Portrait Experience; Erin

Recently, I had another portfolio building shoot with my sister, Erin.
Her and mother had come to visit for the weekend and she needed some headshots for work, so I took the opportunity to also get some images for my portfolio!

We were kind of squished in my little living room, next to the big windows, with my huge backdrop taking up most of the space! But, I'm pretty pleased with the results!
I tried out some poses reminiscent of the Old Masters; paintings that I love. I really want my work to be seen as something resembling the old painted portraits families would have above the fireplace. I want people to see my portraits as something important to hold on to; to be passed down generations and kept in the family as a memento of past ancestors. So using all the fabric and textures and colours and poses which takes inspiration from that period really makes sense to me!

I am in the process of ordering and putting together studio samples and all my marketing. So far I have my premier product as a sample and am constantly working on all the marketing and paper work that goes with running a business! It's a lot of work but I can't wait to get all my stuff together and show you all my beautiful products!

These images were all shot with natural light and I had big windows to the right of me. I also used a reflector to add more light. I did face a new problem I haven't really come across before. My sister wears glasses so there was quite a bit of glare on the glasses which needed to be combatted! I mostly tried to change the angle I was shooting at and then edited out some of the left-over glare. But, I have since read of a trick to use with people wearing glasses, so I'm looking forward to trying it with the next person!

As always, here are a few of my favourites.

Portrait experience; Jane.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to do a photoshoot with Jane, my partner's sister, as part of my portfolio building. This was the the first portrait shoot I'd done in the new style I'm developing for my work and wasn't sure how the images were going to turn out.
Jane wasn't sure about being in front of the camera either! So, it was a new experience for her too. But, I promised her cake after our session, so one Saturday afternoon, she came round to our house and got ready whilst I set up the background stand in the garden.

We ended up having a great shoot! The sun shone (mostly) and we got some great images! I was able to try out some new poses and test out my new reflector to use with the natural light available.

Our shoot lasted about an hour and afterwards, yes, there was cake!
I spent the next few weekends editing the images, using some wonderful new software I'd just downloaded and I'm really pleased with the results!
I can't wait to do some more shoots like this soon.

Here are some of my favourites, please let me know what you think!

Sapphira and Jungo's wedding: 21st June 2014.

Hello!
Here is the long awaited post of one of the weddings I had in Summer this year. This was actually the second wedding I had in June; the first being just a week before, but logistically, it makes sense to do this post first…

The 21st of June was a beautifully sunny day in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex and the bride and groom, Sapphira and Jungo had found the perfect setting for their Summer wedding; the church was actually the church Sapphira was Christened in, which made the ceremony even more special!

I arrived about an hour before the bride to get some shots of the church, the groomsmen and the nervous groom waiting. The Mother of the Bride and her bridesmaid arrived next; the bridesmaid was actually one of my best friends so it was great to be able to get some lovely shots of her on her friend's special day!

I'm so glad it was such a nice day! It meant I could get some great photos with everybody outside and as the reception area was so beautiful as well; surrounded by the Sussex downs and flowers everywhere, I think it made for some great shots! It also helps that the bride and groom made such a gorgeous couple! She was very Audrey Hepburn-esque!

I was also treated to a 3-course meal and a great evening with great people. It's always a bit strange sitting on a table with people at wedding whom you've never met before, but my table was lovely and we all got on really well and had a great night!

The bride and groom are currently choosing their photos and products; I'm excited to see what they choose!
Thank you Sapphira and Jungo for allowing me to share in your special day!

Here are a few of my favourites from the day!

Project Wild Flower

It's been a while, blogging friends! 

Since my last post, I have moved house (yet again! …We're planning on staying in this one for a while now!) so have been sorting out finances etc. and all these things that life throws at you…

Hence, this project has been on a bit of a hiatus recently. 

However, I can now reveal what I have been doing for Project Wild Flower (not its real title, just sounds a bit more exciting!) 

Project Wild Flower is a project very close to my heart and one I have been thinking about and working on for the last 3 years. It will comprise a series of fine art, studio type images of British wild flowers and will eventually be a photographic coffee table book and prints available for sale. All of the profits from this project will go to a charity, which I shall announce once the project is complete. 

Here is a taster of what I've been shooting so far and the look I'm going for. 

So far I have shot 4 flowers and I'm hoping to get at least 24…so quite a few more flowers to find and shoot!  

This was today's work:

Some more research to be done and onto the next flower!

New book!

So, it's Christmas...kind of. Well, not anymore, but the January sales are on so I've been treating myself, perhaps a little too much, to some new goodies!
Including this great book by one of my favourite artists, Slinkachu.

I bought Global Model Village: The International Street Art of Slinkachu here after wanting another of his books ever since I got the last one!

Global Model Village: The International Street Art of Slinkachu, front cover, Boxtree 2012.

As always, Slinkachu uses the world around him to place tiny model people into human-sized situations. The book, cleverly, shows close ups of the set-ups, as you can see below, but also shows a wider angled shot, showing the background and settings and where, often you have to really squint to see the models.

 Hanging On: Slinkachu

All Star Nobody: Slinkachu

Ground Zero: Slinkachu

I love Slinkachu's work, not just for the cute quirkiness and huge skill involved but for the situations he portrays; things that every day people go through, problems that the world and its societies face and in this book, Slinkachu goes around the world, giving a more diverse range of worldly problems with interesting political and natural backdrops.

It seems the little people know how we feel! 

Andy and Ula's Wedding. 11.08.12

Hello! Sorry for the delay of this post!
As you may know, since shooting this wedding a few months ago, I have moved house and started a new job, all of which has taken up a lot of my time and this has kind of been pushed to the back of my mind recently.
However, I'm ready to get back into photography again, more so in the the new year... I still have projects I want to pursue!

As I said in my previous post, shooting my first wedding was a great experience. Although stressful at times, I am very pleased with the results and hope to go forward and keep improving with each shoot I do.

Here are a few of my favourites from the day:

I hope you like them!

Last Weekend's Wedding

Hi guys!

Last Saturday I embarked on shooting my first ever wedding! I was quite nervous that morning but knew that once I'd got going and had met up with my assistant, I would be fine.

I left my boyfriend's at 7:15 am and met with my assistant, Helen at 8:30. We headed to the bride's house for 10am, where she and her wedding party were to get ready and we got straight in to the action! After setting up cameras (and deciding my flash was only going to work when IT wanted to!) we started following the bride, capturing images of her and her bridesmaids, parents and the flower girl as they prepared for the big day.
A fair amount of the morning was spent waiting for things to happen; flowers to turn up, people to get dressed etc but we were given champagne to help celebrate so the waiting was not a problem!

We soon whizzed off to the church to shoot the bride as she arrived as well as the groom's nervous waiting! The ceremony was lovely and we got some great pictures!

After the church we headed to Silverstone Golf Club for the reception where we shot the remainder of the family/group shots and got some shots of the reception venues.
As the wedding party sat down to eat, we headed home, knackered - and I had a massive headache!

The day was brilliant, we really felt like part of the day and I learned a lot for any future weddings! I can't wait to shoot more! I'd like to say a massive thank you to the bride and groom for allowing me to be a part of your special day and also to my assistant, Helen, for all the help (and chauffeuring) throughout the day!

Here's a behind-the-scenes shot of Helen preparing the bride for a shot. I'm still working on the photographs but can't wait to share some with you when they're ready!

www.laurenpinhorn.com
www.facebook.com/laurenpinhornphotography

Photoshoot; Sapphira, Brighton, March 2012.

Last week I did a photoshoot with Classic Lolita Sapphira in Brighton.
The weather was perfect for it! Sunny and hot but with a bit of a breeze. So the images had clear skies and the breeze gave Sapphira's outfit more movement, which was more interesting for the final photographs.

I took nearly 300 pictures during the afternoon and we tried lots of different locations and poses. Sapphira was a brilliant model; I barely needed to tell her what to do or how to stand at all! It was great that things ran so smoothly and we could just wander round, find a shooting site and I could let Sapphira do what she clearly does best!

When I got home, I wasn't too sure about the pictures as I thought the ISO had been too high (My fault: left it high from some late-night shooting and hadn't reset it!) but after looking through them a few times, I think the grain only added to the effect, especially as a Classic Lolita is heavily based on Victorian style - this just added to the old, classic, vintage feel the photographs have taken on!

Here are a few samples of the finished photographs.
Please visit my Facebook page for the full album!

And if you want to find out more about Classic Lolita, please visit Sapphira's blog!

Wedding test shoots!

Ok guys, I need your help!

I'm planning a couple of wedding test shoots over the next 3 or 4 months - hopefully with one being next month! - And I need models!

I'm looking to hire a wedding dress - or if anyone's got one I could borrow, any style, that would be brilliant!

So I also need models to fit said dress. Ideally the female model would be size 8-10 and at least 5 ft 5 inches tall. I'm also looking for a guy of medium build and at least 5 ft 9 inches tall. If you are one of these people - or know anyone who would be interested, please let them know or drop me an e-mail on facebook or my website with their name, details and preferably a picture so I can start booking people!
The shoot will be unpaid but any model is free to use their images for their portfolio.

The first shoot planned will be in Sussex, near or in Brighton. I'm thinking of taking the shoot to a forest to get some high-art, glossy 'trash-the-dress' style images and also hopefully to the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
The second shoot location is yet to be decided.

Ideally this shoot will be completed by the end of March so please do let me know if you or anyone you know is interested soon!

Can't wait to hear from you! This shoot should be great fun!

Lauren. x