Christina Lauder Portraits

This month in the Societies monthly online image competition I was among a select few to receive a Gold which means this image has been judged to be of a very high standard. This is something I work towards in all my shoots. I love creating work like this, work I can be very proud of and happy to share. Now I will wait to see how this does in the annual competition as all Golds are rejudged in December and the very best is selected as the Photographer of the Year for each category. The shortlist is announced straight away with the winners announced at the awards ceremony in mid January. So now I've got something to look forward to. I honestly wait on the edge of my seat on the Monday following the judging as I await a possible email telling me if I've made it to the finals. Its exciting but stomach turning at the same time. My fingers are crossed.

After some considerable thought and research I have finally come up with a way for me to be happy offering unframed prints and digital files and in doing so decided to revise my entire price list. I now have gorgeous print boxes and USB drives as packages on offer and can't wait to start selling them. Our print packages start at just £295 . All our prints are professionally printed on fine art paper which give a classic look and feel that make my style of portraits really look stunning. They are mounted using only conservation grade materials to unsure that they last a lifetime with no discolouring to the mount boards over time. Above is an example of our luxury archival boxes which we use for all print packages that contain 10 or more prints. These acid free boxes are designed to safely store photographic prints. With these new changes taking place I thought this would be as good a time as any to run a very limited offer which I will carry over until Christmas this year....

I can't begin to tell you how much I have been loving creating unique pet portraits with the dogs I've had in the studio lately. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. Its got everything I want in a portrait session. I get to be creative, use my favourite props, and spend time with adorable animals, this time with one of the smallest dogs I've ever seen. She is just so sweet. The shot above came about when my client suggested getting the puppy to peer over the side of a box which I thought was a fantastic idea and it worked exactly as we had hoped. Because she was so small my usual newborn props worked brilliantly with her and suited just how baby like she is. I just love how this sweet little puppy always looks like she is smiling, unlike so many animals that look either perpetually sad or miserable. She looks like a happy and inquisitive little darling you just can't help but smile back at. These scales are fairly accurate and its r...

Since the session the other week went so well Albert's Mummy decided she wanted to have a go bringing in her first dog so they could have a portrait taken together. I believe we were lulled into a false sense of security with Albert's professional ability when on his own. Things didn't go quite as smoothly as we had hoped. I always knew this could be the case but still I had high hopes. However I chose to just relax and enjoy the session rather than panic that things weren't going to plan which in the end meant I got something I could be pleased with. (To see Albert's first session click here) I believe as long as everyone is realistic and not expecting perfection some great portraits are still there to be had. They are animals at the end of the day with no understanding of our wishes. And when one is a puppy who's not had the benefit of long term training we had to take what we were given. The session ended for me expecting to get very little. I had...

Fine art portraits, what exactly is that you might wonder? I've certainly wondered it myself, particularly when I see this term being bandied about from a variety of photographers, some of whom doing nothing out of the ordinary. Well the dictionary defines Fine Art as the following: noun plural noun:  fine arts 1 . creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content. 2 . an activity requiring great skill or accomplishment. The Fine Art Portrait is trending highly at the moment. This is something that stands out from average photography and gets noticed. In a world where everyone is a photographer its important for me to do something that people will feel is worth paying for. Phones and consumer level camera equipment being rather incredible these days means most people can capture wonderful snaps of their lives and the people in them. So for me hiring...

They say never work with animals or children and although there have been times when I can totally understand this, this was not one of those times. In fact it was the exact opposite. If I could do a shoot like this every day I happily would. This little guy was so sweet and more co-operative than I would ever have imagined a 16 week old puppy could be. I felt like I was working with a professional as he somehow knew exactly what to do, as demonstrated here by his little paw resting gently on the pram as he looked at the camera. With any shoot I meticulously plan the various settings I wish to complete in a session, generally knowing full well its unlikely we'll get through them all. Well in this case I got through most of them in the first 15 minutes. I always hope I will complete them all as usually I have visions in my head of how amazing they will all look and I never like to be disappointed. Well little Albert did not disappoint in the slightest. When I met up with Alber...

As I've often said, I just love it when families return to update their family portraits. It is always lovely to catch up with the goings on of their lives, meet the new members and see how the older ones have grown. In this case the family of 3 have now become 4, adding a new baby girl to the mix. And what makes this family a little different is that each time they've chosen to come for portraits their babies have been at the sitting stage, which I quite like for a nice change. Here we can focus on expressions but luckily still have a somewhat immobile child. This little beauty was on the verge of crawling but still too slow to get away from me, my camera and the lights. She was full of smiles and so easy to photograph, not unlike her big sister at the same age. In fact, her big sister was possibly one of the happiest babies I've ever photographed and I even called her so in my blog post about her session a couple of years ago. This little one wasn't really any...

In addition to creating portraits of children while participating in their favourite activities, I also like to capture them in a more sophisticated light, often wearing something of their choice that they are comfortable in. In this case this lovely young man choose this suit jacket, t-shirt and jeans which I thought was absolutely perfect. And I could see he was proud to be wearing it. Putting a person, whether it is a child or adult, in something they are comfortable wearing is so important. If they don't feel comfortable it will show in their portraits. And that is the last thing we want. I discovered this recently with my daughter when I tried her out in a new dress I had acquired for the studio and quickly realised I was wrong. I couldn't make her be someone she isn't. She isn't a pretty dress sort of girl and it really showed in her portraits. I've decided to scrap those ones now and get her to wear something she is comfortable in (likely to be a sweats...

I was once torn between a 10 year love affair with my Canon and a blossoming romance with a newly acquired pre-production model of the Fujifilm X-T2. After posting my initial thoughts on the X-T2 I decided to give it a proper go, leaving the Canon sitting in the drawer, rather than shooting with both throughout sessions. It was scary at first but after just a few more weeks playing around with my new toy I can honestly say I've found a clear winner. The Fuji has the edge over the Canon in ways that leaves the Canon rather unappealing. Returning to it provides no thrill or excitement which is not how I want to feel when picking up a camera. My Canon 5D MKIII is solid and reliable I'll admit. Its been everything I needed since I bought it. I began with the MK I and upgraded to the MKIII. I thought I'd want nothing else but a Canon. I thought I'd stick with it right to the very end. It had everything I needed and could ever need. Or so I thought. I'd been hearin...