Christina Lauder Portraits

I recently had the great opportunity of photographing Joel Hicks.   It gave me the chance to stretch my abilities and try out new things.  And what a wonderful experience it turned out to be.   I tried out new lighting set ups.  I got some practice in working on the male nude.  And we tried out a sort of multiple exposure thing that Joel suggested which worked a treat.  I shall definitely be trying this one again, particularly since my new camera (currently sitting under the Christmas tree waiting to be opened) actually has a mulitple exposure feature.  How exciting.     This session was also used to help me prepare for a masterclass I am presenting at the Societies Convention in London in January.  I'll be speaking on the subject of the male nude and I'm really looking forward to seeing the turnout.  I've been attending this event for years but I've never seen any talks on photographing men.  I'm ...

And here are my topics. The first is taking place on Friday January 11th, from 2-3:30pm in the Hilton Meeting Rooms 7 to 12 and is titled 'The Male Nude - Fine Art from a Different Perspective'.  This Masterclass will include a live demo showing a number of different lighting set ups I use when photographing men.  Over the years this convention has seen many wonderful Masterclasses on photographing women.  So this year I wanted to do something a little different.  This is a subject I love partly because it is so different to photographing women.  Come along and take a look to find out how.  Click here for further details. The second session is a Superclass and this is taking place on Sunday January 13th from 2-6:00pm and is titled 'Workflow from the Basics in Lightroom to High Level Enhancements in Photoshop'. During this 4 hour intensive class we'll do such things as import, sort, make first level enhancements that include using the adjustm...

I am so behind on blogging at the moment and not sure when I am going to catch up.  I think I may be posting daily for a little while in an attempt to get it all out there.  I'll apologise now if I become a nuisance.  Well I'll start with saying that November was quite a good month as far as my photography goes.  I finally got around to entering the Societies monthly competition which proved to be very worth while.  I entered 5 images and received 2 golds and 2 highly commended.  Then the other day I received in the post my certificate saying that one of my highly commended entries was upgraded in the annual reassessment of all highly commended images to a gold.  I'm very pleased with that and its made me think I really must do this more often.  So here they are:   There, one blog down, about 6 more to go.  Can I fit them all in before December 31st?  Only time will tell.  But I am d...

These two gorgeous children have proven to be one of my favourite portrait sessions in that they have truly beautiful faces.  Their eyes and smiles are just wonderful.  Unfortunately what made them slightly less than perfect was the little girl's aversion to sitting still.  But I really can't complain because in the short time I had her attention I managed to get 4 images I absolutely love.  I love them so much I've decided its time to switch some of my samples in the studio.  The hard part now for me is deciding which ones to choose.  And the frame my client choose for one of her images has got me thinking I want that as a sample in the studio too.    I just love the portrait above.  I wish I could have taken one like this of my daughter who often had a look similar to this.  I have snaps of my daughter doing just this, once during her first dance show and another time on her first day o...

I can now officially say that I am an international speaker and judge, having not long returned from a wonderful photographic conference in the warm and sunny island of Malta.  Early this year I was invited to speak at this convention as one of only 2 speakers attending from the UK.  What an honour it has been.  And what a pleasure as well.  I'm not sure I've ever visited a place full of such friendly and welcoming people. I am generally one to talk to strangers anyway but never has it felt this natural and easy as it did in Malta. I felt very at home here, particularly since I see this country as being so similar to Italy, where my father and his side of the family are from. So the food and the way of life was such a welcome change to England. And the sunny weather and 25 degree temperatures didn't hurt either.    I was disappointed however, that in the end my husband couldn't be there. He was meant to come with me for a b...

I love it when I get the chance to photograph adults.  Although it can be harder to get a natural smile out of them its much easier directing them.  They tend to behave without the need of a bribe which is always a good thing.  Kerrie came to me after having been to another photographer who had done work she wasn't thrilled with.  Having taken a look at those images I could see why.  The other photographer didn't understand lighting and instead used gimicky coloured gels in an attempt to make them look more like fashion photos but in the end did nothing to flatter Kerrie, leaving her disappointed with the results.  It is my job as a portrait photographer to use light and posing to create images that do flatter my subjects so they can walk away with something they are proud of and will cherish for their lifetime.  I was really pleased with Kerrie's portraits and thrilled to be able to blog about them and put them on my website.  I ...

And here we have another newborn.  It has become very clear to me that I have a favourite subject and it is definitely newborns.  They are so beautiful, and so peaceful its just a relaxing and enjoyable experience.  And to me it is the most important stage in a child's life to capture professionally because they are only newborns for such a short time.  They change so quickly at this stage.  In fact, every session I have parents come back to their viewing commenting on how much they've changed just in the week or so since their session.  And judging by the many Facebook images I see of new babies they are also a lot more difficult to capture well.  I don't mean any offence by this.  Its just that a perfect baby deserves perfect exposures and focusing which is often missing in the images I see on Facebook.  How much is it worth to have a clear picture of exactly what baby looked like in those early days? I also love...

I just love it when I have returning clients.  And this one has been to me loads, for baby bumps, newborns, and toddlers.  Now she returns with her second baby and thankfully adhered to our recommendation of under 2 weeks, as by week 3 she was wide awake for much of the day.  Much of these portraits would not have been possible.  I have to admit that Daisy was harder than the others to get into this pose.  We had such a short window of opportunity here.  Her strong little arms wouldn't let us put her into this position properly so she kept falling out of it.  But we got other lovely poses anyway and 2 images in this position that I love.  Hands and feet are something else I love to photograph when I'm working with babies.  They are just so cute and tiny.  They make great filler for albums too.  I think capturing these details at such an eary stage is so important.  They change so quickly at this age.  Wit...

I am so lucky these days.  I keep getting bookings for my favourite subject, babies.  It is just so lovely to be working with beautiful babies, who are relatively easy.  They have no hang ups about their appearance.  They generally sit still througout the session.  And it doesn't often take much to get them to smile, or at least look content and thoughtful enough to make a beautiful portrait.  I even get to enjoy cuddles at the end of my sessions which has been wonderful.  My baby is 9 years old now so it feels like an eternity since I held my own baby.  Its hard to believe she was ever this small.  Possibly one of the best feelings in my line of work is being told that I've made their choice too difficult because there is too much to choose from.  And to hear that it is just what they had hoped for is fantastic.  It makes it even more worth while.    The following image was taken at the reque...

Well I suppose its about time I got back to blogging.  I used to love writing blogs and was always thrilled to post them so I could get some feedback.  But I drifted away from blogging and have found it difficult to return.  Since I've been rather busy lately I thought I'd take the opportunity to share over these next few weeks all that I've been up to.  I've had some great sessions with babies, families and even adults.  And even did some product work, cremation jewelry believe it or not.  And now, today, the school portraits season has begun.  So I will be very busy over these next few months but that should provide me with loads to share.  I thought I'd kick off the blogging with some work for a returning client with their latest addition to the family, Frankie.  They did as advised and came over for a session when Frankie was about 2 weeks old.  Ideally between 10-14 days is great.  In fact they ...