Christina Lauder Portraits

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 ...