The Child Within

Summer is the perfect time for taking photographs of the children in your family. As they look into the lens of your camera, they look so wise. As if they have the answers to the entire world’s problems. When you capture them in a moment of deep concentration they seem to know all there is to know. If you can, keep the background as uncluttered as possible, but it is better to get the photo as it happens, than miss it because you are trying to get all the conditions right. Some of the best photographs are taken with an ordinary camera, set on automatic, just because they can catch a moment as it happens. Try to get down on their level and move as fast as they do! They tell you time goes quickly, but it doesn’t really sink in until you meet a new born child or a toddler. I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia and her Mother Gemma. I think Olivia was so chilled because her mother was. An absolute pleasure and a reminder of how lovely we all were when we were little! Every time we get stressed, we just have to remember the child within us all!

                

“To celebrate my daughters first birthday, my family had asked Lisa to do a photo shoot. Lisa kindly offered to take the pictures around her home and garden of just our daughter and a few pictures of mother and daughter. Lisa’s photography skills and patience made this a fantastic experience for both of us. We felt at complete ease in a relaxed environment and Lisa was superb at capturing my daughter at her best (which is hard task!)The photos were very special and now they are all framed around my family’s homes. I unquestionably recommend Lisa for amazing photos and great memories for all families to treasure!”

No Comments by lisablog on August 21, 2011
filed in Babies, blog

Smile, you are what makes your business unique!

How do you genuinely smile when having your photo taken? It’s the most natural thing in the world, just think a happy thought. Nobody needs to know what that happy thought is! If you think “I hate having my photograph taken!” then that is what the camera will capture. So if you see someone wanting to take your photograph as a huge compliment and immediately think your happy thought, then you will look beautiful.

An incredibly honest and personal testimonial really underlines my point. 

 ”I think the way you promoted your photography gave me the awareness to think about smiling more, as you say “Your face is your fortune”. Once booked for the sitting, thoughts of style and my personal appearance became very important, arranging two appointments with a beautician and three visits to my hair salon, all to freshen my personal appearance. My sign work is often on site in a predominantly male environment and feel in the past I’ve kept myself in the background just getting on with the job at hand. Now after having my photograph taken by you I feel free to show off, dress smartly, laugh more and most of all smile a lot more naturally, wherever I go at whatever time! This may sound a bit over the top, but it has been a real life changer so I recommend all ladies should go for a photographic experience with you. Thank you Lisa.”

Ann Lavers   www.contrastsigns.co.uk

No Comments by lisablog on June 22, 2011
filed in Beauty, Hints, Women, photgraphy

Technology scares me

I can’t be the only technophobe out there? I keep meeting amazing women who seem to have mastered all things technical. My photographs are often used for profile pages for social networking sites. Social networking should be one of my top priorities, and every month I make myself a promise to focus my efforts on Twitter, Linkedin, Athena Connect and Facebook, but I always find something else to distract me from that goal.

 As a creative soul and I find technology scares me. However the love of keeping in touch and the proven power of on line business networking has spurred me on to get help from techno wiz Lisa Penn www.pennink.com Lisa Came to me for a headshot photograph, and whilst chatting she recognised immediately that she had the know how to reassure me and to make my online networking technophobe friendly. A work in progress! From one Lisa to another, thank you!

“I was in need of an update for my online profile picture and for my website. I know the importance of branding and how my face is part of my branding, so wanted a head shot I could use on all my online profiles. My photo session with Lisa Roberts was such fun, I didn’t want to leave! We chatted, posed, chatted, turned to the left, chatted, turned to the right and next thing I knew, she had dozens of really super photos!! I’m one of those women who hates having her photo taken, but this was easy, fun and Lisa’s great at ensuring both!!”

2 Comments by lisablog on May 24, 2011
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Perfect Weather

Today is the perfect weather for taking photographs of the people and places that you love. And even photos of irreplaceable objects that, if lost or broken you would miss. Later when you get these photos out and look at them, some will make you laugh, others will make you cry and some will just make you smile.

It is the same with the photograph of you on your website. Do you want to make potential customers laugh? Or cry? Or smile because they see someone open, honest and trustworthy. Remember you are what makes your business unique.

No Comments by lisablog on March 24, 2011
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Honoured To Meet Future Leaders

I was honoured to be asked to take the head shots of the finalists for the Women in the City Future Leaders Award, sponsored by Barclays Wealth. Gwen Rhys, Founder and Director of Women in the City www.citywomen.co.uk, treated me with the same care, support and nurturing that she gave to the Finalists and from seeing her at the Future Leaders Award Ceremony, I could see it is the way she treats all those with whom she comes into contact.

 As for the finalists,

  Rebecca Scott         Victoria Spencer    

    Claire Warnes        Shelley White      

    And Award winner Felicia Trewin

I couldn’t have asked for more charming, gracious and friendly subjects. All said they were not looking forward to the photo shoot, but thankfully, they all seemed genuinely thrilled when they saw their final images.

No matter whether you are part of a huge corporate world, or someone who works on their own, everyone deserves a photograph of themselves that they love.

 Photo tip: When your subject has a bright background, use a fill in flash to make sure the do not become a silhouette.

2 Comments by lisablog on July 24, 2010
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“Showing Off” or “She’s Shy”

As a child were you told to stop showing off? Were you described as precocious or were you always introduced as the shy one?

Being proud of what you have achieved can be frowned upon, so anything that smacks of tooting your own trumpet is frowned upon. It doesn’t come easily to many of us; it just isn’t the British way.

Deep down the idea of putting a photograph of yourself on your website, Networking Sites and business card, can feel like your showing off, saying “Look at me aren’t I gorgeous” or thinking others are saying “ How Cheesy”. Truthfully most of us don’t think we look gorgeous, (when I look at my photo all I see is my enormous chin and my gummy smile). Doesn’t your potential customer deserve to see who they are hoping to do business with?  Your customers are going to buy from you, not just because you have a great service or product, but because they like you, warm to you and trust you.  Often the first point of contact for your business is your website, so how better to show that you are likeable, open and trustworthy, than …..You.

No matter how big or small your company is, doesn’t everyone want to feel they are getting one to one attention?

Thankfully I enlisted the help of Vee Smith www.mysuperva.co.uk to help me with this blogsite, otherwise who knows what I would have sent you!

I was delighted that Vee chose to bring her team to me for a photograph and in my new style blog I intend to feature my customers and celebrate their success. My Super VA, a specialist virtual internet marketing support service was founded by Vee in 2006. Originally set up to provide online secretarial services, with the huge technological advances in web and online marketing in the last few years, Vee found herself helping entrepreneurs and small business owners implement their internet marketing strategies, from email newsletter campaigns to auto responders and sign up boxes, selling information products, blogs, websites and shopping carts. Behind every successful business person is an even more successful PA!

Vee Smith, Carrie Byrne and Lucia Perdoni

“As part of improving the profile of My Super VA I wanted to include a team photo in my publicity material. My two team members, Carrie and Lucia were very apprehensive and reluctant to have their photos taken as they were convinced they never look good in photos and hate having their pictures taken. Contrary to their expectations, we all enjoyed the photo-session experience with you and we are all extremely pleased with the results. It was quite difficult to choose 1 picture from the contacts, as they were all very good conveying the impression of a professional and competent team, which is what I wanted. Thank you!”

 

No Comments by lisablog on April 20, 2010
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Oooooooooops!!!!!

 

Well I am a complete technophobe, I managed to hit a button and send you a lovely testimonial I have been given, but I didn’t mean to!! I am sorry; I am hoping to send you an email about my new blog site soon, if I can work out how! (and if you haven’t already unsubscribed!!)

No Comments by lisablog on April 20, 2010
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Wonderful Women

If I had a pound for every time a woman I have met says “I hate having my photograph taken!” I would be a very rich woman. However what is more rewarding is the satisfaction I get from women who can say “I love my photograph!”

The wonderful ability of women to open up about themselves and to share how they are feeling not only enables me to learn about whom they are and what they do, but also to see the damage that has been done to their self esteem. They are mostly high powered business women, who understand the necessity of a portfolio of photographs to suit each of the diverse range of their target markets. They chose to come to me to achieve this, and start our session often in a state of abject misery about having their photograph taken. I discover that they are remembering a passing comment made sometime ago, about their weight or height, teeth, chin, scar, eyes etc, that some well meaning loved one has shared with them, and which has continued to haunt them and shape the way they feel about the way they look. I think nearly all of us can empathise with these feelings, and the tragedy is that often our self esteem issues have coloured the way we live our lives for too long. If each of us, every day could look at our reflections in a mirror and find something about ourselves that we like, the world would be a happier place.

2 Comments by lisablog on November 15, 2009
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Lighting

Well were has the time gone? As with all good intentions, I meant to add to my blog regularly, but the time just ran way from me. It is all the Networking I am doing! My photo tip this time is to avoid having the light coming from directly above you when you are having your photo taken. If there is not enough light coming from above, it can result in you looking as if you have big bags under your eyes, not very flattering. As an actress, some time ago, I was working on one accession with a very experienced actress, a real “old pro”. We were on stage in full makeup and costume, about to have some publicity shots done, when she called a halt to the proceedings, and refused to have her photograph taken until we were all lit properly from the front!! She was a striking woman and knew what she was talking about! Her acting was pretty good too!

1 Comment by lisablog on October 12, 2009
filed in Actress, Lighting, blog, networking
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Women Networking

I see a blog as not only a way of sharing knowledge but also to give an insight into the person about whom you are reading. It is a way of sharing experiences. I wanted to share my joy of networking with Women. We have an enviable ability to sit down with someone who, really you know very little about and within minutes have learned a vast amount. You can learn about their life, their beliefs and future possibilities for strategic alliances. If you could bottle this stuff you would make a fortune. Always be open to meeting new people and invest your time with the people you already know.

1 Comment by lisablog on July 3, 2009
filed in Women, beliefs, blog, investment, joy, networking, photgraphy
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