Christina Lauder Portraits

  Last week I had the pleasure of photographing 11 Bulldog puppies.  And I say pleasure because I absolutely love puppies.  I'm just not as keen on dogs.  I know I couldn't accept the responsibility of owning a dog myself so getting the chance to have a complete litter of puppies visit with me for the afternoon was an absolute treat.    Of course chaos was really what was expected for this sitting.  But in the end I was pleasantly surprised.  As has been my experience with a previous litter of puppies, after a brief session of play and exploration, one by one they began to drop off.  And as they did so, I placed them in my chest of drawers.  Amazingly they settled very well and straightaway.  So much so that I couldn't bring myself to take any chances by readjusting things.  To be honest I would have preferred their little heads were sitting a little higher.  But that would have required taking them out and ...

I have been having such a great time with newborns recently.  It really is a pleasure, once I get past the worrying about whether or not baby will settle.  Because I always find that inevitably baby does eventually settle.  So there is no reason to worry. It just feels odd sometimes when you spend the first hour of a session not even taking a single photo.  But that is all part of a newborn session. Both myself and the parents present at the time of a newborn session must be relaxed and patient.  If we feel stress baby will feel stress.  And if we rush anything we risk baby not being fully asleep when we try to position them or move them and of course that means they wake up and we have to start all over again.  Its just much easier to be patient.  Then when baby falls asleep we can do so much more.  Baby Daniel, as seen in these photos was a treat to work with.  Our first shots on elbows ...

This month I was again awarded a Gold in the monthly competition with the SWPP.  For those that don't know this means my image has scored greater than 80 out of 100 and will be put forward and judged for the annual categories which will be decided at the end of the year.  The nominees, usually the top 3 are presented at the annual awards dinner in January before the winning image in each category is announced. Out of the past 6 years I have had 4 images nominated and sat through 4 dinners eagerly awaiting the results.  I'm hoping this year might be my year to win one of these prestigious awards.  Thousands of images are entered by photographers from all around the world so really I feel so honoured just to be among the nominees.  But this year, I have to admit, I really do want to finally win one.  Fingers crossed I get there this year. 

  I am really loving everything about creating newborn portraits.  For a start, I usually get a good cuddle at some point during the portrait session and/or the viewing.  It has been wonderful holding such tiny babies again (my baby is nearly 10 years old now).  I also enjoy the challenge of getting the pose above, baby propped on elbows.  I think it is such a cute pose that seems impossible to achieve.  But with a little patience I've been able to get the pose every time I've tried (of course I've probably just jinxed myself now).  I can't stress enough though, that this pose is really only achievable in about the first 2 weeks.  The little girl in these images is only 8 days old.  The older they get the lighter they sleep which makes it difficult to keep them asleep while we pose them and more difficult to move them when we want to try different setups.  Probably the most enjoyable aspect of my work lately is when I am ab...

For such a long time small children was the norm for me and I would sometimes find it hard work trying to get smiles or perfect poses.  Now that babies have become a regular occurrence it turned out to be a very welcome change photographing Austin who is nearly 2 years of age.  Although Mum and Dad found it a worrisome experience with regular apologies for their son's behaviour I can't stress enough how normal it is to have a short window of opportunity followed by an ever decreasing interest in the task at hand.  Austin did very well at providing me with the opportunities I needed to achieve the portraits I planned for this session.  He was actually very well behaved from my point of view and they had nothing to worry about.  For quite some time I had the intention of purchasing some hats to have on hand for sessions and finally I made the effort to head into town and search for some.  I found 2 such hats specifically for this...

  It is with great pleasure that I am sharing some of my favourite portraits to date.  And I am so proud that I have been able to provide portraits equally as artistic for both the bump and baby session.  Many people may see me as a photographer, someone who takes pictures for a living.  In fact, I probably saw it that way too when I first started out.  But I don't see it that way anymore.  The creation of my portraits is a lengthy process that begins from the moment I take the booking and discuss with my client their needs and preferences of style.  It is from that moment that I begin to plan the session, first in my head, and then on paper.  Once the plan is in place I work out the lighting set up required to achieve my vision.  I choose the appropriate backdrop and any necessary props.  And before a single shot is even taken, I know what software editing will be required for the final piece....

I found out this week that one of my images took second place in the Societies recent artistic nude competition.  Very pleased to see that of the 136 images mine was chosen as second.  As this blog is reserved for more family friendly images I've chosen to cover up the more intimate aspect of this image.  If you wish to see the full, unmarked image please click here to be taken to the Esteem Blog which is dedicated to this type of work.  If you wish to see the winning image click here . If you wish to see all the entries click here .  I as very impressed with the quality of so many of the images which makes being runner up that much more rewarding.