. With this being our first year we didn't want to dive in head first. We contributed where we felt we could but it was great to see that what little we were able to offer still made a difference on the day. We're now very much looking forward to seeing just how much of a difference we can make next year. I just hope it ...

Limited Edition Storybook Portrait Sessions

Well in the end I didn't take this promotion as seriously as was required in so much as I didn't allocate any budget for advertising. I relied only on the few posts on Facebook and as such I only did 2 sessions, which to be perfectly honest, was all I could handle this year given that I'd not properly planned for these sessions in an already busy time of year. However, what I did do proved to me that this is something that deserves proper attention and a concerted effort to push this promotion forward. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it, from shopping for props, to the sessions and then the editing. I really love the fun that these sessions provide and the look of the finished images. Spring will see a second go at this special collection with plenty of advertising in the run up to our event. I will get another chance at shopping for additional props and tools to run this limited edition promotion and I can't w...

Wellies, Wellies and More Wellies

Over the past couple of years I've been photographing Jileon Ltd's wellies for their website. And over the last couple of months I have had quite a bit to do for them. Jileon is a great client of ours, giving us regular work that I can undertake in my own time and in my own way. It makes for such a relaxing change from having to make small children smile in a short span of time. Particularly since they can't get up and walk away just at the moment when all elements of the perfect image come together. The only real challenge in photographing wellies for me seems to be the dreaded reflection that is unavoidable when photographing shiny objects using flash. But without this challenge where would be the fun? Jileon Ltd is a Hinckley based distributor of mainly wellington boots. They do also distribute other things but typically it is just their wellies that I photograph. If you wish to order a pair please vi...

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...

A Most Wonderful Portrait Session with 3 Lovely Ladies

This was a dream session for me. Not only did I have 3 beautiful young ladies, but they also brought with them a fantastic wardrobe and their very own hair stylist too (mum owns her own salon). So all the elements for beautiful portraits were there. And I was thrilled to get this opportunity. Its easy to think of having portraits when you have a new baby or when you get married or have a special family occasion where you get the entire family portrait done. But its less often that people think of having their growing children photographed. After all I suppose, they are photographed at school. I even do some of those school photographs. However, those portraits are made in less than a minute per child and they are assembly line style portraits while they are wearing their school uniform. They are never going to be as special as what can be created with unlimited time and outfit changes in the comfort of a private studio. Its in this environment that I can take the time to...

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog