Christina Lauder Portraits

'Bring Back the Printed Image', I've had these words in my head for ages now. I've spent a lifetime cherishing the printed photographs I have had the pleasure of viewing, owning, and sharing. Seeing this trend for physical copies of photographs declining I thought I'd try to help spark some new interest. And maybe even run a competition to help things along. More on this in a minute. (This is one of my favourite photographs of my mother. I think its amazing to look back on the past and imagine what it was like back then. Sometimes its hard to imagine our parents as anything other than our parents who always seem old because we can't quite imagine them ever being our own age. To see them so young, as in this picture it reminds you that they were young once too.) You may be thinking, 'why does it matter if they are in print?' And I suppose it doesn't really. But there are key reasons I see printing as being essential, reasons I'd like you to ...

This year I chose to photograph my playgroups and nurseries in the new year rather than in amongst the Christmas rush. Instead we used Mother's Day as the deadline which enabled me to relax and simply enjoy the experience. With January and February being a quieter time of year I could concentrate on taking my time with these children. I definitely noticed a difference.  I was back to really enjoying what I do and I believe it made a difference to the quality of the portraits I produced too. It didn't matter if I spent all day at these playgroups as I had no hectic schedule waiting for me on my return. I've never been one to like rushing through portraits. Sometimes it takes time to get a child to open up and allow me to capture their true self. I met some real characters this year. I also tried to let go of the need to have children looking into the camera. I started to find that really special moments could be captured if I let the children interact with each oth...