Beautiful Bump and Baby Portraits for Baby Ellis

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 even know what frame moulding will best suit the image. This is not merely a photograph I am taking. This is a well thought out portrait I am creating, every detail intentional. With that in mind, I like to think of myself as a portrait artist and not just a photographer. And to be honest, this is why I love what I do. I love being creative and I make sure that I get to be creative in as many ways and as often as I can.

I always have a clear vision in my head of how I want my finished portrait to look. In each of these sessions shown here the finished results matched perfectly the vision I created at the planning stage.

Abbie and Mitchell are great clients to work with and I love the fact that I got to work with them twice. It was so nice to talk to them as first time parents before the baby and to see how well and happy they are as new parents.

I was lucky with these sessions in that I heard the words I love to hear from clients and that is 'we trust you to create something beautiful'. Apart from saying they liked the baby weighing scales against a dark background, I basically had free reign to create what I wanted. It gave me great freedom which is a huge factor in being creative. Thankfully I'm hearing this more and more which is only spurring on my creativity even more.

Now the image below, Ellis in the pram, is one of my favourite images I've ever taken. Its actually a vision I had even before I found the pram, which I stumbled across at an antiques fair last October. I finally had the chance to use it here with Ellis. Its exactly what I had hoped it would be and is being printed as a sample for the studio. I can't wait to have it hanging on my wall so I can look at it every day. It will serve as an inspiration for creating more such pieces. The hunt for new props has already begun. And a tidy up mission in our garden sheds is the next step as I'm going to need a lot of space to store these things. Of course that's a task that needs to wait until spring finally arrives, whenever that may be.

Comments

I am Still Me: A Story about a Transgender Boy

Meet Leo. Leo is 15 and currently going through an epic transformation that has momentarily turned the lives of himself and those around him upside down. A mum who once had the daughter she always longed for is now coping with the realisation that she will be living the rest of her life with a son instead. When your child is born you have certain expectations of the typical life they will lead but most of us know and accept that it won't necessarily end up the way we imagine. Not every person wants to marry, have kids or be involved with the opposite sex. Most of us have come to accept this and can adjust to whatever comes our way relatively easily. But few of us have expected to have to deal with a change in sex. Its not that we've hoped it won't happen, but just that it never occurred to us that it might. This is a new adjustment that we as a society are being presented with today, just like so many others that have come before. When I first heard that Phoebe

5 Reasons you Should Consider Getting a Professional Headshot

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 convey yo

I'm a Portrait Artist and Variety is the Spice of My Life

I often admire the work of other photographers. I'm always having a browse or spotting something interesting on Facebook or Pinterest. Many of them have a very consistent style and subject, as is the case with many newborn photographers especially. This has made me wonder if perhaps I'm not developing as a portrait artist as well as I could be. We are taught early on within the realms of the photography world that we are to develop a distinct style and this of course must be clearly evident in any upper level qualifications panels we choose to submit. However, when I look at my own work over each passing year I fail to see the same consistency. I don't have a particular subject in which I specialise. I can photograph anything from newborns to teenagers, toddlers to families and even the occasional male nude. How can you put these together in an album and form a beautiful collection that I see many other photographers displaying so well.

My Fellowship in Child Portraiture, Baby Photographer of the Year and All Things Convention Related

Its been a very busy year for me. Hence the reason I've not been keeping this blog up to date. That's about to change though. I anticipate this coming year to be even busier but I plan on getting a lot more organised and keeping on top of things like this. For now though I'd like to tell you all about last week. I keep trying to think of some words to describe this past week and I keep coming back to 'I had the time of my life' and breaking into song in my head. Apart from when my daughter was born I haven't had a better time in my life. This week was spent at the Societies Convention where in excess of 14 thousand photographers from around the world meet to take part in print competitions, submit qualification panels and join in on various classes and events. The week began as one of the most stressful of my life. I've never felt nerves like it. I'd just spent the best part of a year planning and preparing my 20 image panel to present to 5

My Work Experience Week by Hester Sharpe

A week in the life of a Photographers assistant, is not all about saying cheese! I’m Hester Sharpe, currently at JCC but took a week out of normal school life on work experience to be a photographer’s assistant and learn the bits behind the camera, photograph and the process to get to the end result. During my week of work experience in photography I have learnt that there is a lot more than just taking the pictures and printing them. The steps in between are the key to getting the perfect photo. For example the photos have to be cropped, tweaked, edited, colour corrected. That is just a taste I have had in the processing of the photos and there is a lot more than just those things. Those processes are the most time consuming part of the photograph and a tremendous amount of detail is put in to the picture but all the hours spent are paid off with the end result; a perfect picture. It isn’t just how the picture looks; presentation is a key to photography too. Selecting the best

Christina Lauder Portraits

Search This Blog