Christina Lauder Portraits

I was surprised when asked if it was okay to bring a few boys to one of our Clique sessions. I thought it was great but based on the experiences with my step daughter who seems to want nothing to do with boys I was not expecting to have this opportunity. But I am glad I did. It made it a totally different experience and the photos turned out great. In fact it has made me think that it may even be possible to have a party entirely for boys. Although I won't be suggesting this to my step son. I can just imagine the look on his face if I did. He prefers something a bit more on the adventurous side like rock climbing. But then again, he is rather sick of being stuck in front of the camera as he gets it a lot from me. In this case though, these boys truly seemed to enjoy being in front of the camera. That made it so much more fun for me and so much easier. I think a couple of them have been practicing in front of the mirror before coming out. They seemed to know exactly how to smile ...

My name is Zak Millard and I am 15 years old. For my two weeks work experience I chose to incorporate a passion of mine, photography. Christina is a very competent photographer and a easy person to get on with, she is also patient which was good for me because I often forgot something or had to ask twice about an instruction. My two weeks with Christina have been very helpful. Though I am a aspiring photographer there is much I have learnt, including: Different lights and there uses. Different light set ups. Key photoshop skills. Exposure compensation. AV/TV settings. Composition. How to keep children's interest! One of the most useful things Christina has taught me is that of photo editing. Photography isn't all about taking the pictures though obviously this is important. The little tweaks made here and there make a lot of difference and in all honesty before Christina showed me these tweaks I would never have made them myself, so thank you Christina for opening ...

Nearly every month I enter an online competition with the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers). Each month nearly 2000 images are entered in various categories from photographers all over the world. They are judged by a highly qualified professional and given a score of either Bronze, Silver or Gold. All Gold winners are put forward into the annual competition where they have the chance to win Photographer of the Year for its category. Well this month I was awarded a Gold in the Pet Category with the image below. This isn't the first gold I have been awarded, just the first since I started my blog. If you wish to see my other gold images please visit my website and check out our awards section. Click here to see my awards page Hopefully I will have many more of these to show you in the future.