Christina Lauder Portraits

Headshots, or profile pictures are becoming a requirement of so many tools we regularly use or reference today. From Facebook to Linked In, Instagram to Twitter and often any website that represents a company for which you work or own will have a place to include a photograph that is meant to show your audience who you are. And how you present yourself there will tell your audience so much about you. 1. A profile picture is your first opportunity for your audience to see you. Its often the first impression you make and we all know you only have one chance at a first impression. A professional photographer has the skills to show you in the best, most suitable way to give a great first impression. (These headshots were created for recruitment firm  Optima UK  who asked to have their logo placed behind them. I think it makes these headshots quite eye catching and they should do their job well.) 2. Using a professional to create your headshot will ...

Again, more variety for me. Now this really is different and quite a lot of fun, for a change. Its basically just me, on my own, in an empty restaurant before the lunch crowd arrives. Barnacles Restaurant Bar & Bistro is a great restaurant owned by a lovely family and located just off the A5 in Hinckley, Leicestershire. I can highly recommend it. If you want more details please check out this link. This may look like easy work and in some ways it is. What I find most difficult is positioning the camera on a tripod so that the obvious straight lines are running either perfectly horizontal or vertical as required. When photographing a room on an angle the horizontal lines won't be level but it looks better to find a vertical line to make perfectly parralel to the edge of the image. Without one line level it can result in an image that looks unnaturally wonky. If that were the case we'd likely find our attention goes more to trying to understand what we are seeing rather ...

This week I had the pleasure of working with Lainy from Heirloom Bears and I had a fantastic time.  As I've said so many times before, one of the best aspects of my job is that I have variety in what I do.  Rarely are two days the same.  And this experience was truly unique and just the sort of thing to de-stress me and ignite the passion for my work again.  It was just so different to what I am used to doing these days. I knew in my head how I wanted to represent these bears for Heirloom bears however I didn't have enough bits and pieces to complete the look.  Lainy on the other hand had a number of antiquey pieces that she could contribute to the project.  So as a last minute decision I asked if she'd like to join me in creating the images.  Normally I prefer to work on my own but in this case having her on hand made the job much easier as she could make sure I got the animals just right for her.  As they are her creations it would re...

Another great aspect of what I do for a living is being involved with new businesses and getting to see the enthusiasm of others as they develop and live their dreams.  This week I was able to provide both product photography and PR shots for the owner and designer of Juben Handbags as she continues her pursuit following the recent launch of her unique handbags.  Juliette Ryley began this dream several years ago as a design project while still a student, only recently taking the time to develop the project further.  Even going as far as securing exclusive rights to her unique design. One of Juben's missions is  "To aid the recovery of British manufacturing by designing and hand making (their) entire range of innovative signature design handbags in the UK", which is a sentiment dear to my heart as well.  Too many jobs have been taken out of this country, a factor that I feel plays a strong part in the econ...

Had a phone call last Thursday morning for urgent photographs at the Daventry Court Hotel .  Luckily it was half term and a day I had nothing on so was able to make it.  Just had a daughter I needed taking care of but that was easy enough to resolve.  As it turns out I really enjoy photographing hotel rooms.  And as I've said before, sometimes its great not having to worry about posing or expressions or even making conversation.  I was left to it and just enjoyed the job at hand.  I didn't even require lighting equipment.  Just my camera with a wide angle lense, tripod and cable release.  The bulk of the work took place back on the computer, merging images, using HDR and making sure the rooms appear as the eye would perceive them.  The following image was taking of the large meeting room which was actually set up to show two different ways the room can use used.  I was quite surprised to see the staging but thought it w...

I'm relatively new to corporate head shots but having been asked for a few recently I've taken the time to investigate what I like and don't like about what's currently on offer.  To be honest, as a professional portrait photographer, not many have the quality that an executive deserves.  So I set out to create a style that I think is not only current, but also depicts a strong and confident individual which would serve well, many executive teams.  Together myself and another local photographer, Lee Glasgow, worked to create my vision of a corporate head shot.  I'll be using this new lighting setup next week with my next corporate client when they visit me for portraits for their directors.  When I discussed with them their needs and what they were looking for I was told they already had photos taken they were unhappy with.  Having looked at those images and having listened to the description of how they would like their team protrayed I thin...

I recently had the opportunity to shoot an entire team of corporate head shots.  I never imagined how much I'd enjoy this type of work and I'm thinking of marketing directly for more of this type of work.  It would make a lovely addition to the portraits I already do and also a nice change from babies and children.  The remit for this project was that I was not to use a background, they wanted the hotel as a background.  So I had a quick tour of the hotel and decided on the lobby.  I supplemented the ambient light with studio flash to enable the subjects to be well lit while leaving the background lit enough to add some interest to the scene.  With a shallow depth of field the details in the background were thrown out of focus so the subject was able to stand out. In addition to head shots we also did a team photo which I am particularly proud of.  I just love the symmetry of this image.  I was very pleased wi...

My working life isn't always filled with only portraits.  Thats one of the things I love most about my job. Its full of variety.  One day it might be babies, the next its class photos, another day may be artistic nudes and another hotel bedrooms.  Rarely am I ever bored.  And each subject gives its own creative challenge.  For the hotel rooms the challenge is in lighting and composition.  To light a room correctly when trying to include some natural light can be very difficult.  By combining studio flash with long exposures and in some cases an HDR technique I was able to capture the rooms in a true likeness.  For me these rooms have been depicted exactly as I saw them on the day of the shoot. Composition can also be tricky when the location the camera needs to be happens to have a desk in the way, or a wall or side table blocks the view.  Often furniture rearranging is required along with a tight squeeze behind th...