Christina Lauder Portraits

As I've been saying for a while now, this is my current favourite age group. Although I still love children of all ages I just feel most comfortable working with older children and really want to encourage more families to have their older children photographed. This to me is just as important an age as the earlier years as now they are actually leaving childhood behind and becoming fully fledged adults. Its a real milestone in their growing up. I had photographs taken at the same time of my life and I cherish them, although mine were much more traditional in nature. As per usual we discussed before hand the type of portraits we could create. This young lady also plays guitar so of course I had to do some shots with it. Including such props helps them to be themselves and enables me to capture them just playing (or pretending to play) which means they can be very comfortable and not worrying about the camera or how they look. I love the way the light is falling on her fac...

Every year I do a load of school portraits and I rarely get the chance to share them as I never share anything without permission. Gaining permission is just that bit more difficult when you don't meet face to face with many parents. So I just don't bother. But this year I thought I'd give it a go and get some permissions as they are just too lovely not to share. (You know you got it right when you show Mum and she gets tears in her eyes - this family has been coming to me for years now and I love watching them grow)  School portraits give me a chance to work very differently than usual. In some ways its not how I like to work at all but in others its a chance for a little freedom. You see for me, I like to be a perfectionist with my work. And being such can be draining. This usually means creating just a few really great portraits for my studio clients and having all the time in the world in which to do so. With school portraits on the other hand, there is only so...

Every now and again I like to do some portraits for personal growth. I use this time to try new things and to just have fun in the studio. Ashleigh is one of my daughter's dance teachers and someone who helped me come up with posing ideas for Kenzie when she modeled for me on the Bowens stand at the Photography Show back in March. So I thought why not invite Ashleigh in to do some dance portraits for her. And this is what we came up with. Ashleigh not only teaches but still performs regularly and is currently preparing for this season's Panto down south. So when it came to her portraits we wanted something that both suited her style and would lend itself well to something a little dramatic. The first thing that came to mind for Ashleigh was Chicago. So some searching online for inspiration and this is where it got us. My vision involved black and white, high contrast, spot lights and smoke. Seeing as it was my first time using smoke pellets I have to say I am quite ple...

I have a love and hate relationship with family portraits. I love the finished piece and creating something that is truly special to the family. I love that in years to come something I made is going to be a cherished and valueable memento for this family. What I struggle with, is getting all members of the group to look their best at exactly the same moment in time. You would be surprised at how difficult this actually is, particularly when it comes to 6 children. But I always get there in the end, whether it is the luck of a moment or with the aid of Photoshop. I ensure that everyone in the portrait is looking their best, even the dog. Seeing as this family is actually made up now of two families we also did portraits in their respective groups which I chose to do in different style to their main group. I love adding a bit of style for the overall main group and what you see above is something that is proving popular with my clients. I love adding props and giving a sort of Vani...

  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 ...

Recently I had the opportunity to work with a wonderful woman, Nedine, who made this gorgeous dress for me. You can find Nedine here . She specialises primarily in making elaborate costumes but is branching out into dresses as well. Together we shared ideas for this piece and visited Birmingham to check out a large fabric store for inspiration and of course fabric. The end result is this. I'm in love with lace and flowing dresses. We saw lots of beautiful lace and one day I hope to work up to something that will include some of the incredible (but very expensive) lace we saw while out together. I had no idea lace was that expensive. I knew good lace wouldn't be cheap but never realised how quickly the price went up to a range quite far from my current budget. So we decided to start relatively small, before investing in lace that was in some cases more than 10 times the cost of the lace used here. I can't imagine how scary that is to work with. I love the dress, ...

Teen portraits are a big thing in America. And by big I mean huge. Americans call them seniors shoots, because they are sessions that take place to commemorate the completion of their senior year, the year they graduate high school. It's seen as an important milestone and for this they want to create a valuable keepsake before they head off to college. (This young lady plays the bass and guitar, which provides wonderful elements to a great portrait)   Now for the record, for anyone who knows I have an American sounding accent and have believed me to be American I am actually Canadian. I don't think all American traditions should make it across the pond. I for one am not a big fan of Halloween, no offense to those who are. I can see the appeal of Halloween, its just not for me. However I don't understand why shoots for teenagers hasn't become popular over here and I'd really like to see that change. (This young man wanted portraits in is prom suit ...

You may remember a while back when I did a casting call looking for teenage boys and girls. Well this is the girl I chose. I had quite a specific look in mind, one which included really long hair. I have always had a thing for long hair. The choice also became quite simple when this young lady put herself forward as she is someone I've been photographing through school for several years and she is a past member of the Hinckley Athletics Club where she has been coached by my husband for nearly as many years. He's always had a soft spot for her, being one of his first members which helped my decision. When I have projects where I want to work with a model rather than a paying client I like to use friends or past clients whenever possible as it enables me to give something to those who have been loyal to me. Wallis has been a pleasure to work with. She is a stunning, confident young woman. In addition, she could bring props with her that I love. I've been wanting to ph...