My Work Experience Week by Ellie Davies

My name is Eleanor Davies and I am a student at William Bradford Community College. I am considering persuing a career in the media, which is why I was interested in spending a week with a photographer such as Christina.

Throughout the week I have experienced numerous aspects of photograhpy. From visiting and shooting a local playgroup to editing photos, I have discovered that it takes a lot more effort and time than you would think! The first few days of the week were spent editing proofs for a primary school, which - although time consuming - gave me a chance to familiarise myself with photoshop.

Most of Wednesday was spent at a playgroup in Burbage. I learnt how to set up equipment (

and how much equipment you actually need!) and how each piece plays an important part in producing a high quality picture. Photographing the children proved to be challenging yet entertaining - they were very reluctant to sit still and smile! Wednesday evening we visited the Oak FM studios in Coalville to learn about different business opportunites the station offered. Although only loosely related to photography, the visit was extremely interesting, especially as I enjoy learning about the media and it's different formats.

On Thursday I got to invite some of my friends over and do a photoshoot with them. Although initially awkward (none of us really knew what we were doing!), the shoot proved to be lots of fun and gave me a chance to experience photography first hand. I think that it produced some good pictures and provided an exciting new experience for all of us.

Friday was spent editing the pictures took the previous night, which taught me lots of different techniques on photoshop and showed me how to get the best possible results.

Overall the week has been lots of fun and shown me that photography takes alot more time and effort than I had previously anticipated. I have enjoyed working varied hours and doing lots of different things; it has made me more eager to persue my career in the media and I admire Christina for running a business such as her own.

I would reccomend this to anyone who is enthusiastic about photography as it is a great opportunity to improve and learn. Finally, I would like to thank Christina and her family for being so welcoming and giving me such an enjoyable and interesting week!

Comments

Anonymous said…

hi.. just dropping by here... have a nice day! http://kantahanan.blogspot.com/

9 November 2009 at 11:30

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

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

My First London Fashion Shoot

Well I finally did it. I bit the bullet and faced my fears and headed to London with a good friend, Mr. Panikos Hajistilly to do my first location shoot. We chose our locations together and Panikos organised a model and brought so much of his gear which he kindly shared with me. And probably most importantly, he showed me how it's done. I was so surprised to see just how much wonderful light was there, just waiting to be used. I am a studio photographer and while I understand the use of studio flash very well, I am very much out of practice and out of my comfort zone with using available light. Its one thing to place lights and backdrops around my subject in the comfort of my studio. Its very different to find the right light and the right backdrop in unfamiliar territory and to place my subject in it. That may sound simple enough but honestly it is not, particularly on a day with no clouds in the sky. One of our planned locations just wasn't possible as a result of the

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 Portraits with Fine Art Flair

I have a love and hate relationship with family portraits. I love the finished piece and creating something that is truly special to the family. I love that in years to come something I made is going to be a cherished and valueable memento for this family. What I struggle with, is getting all members of the group to look their best at exactly the same moment in time. You would be surprised at how difficult this actually is, particularly when it comes to 6 children. But I always get there in the end, whether it is the luck of a moment or with the aid of Photoshop. I ensure that everyone in the portrait is looking their best, even the dog. Seeing as this family is actually made up now of two families we also did portraits in their respective groups which I chose to do in different style to their main group. I love adding a bit of style for the overall main group and what you see above is something that is proving popular with my clients. I love adding props and giving a sort of Vani

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog