Christina Lauder Portraits

  Here are the images from the actual corporate team shoot using the technique I trialled with a friend of mine a couple of months ago ( Click here to see that blog ).  I can finally share it with you as they have now updated their website to include these images.  Click here to be taken to 3TC Software's website.   You should have seen the images originally in use which thankfully this client recognised as being inappropriate for their corporate image and hired me to create the replacements.  Those images were poorly lit and badly composed leaving these executives looking so different that I didn't even recognise the man pictured above.  Previously he looked ready to retire and not the sort of individual you could imagine capable of running a company.  Whereas here he looks well within his corporate prime, in touch with the current times and to be someone with a business acumen you can trust. It is vital that the image you...

  I recently had the pleasure of photographing Mum and Dad, their Son and Daughter and their Son and Daughter's families.  It made for a portrait of 10 people altogether which of course comes with its challenges.  But we got their in the end and I'm thrilled with the results.  The hardest part of course is getting everyone looking their best in the same photo.  It rarely works out in such a large group but I managed to get several with only a couple of Photoshopping, head swapping requirements.  But my skills are up to that challenge quite well these days so I'm almost always quite confident that everyone will be happy with themselves in the final family portrait chosen.  And I have to admit I love the challenge of taking a great face from one image and making it fit so no one notices in another image.  As is usually the case, I also photograph the large group in smaller subsections as its a good opportunity, while everyone is d...

  I am absolutely over the moon with pride for the quality of the images I was able to produce for this client.  Typically I worry about whether or not I will be able to meet the expectations of my clients. I am confident I will be able to produce good work every time.  But will I be able to blow my clients away with the sort of work they will be truly excited about.  As such I can often feel the pressure, and boy did I during this session given that it was about 28 degrees that day and we had quite a few different images to produce.  Lets just say it was less than ideal conditions for the variations of portraits my client was hoping for.  But this is England and I'm not going to complain about hot weather.  And I loved that there was so much variety in this session. This did however leave me feeling slightly less than satisfied with one of the requirements, the sibling shots.  Although I achieved good images of t...

I love having past clients return.  Its a bit like having old friends over for a visit.  And its always nice to see how much the children have grown.  In this case,  Frankie has grown quite a lot, he was last here as a newborn just over a year ago.  And Lucia wasn't up for any photos last time so our last images of Lucia were from aged 3 months and she is now 3 so even bigger changes from her and thankfully a lot more co-operative.  It was Frankie who wasn't keen on being photographed with her this time, rather than the other way around.  One of these times we will get the two together.  For now though we had to settle for individual portraits which are my favourite anyway.  For this shoot I arranged to borrow a few teddy bears from Heirloom Bears as there was a particular look I was going for and these bears I knew would be perfect.  In the end, as they were so delicate, it quickly became apparent that only Lucia wa...

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...

I am just loving the Societies Monthly competition this year.  It has got me motivated more than usual to keep producing work I think is worthy of entering.  This year so far I've received 4 Gold's and 10 Highly Commended's.  And these 10 images will be re-judged at a later date and can be upgraded to Gold if the second judge deems them to be of a Gold standard.  And the most important aspect of this competition is that all Golds get a further assessment in December, this time by a judging panel where the best image in each category is selected giving the photographer the title of Photographer of the Year for that category.  These awards are then presented at a black tie awards dinner in London in January at the Societies annual convention, something I look forward to every year.  I've been nominated 4 years out of the past 6 and I'm determined to make this the year where I walk away with an award.  My f...

I recently have a lovely, albeit incredibly lively, session with 2 families of children for a long awaited portrait for their grandmother.  I had already photographed one of the sets of children a couple of years ago and now they were back with their cousins.  You may recognise the two boys from the portrait on the Union Flag beanbag.  I always knew that keeping these children sitting still for the required length of time (for me to achieve the perfection I am always looking for) was always going to be difficult.  So I needed to act fast, something I'm not great at.   To give myself a bit more time though, I thought I'd make it a little more fun for them by giving them boxes to climb, sit on and sit inside.  And then I rotated them in different spots as soon as the boredom began to set in.  It also made it a little more difficult to escape.  It was a quick session taking just under an hour, but it was a very fast pac...