Christina Lauder Portraits

Over the Easter holidays we had the chance to do our first Clique Party in the new studio.  We had the lovely Rosie celebrating a late birthday with 6 of her friends. This was also the first time that I tried a dark background as opposed to the usual white.  Not sure which I prefer but I do really like having a change from the usual.  The grey background is very much my favourite at the moment and it makes such a nice alternative to the usual white background.  I really lucked out with this group too.  Although I had suggested bright colours and preferably plain clothes, it was really nice to see that planning had gone into the group photo.  The girls had agreed to all wear different coloured vests and I think it makes quite a difference to the finished article.  This co-ordinated effort definitely makes this my favourite group shot so far. Hopefully it will set an example for future parties to consider as well.  Having the party in ...

Growing our ever popular Clique parties is something I've been wanting to do for some time. But like many things, never got around to it. And then came the request for a party for 22 year olds. And so it begins... Instead of the bright, white background though, I thought it would make a nice change to try something a little different. So I went with black. This was while we were still working out of the house and our options were limited. Now that the new studio is ready there are plenty more options available to us. Its always a nice change to photograph adults, people who won't cry, need nappy changes, need feeding or refuse to sit in front of the camera.  Although we did decide to serve food and drink this time to give the girls more of an experience.  And from this we've decided to incorporate this into all our future parties.  We felt it made a good addition and this should give us enough time to prepare a quick slide show at the end of our parties too....

I was surprised when asked if it was okay to bring a few boys to one of our Clique sessions. I thought it was great but based on the experiences with my step daughter who seems to want nothing to do with boys I was not expecting to have this opportunity. But I am glad I did. It made it a totally different experience and the photos turned out great. In fact it has made me think that it may even be possible to have a party entirely for boys. Although I won't be suggesting this to my step son. I can just imagine the look on his face if I did. He prefers something a bit more on the adventurous side like rock climbing. But then again, he is rather sick of being stuck in front of the camera as he gets it a lot from me. In this case though, these boys truly seemed to enjoy being in front of the camera. That made it so much more fun for me and so much easier. I think a couple of them have been practicing in front of the mirror before coming out. They seemed to know exactly how to smile ...

We've recently done another one of our Clique parties. We've been doing our Clique parties since 2006 through word of mouth but we've only now decided it was time to announce this as part of our products on offer. You might be wondering what exactly is a Clique party. A Clique party is a party for young girls, typically for their birthday. It involves a photo shoot for up to 12 friends, each photographed individually and as a group. And at the end of it each girl gets to take home with them a magazine cover in which they are the cover girl. The details listed on the cover are pertinent to the birthday girl and are current for the month of her birthday. The idea is that this memento will not only show her what she and her friends looked like at this time in her life but also remind her of some of her interests at this time in her life. Twenty years from now and I am sure she will appreciate just how valuable of a keepsake her cover really is. So how does one of these p...