Beautiful Bump and Baby Portraits for Baby Ellis

It is with great pleasure that I am sharing some of my favourite portraits to date. And I am so proud that I have been able to provide portraits equally as artistic for both the bump and baby session.

Many people may see me as a photographer, someone who takes pictures for a living. In fact, I probably saw it that way too when I first started out. But I don't see it that way anymore. The creation of my portraits is a lengthy process that begins from the moment I take the booking and discuss with my client their needs and preferences of style. It is from that moment that I begin to plan the session, first in my head, and then on paper.

Once the plan is in place I work out the lighting set up required to achieve my vision. I choose the appropriate backdrop and any necessary props. And before a single shot is even taken, I know what software editing will be required for the final piece. I even know what frame moulding will best suit the image. This is not merely a photograph I am taking. This is a well thought out portrait I am creating, every detail intentional. With that in mind, I like to think of myself as a portrait artist and not just a photographer. And to be honest, this is why I love what I do. I love being creative and I make sure that I get to be creative in as many ways and as often as I can.

I always have a clear vision in my head of how I want my finished portrait to look. In each of these sessions shown here the finished results matched perfectly the vision I created at the planning stage.

Abbie and Mitchell are great clients to work with and I love the fact that I got to work with them twice. It was so nice to talk to them as first time parents before the baby and to see how well and happy they are as new parents.

I was lucky with these sessions in that I heard the words I love to hear from clients and that is 'we trust you to create something beautiful'. Apart from saying they liked the baby weighing scales against a dark background, I basically had free reign to create what I wanted. It gave me great freedom which is a huge factor in being creative. Thankfully I'm hearing this more and more which is only spurring on my creativity even more.

Now the image below, Ellis in the pram, is one of my favourite images I've ever taken. Its actually a vision I had even before I found the pram, which I stumbled across at an antiques fair last October. I finally had the chance to use it here with Ellis. Its exactly what I had hoped it would be and is being printed as a sample for the studio. I can't wait to have it hanging on my wall so I can look at it every day. It will serve as an inspiration for creating more such pieces. The hunt for new props has already begun. And a tidy up mission in our garden sheds is the next step as I'm going to need a lot of space to store these things. Of course that's a task that needs to wait until spring finally arrives, whenever that may be.

Comments

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...

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...

5 Reasons you Should Consider Getting a Professional Headshot

Headshots, or profile pictures are becoming a requirement of so many tools we regularly use or reference today. From Facebook to Linked In, Instagram to Twitter and often any website that represents a company for which you work or own will have a place to include a photograph that is meant to show your audience who you are. And how you present yourself there will tell your audience so much about you. 1. A profile picture is your first opportunity for your audience to see you. Its often the first impression you make and we all know you only have one chance at a first impression. A professional photographer has the skills to show you in the best, most suitable way to give a great first impression. (These headshots were created for recruitment firm Optima UK who asked to have their logo placed behind them. I think it makes these headshots quite eye catching and they should do their job well.) 2. Using a professional to create your headshot will ...

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...

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 ...

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog