Christina Lauder Portraits

This face should be familiar to anyone watching my work.  Emily-May is a lovely little girl who was not only chosen by me to contribute in my Fellowship panel of portraits but has often been chosen for catalog shoots that include Matalan and Harrods, commercials that include Sainsbury's and theatre productions that include the Sound of Music at the Curve in Leicester.  She's one to watch for sure. Her parents were always willing to bring her over whenever I needed her, despite her already heavy schedule.  So of course when they asked me to do her headshots to keep Emily-May's portfolio up to date I thought it was the perfect chance for me to offer my thank you. They hadn't expected me to do them for free (which was nice to know) but I wanted to do these for them because I think its important to show people you appreciate the effort they make. And because Emily-May is so easy to work with it was a great opportunity for me to build my own portfolio of headshots

While working on my Fellowship panel I had the opportunity to create a very special portrait for one of my clients.  Again, like I said in a recent post, this is the sort of thing I really want to be creating all the time.  For me a portrait isn't just about a face or a smile but it tells something about the person in the portrait.  This little girl has been attending ballet for some time and with any luck will continue for years to come.  So I wanted to create something that would capture this stage of her life while producing something beautiful.  It also makes it easier to photograph a child if they can be doing something natural to them.  I created this ballet barre out of junk in our back garden (thanks to my husbands almost compulsive need to hoard) specifically for my Fellowship at the end of last year but I hope it will get lots of use in the coming years. Here are some similar ballet portraits that I did a few years ago of my daughter along with one

Since I began as a photographer it has been my goal to provide more than just a photograph.  I don't want to provide snap shots of a person but instead create something about the person.  Just yesterday I heard an educator in the field refer to one of his friends who said that a photograph is OF someone but a portrait is ABOUT someone.  And that is what I want to create for my clients, portraits about them, whenever I get the opportunity. I've recently, thanks to my Fellowship, developed a style that is perfect for photographing a child that shows a little about themselves.  And while creating my Fellowship I was fortunate enough to have a client like one of the images and ask for it for her daughter.  She said her 3 year old loves dolls and doll prams and that shot would be perfect for her.  So I asked her about her son and what he likes to do so I could come up with something for him.  "He plays rugby", she said.  Perfect I thought.  "How do you feel about