Christina Lauder Portraits

This week I received the request for photographs of an event where this young lady would be cutting her hair to donate to the Little Princess Trust so that it can be made into wigs for children who've lost theirs due to cancer. Not only has Ellie-Louise Daniels donated her hair but it was her wish to also raise enough money to pay to have the hair made into a wig which costs in the region of £350. Well she exceeded that by a long way bringing in a total so far of just over £1500. This lovely and thoughtful little girl has been wanting to do this for some time but with a mother reluctant to see her daughter's gorgeous long hair cut short she had some convincing to do.  It wasn't until this past Christmas that her mother finally gave in. But it has taken this long to complete the task because Ellie-Louise had been given tickets to see Olly Murs and she just couldn't go to a his concert with short hair. Well on Thursday she went to the concert and on Satur...

Following on from my recent successes, with my Fellowship and awards over the past 14 months, I have decided I am ready to offer training on a more official and regular basis. So I have added a page to my website which you can find here , listing what is on offer in the coming months.  This will include any and all speaking engagements I'm currently booked for. At the moment there are 4 opportunities that I am involved in. The first being the Newborn Photography Show where I'll be doing a seminar on applying textures.  This one and a half hour seminar that will show in detail all the steps I take in creating the textured look seen in most of my portraits.   Click here to see more details. The second is being held in Scotland at a studio run by Nicola Denny called Newborns by Nicola and this will take place in Arbroath, not far from Dundee.  We are running 2 workshops that are somewhat linked but each can exist independantly.  The first is a 4 hour lec...

Last week I had the opportunity of doing headshots for this gorgeous girl. Its times like these when I really love my job and thoroughly enjoy what I do for a living.  It was like having an afternoon playing. Its the kind of thing that if my daughter were willing (and she most definitely is not) I'd be doing in my free time to practice and play around with light. Working with this lovely young lady was such a joy and she photographed so well. I'm starting to get more requests for sessions such as these and I'm really glad.  But I would like to clarify something.  If you are interested in getting your child into modelling and you are after images to send to agencies, professional photos is not what you need.  An agency wants to see a natural and unprofessional snapshot. I know that may sound strange but they just want to see if your child is a natural in front of the camera.  They don't want to see something that may have taken a professional over an hour to...

I have to admit that this was one of the easiest newborn clients I've had.  They knew exactly what they wanted, which happened to be exactly the sort of portraits I like to create. They wanted brand new baby boy to be photographed in the baby weighing scales, a portrait of their daughter in her riding gear and then one of the two together. Knowing what they wanted enabled me to concentrate on getting the best for them in each of those 3 portraits.  In the past I've found that I can spread myself too thinly trying to produce a multitude of variations in order that the clients have lots to choose from.  And although I still want my clients to have variety, I am increasingly aware that if I try to do too much I risk reducing the overall quality from that session. It is better to reduce the variety and maintain the quality in my opinion since quality is a very high priority of mine. Not to mention, there is no point in causing a baby, or even a child, stress and ag...

From May 12th to June 2nd I'll be exhibiting my work at the Atkins Building in Hinckley.   This is something I've been wanting to do for sometime and with my recent success in acquiring my Fellowship I thought what better time than now.  I'd like to share with everyone, particularly those involved,  the beautiful images I was able to create with the help of so many people. I've been fortunate enough to be allowed use of the entire space which means I will be filling it with as much of my work as I can afford to print and frame.  So if you are in the market for portraits it will be a great opportunity to view up close the sort of portraiture I love to create. I am really looking forward to being able to share my work with so many people.  Running a studio from the back garden of my home doesn't make it easy to show off what I do.  With so many people involved in last year's project of preparing a panel of 20 images for qualification it will...

I had a friend come in recently to ask if I could help him create a birthday gift for his wife.  But it wasn't for the usual portrait. He presented me with a photograph of Sting and asked if I could recreate this image using himself.  You see, he resembles a young Sting and his wife is a fan of Sting so he thought it would be a nice idea to frame the two along side each other and give it to her for her birthday.  What a fab idea. I think you can see for yourself that he does indeed look a little like Sting. So we set out to create the image.  It was a fun challenge because I always love looking at images and figuring out how they were lit. Its not as simple as you might imagine to be so precise as I have been here. I think I nailed it to be honest though and I learned a little something in the process. (A quick snap of the actual frame just before it was picked up) I like to think my business is not just about one particular style or genre.  I unders...

Well done to Bowens for putting on a seriously impressive display at The Photography Show this year.  The crowds were never ending and for me it was such an honour to be included in the line up.   (the night before it all began, a very exciting and scary time) I can not believe its over so quickly, not that it felt that way at the time.  Forty five minutes has never felt so long as it did while standing on that stage in front of a couple hundred people, all staring up at me hoping I won't be wasting their time.  Judging from the feedback and the vast number who remained till the very end I must have done something right. (Me on stage - what a feeling that was, terrifying and thrilling at the same time - Thanks for the image Greg Thurtle) Well I thought I'd share a few of the images from my time there. Some so that those who didn't attend could see what it was like and some of the images produced on the stage so those who did attend could see close ...