Gorgeous Playgroup Portraits and One Very Important Lesson

Each year I get the pleasure of photographing little ones at their playschool. Its not an easy age group to photograph since they are all usually rather frightened of the strange person holding a camera and flashing lights at them. But they are an age group that is full of character. Each one is different (some more challenging than others). When I am able to make a connection though, it is hugely rewarding.

This lovely young lady knew exactly what to do and I was able to capture loads of her. She gave me that beautiful serious face as well as loads of happy smiling ones. I'm actually a really big fan of the serious ones so she was a dream.

Although these portraits are different to my studio portraits I still always try to bring out the best in the children with a little of what I put into my studio work. For me posing, lighting and styling are still important elements. I just can't take the time to do as much as I would for studio portraits, nor is it possible to consult with all the parents ahead of time to learn of their preferences. For future reference though, for anyone sending their children to playgroup for portraits, please choose clothing that is more simple with less going on. Overly bright and busy patterns are often a big distraction in portraits.

Where I can I like to include things that the children like. If a child brings a favourite cuddly toy they are welcome to have that with them in their photos. In some cases I can't always convince them to leave the toy out of the photo anyway. I believe that if something is that important to the child then it will make a fantastic memory for years to come.

In the case of this young boy, he loves books and it was the perfect way to get him to sit and interact with me. This too is a wonderful memory for his parents because they said this is exactly what he is like at home too. It worked a treat when wanting the two boys to sit next to each other, a task that is difficult more often than not when working with small children.

So what is the very important lesson I speak of? The lesson is this. Please do not practice smiling with your children before photo day. This is rarely a help to me and more often than not makes it difficult for me to get natural smiles from them. They will often sit in front of me and put on a very cheesy and false smile that they believe is what they've been practicing. They think they are doing what you have asked of them but it looks very unnatural. It then takes me considerably longer to work them out of that smile, if I can at all. Some kids won't do anything but what they believe is the smile mum wants to see. Its wonderful that they want to try but not wonderful when parents are disappointed that I didn't get a natural expression. Please don't make a big deal about photo day at all. Its just another day at playschool. They don't need the worry about the unknown. And they don't need to practice smiling. With the right interaction they are pretty good at that all on their own.

I pride myself on the patience I have with these children. And its not that I have the patience of a saint. Its just that I know the more patient I am the better the results. I really do like photographing children and I want to do the best I possibly can. That's not to say though that I don't have moments when I am screaming on the inside. Its just that I've learned to never let them see me sweat. I have worked out that if I remain calm I can almost always get what I need. During playgroup sessions where there are fewer children to photograph than a full sized school I can take my time and work with them and hopefully create beautiful portraits of every child.

So please remember, don't practice smiling and don't make a big deal about photo day. They'll be fine and I will work with them to bring out their natural beauty, which may not be all smiley anyway. I spend enough time with them and I often ask the staff about the children as well so I am usually pretty good at creating portraits that reflect each child's personality. But at the end of the day, these are still school photos and not full studio sessions so please be realistic in what I can achieve in that environment.

Comments

Burbage Carnival 2009

For the past few years my husband and I have been attending the Burbage Carnival and remarking to ourselves at how much better it could be. The carnival seemed to be declining in recent years. Earlier this year I met someone (Harvey) who mentioned that he joined the committe. When I asked him why he said he had been remarking that the carnival could do with some improvements. The response he received was rather than complain why don't you join the committee and do something about it. Its hard to argue with that. The following week I found myself, along with my husband, at the Burbage Carnival meeting. And we've been attending (most meetings) ever since. With this being our first year we didn't want to dive in head first. We contributed where we felt we could but it was great to see that what little we were able to offer still made a difference on the day. We're now very much looking forward to seeing just how much of a difference we can make next year. I just hope it ...

Limited Edition Storybook Portrait Sessions

Well in the end I didn't take this promotion as seriously as was required in so much as I didn't allocate any budget for advertising. I relied only on the few posts on Facebook and as such I only did 2 sessions, which to be perfectly honest, was all I could handle this year given that I'd not properly planned for these sessions in an already busy time of year. However, what I did do proved to me that this is something that deserves proper attention and a concerted effort to push this promotion forward. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it, from shopping for props, to the sessions and then the editing. I really love the fun that these sessions provide and the look of the finished images. Spring will see a second go at this special collection with plenty of advertising in the run up to our event. I will get another chance at shopping for additional props and tools to run this limited edition promotion and I can't w...

Wellies, Wellies and More Wellies

Over the past couple of years I've been photographing Jileon Ltd's wellies for their website. And over the last couple of months I have had quite a bit to do for them. Jileon is a great client of ours, giving us regular work that I can undertake in my own time and in my own way. It makes for such a relaxing change from having to make small children smile in a short span of time. Particularly since they can't get up and walk away just at the moment when all elements of the perfect image come together. The only real challenge in photographing wellies for me seems to be the dreaded reflection that is unavoidable when photographing shiny objects using flash. But without this challenge where would be the fun? Jileon Ltd is a Hinckley based distributor of mainly wellington boots. They do also distribute other things but typically it is just their wellies that I photograph. If you wish to order a pair please vi...

Family Photos with Flair - Vanity Fair Style Family Portraits

This style of portrait continues to be the eye catching success I had always hoped it would be. Once again I created a beautiful family portrait that I am really proud of and I know this family loves too. Over the years I have developed this style through influences such as Vanity Fair and the many photographers I follow, though I hope that there is something in here that is entirely my own. Having my work easily identified as my own was a goal of mine from the start. Getting to the point where people will want not just a portrait but a Christina Lauder portrait is where I've always wanted to be and I'm hoping I'm on way. These portraits were created for the family of two professional photographers who wanted some portraits of their own. Family portraits isn't really something one can do of oneself, at least not easily. So they needed the services of another and I was honoured to be chosen for the job. They chose me not just for my style but also for my ab...

A Most Wonderful Portrait Session with 3 Lovely Ladies

This was a dream session for me. Not only did I have 3 beautiful young ladies, but they also brought with them a fantastic wardrobe and their very own hair stylist too (mum owns her own salon). So all the elements for beautiful portraits were there. And I was thrilled to get this opportunity. Its easy to think of having portraits when you have a new baby or when you get married or have a special family occasion where you get the entire family portrait done. But its less often that people think of having their growing children photographed. After all I suppose, they are photographed at school. I even do some of those school photographs. However, those portraits are made in less than a minute per child and they are assembly line style portraits while they are wearing their school uniform. They are never going to be as special as what can be created with unlimited time and outfit changes in the comfort of a private studio. Its in this environment that I can take the time to...

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog