I've Been Asked to Take the Images for a Charity Calendar

The Leicester Mercury last night featured this article on the subject.

Coach crew dare to bare

A crew of coach drivers and backroom staff are stripping off for charity.

The men and women are hoping to raise up to £9,000 through sales of a saucy calendar.

Burbage photographer Christina Lauder has taken a series of pictures of staff stripped off but with strategically placed items covering their modesty.

Money raised from sales will be shared between the air ambulance and the Hathern Dog Rescue charity.

Julie Johnson. of Hugglescote firm Roberts Coaches, said: "We are hoping to raise in excess of £5,000. If, however, we can sell 2,000 calendars we could possibly reach £9,000."

Miss Johnson, who has posed for one of the pictures, said: "I have managed to get some of our coach drivers to get into the spirit of the cause and I have been overwhelmed by the support, so much so that we are having to have a second day shooting photos."

Transport manager Geoff Cox was one of the first to take his clothes off for the calendar.

He said: "I was reluctant at first but it's for charity and Julie can be very persuasive.

"Some of the drivers were not too keen at first. But in the end, they quite enjoyed getting their kit off for charity."

Miss Lauder said: "I was delighted to offer my services when Julie contacted me."

Coach driver Andy Williamson is one of the crew yet to be photographed.

He said: "It is a bit of a laugh and it's for two good causes.

"Quite a few of the lads have agreed to strip off for the camera."

The calendars will be priced at about £5 and will go on sale in August.

Sue Fairbrother, of Hathern Dog Rescue, said: "We depend on donations and we really appreciate the support we have received from Roberts Coaches over the years. I hope the calendars prove popular. It will help us continue our service of re-homing strays and other dogs with no homes."

Catherine Foster, fund-raiser for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance said: "I would like to thank the team for all their fund-raising efforts.

"It is always good to see the different, innovative ways that the community supports the air ambulance and keep us flying.

"As a registered charity, we receive no Government or Lottery funding and it costs us over £1.5 million a year to keep operational and rescuing people. We, therefore, rely on fundraising activities like this to keep on saving lives."

I'd just like to say thanks to Julie Johnson, from Roberts Coaches (http://www.robertsholidays.co.uk/) for inviting me to take part in this exciting project. I can't wait to see the finished article.

Comments

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 seemed somewha…

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 Vanity F…

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 talk to the …

Its a Dog's Life

When life gets tough I always look at dogs or my cats and think how lucky they are. I know not all are treated well but those lucky enough to be in a good home, like the ones who come into my studio, have a really great life. They look so happy and its a wonderful thing to see.

I honestly love photographing dogs. They are a joy to work with and its almost impossible to produce a bad portrait of a dog which does of course make my life a little easier. I am someone who really needs to love the work I create. I can't help but love the portraits I've created of all the dogs I've photographed over the years. And this shoot was certainly no exception.

I found it a real pleasure using a lighter background this time too. I do often gravitate towards darker looks but seeing as this dog had a light coloured coat I thought I'd produce lighter images. This gave me the chance to use a canvas I painted a couple of years ago but never really used and I absolutely love it now. I don…

Do You Have a Little Pirate in Your Family?

If so, why not capture it in a beautiful portrait so you can cherish these memories forever?

I designed and built this set for a client. She came to me with a son and daughter and during the consultation we discussed the interests of the children, as I always do. Our ideas for portraits for her daughter were going to be easy. She loved the idea of modelling pretty dresses so her shoot was sorted. Her son on the other hand was more difficult. Where ever possible I try to incorporate something about the children into each portrait. That can mean books, sports, dance, musical instruments or anything a person has an interest in. In this case he hadn't yet developed any interests, other than pirates.

Now my client didn't want me to go to too much trouble. We agreed it wouldn't be easy to make anything pirate themed look as though it fit my style and level of quality. A shop bought costume wasn't going to cut it. But I just had to try. I love dark wood in my portraits and I …

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog