I'm Back and its About Time

First, I can't believe where the summer has gone. It just seemed to disappear in a blink of an eye. I hadn't intended on taking this much of a break from my blog, but I knew I couldn't keep up with regular postings with my daughter off school for 6 and a half weeks. Still I hadn't realised it has been this long. Sorry about that. It shan't happen again (until at least next summer, I hope).

Anyway, I've had a great summer so far which even included a trip to Turkey where the weather was fantastic (so much better than here). I now see why the British holiday abroad each year. You need it so you can get through a British summer.

As you can see, I can't get away from photography, no matter where I go. In fact I even brought two cameras with me (but managed to leave the large lense at home). I feel very uneasy without a camera, like I could be missing out on a great Kodak moment.

And I really enjoy collecting portraits of the kids so we can look back on them in years to come. These aren't all of mine, by the way. We had friends staying at a nearby resort so we met up for a day, which turned out to be highly eventful when two members of their family ended up in the hospital. It was my husbands great idea to see if they could get 9 people into a single raft down a slide. Needless to say it gave me the opportunity to say I told you so.

Amazingly though, nothing major came of it. And the rest of the holiday was fantastic. I would definitely recommend a resort with a waterpark. It amused the kids for hours. This was a perfect example of how some adverts do work really well. This holiday was a direct result of my 6 year old asking for a First Choice holiday everytime the ads came on the telly. I have to say, I am glad we went too.

Anyway, it is back to work now. Things have really been picking up over the past few weeks. So I have plenty to blog about now that I have decided to make a determined effort to keep up with my blog again. So I'll apologise in advance for bombarding you with frequent posts

because I have a fair bit to blog about now.

Comments

Portraits Even a Teenager Boy Loves

Finally I've had the opportunity to photograph a young man in my studio again. And funnily enough this was the second time that week which is absolutely superb. In both cases these young men were just as enthusiastic to be involved as I was, which is something I don't often get when I'm working with very young children, my usual subjects. With young children I find my energy in their cuteness. But with young adults I get energy from their excitement over how the portraits are working out. I get such a buzz from the experience and that can keep me going for hours, often editing the photos straight after the shoot for hours more. Shoots for teenagers is something I've been wanting to focus on for some time. Its not something that I often get asked for though unfortunately. It tends to be parents of very young children who want to capture moments that are slipping through their fingers at lightening speed. Maybe its teenage moodiness that means these moments don...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well again it has been a while since I last updated the blog. It was just crazy busy in the lead up to Christmas, with completing all outstanding orders and completing work on the studio. It is yet another New Year's resolution that I maintain this blog on a more regular basis. It is my goal that this year there will be no need for apologies for any lengthy absences. Since the completion of the studio I can already feel my life turning around. I feel happier, less stressed and much more organised, both personally and professionally. Our home is becoming a home again, now that all the photography gear has been moved out. And now I am able to store all my photography gear in one place it is making my life much simpler. I now know exactly where everything is and it is at my finger tips. What a difference this is making to my life. As I read the Facebook statuses of friends moaning about Mondays and getting back to work I actually find myself looking forward to going to work. Especial...

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...

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...

My Work Experience Week by Hester Sharpe

A week in the life of a Photographers assistant, is not all about saying cheese! I’m Hester Sharpe, currently at JCC but took a week out of normal school life on work experience to be a photographer’s assistant and learn the bits behind the camera, photograph and the process to get to the end result. During my week of work experience in photography I have learnt that there is a lot more than just taking the pictures and printing them. The steps in between are the key to getting the perfect photo. For example the photos have to be cropped, tweaked, edited, colour corrected. That is just a taste I have had in the processing of the photos and there is a lot more than just those things. Those processes are the most time consuming part of the photograph and a tremendous amount of detail is put in to the picture but all the hours spent are paid off with the end result; a perfect picture. It isn’t just how the picture looks; presentation is a key to photography too. Selecting the best ...

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog