So this is me, Claire, the friendly face behind the lens and the real life Claire with the Camera!
I wanted to take a moment to say hello and introduce you to me and my brand photography business. I’m a specialist, on location, brand photographer, based in Surrey, and I am passionate about helping other small business owners and entrepreneurs like you, get more confident and increase your visibility. I create professional on-brand photos BURSTING with personality to help create the stand-out visual brand your brilliant business deserves. And I LOVE it!
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To put it simply, I take photos for people who run their own small business and who need regular or updated content for their marketing, social media posts and websites. Simple!
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Read on to find out a bit more about me....
Claire x
In this article you can find out:
1. so who actually is Claire with the Camera?!
Like many of you, I am a mum running my own small business (racing between the ever growing to-do list, the school run and shoving fish fingers in the oven!)
I have always loved photos and photography and remember getting my first ‘real’ camera when I was about 7 or 8, and taking pictures of our new puppy - read about how it all began with my little yellow camera.
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I love capturing all the little details of life - whether that’s people, places or animals! My passion turned into family photography several years ago, and I have since moved into personal and business branding photography; combining my photography skills, creativity, love of people and marketing knowledge, to help entrepreneurs and those with small businesses in Surrey and beyond.
Claire with the Camera was born in 2021, after spending 20 years in the Charity sector, where my passion was making a difference to others - something that is still really important to me.
I now love supporting and helping amazing entrepreneurs and small business owners to transform their visual brand and identity through photos that celebrate the brilliance of them.
​2. just for fun, here’s 5 facts about me!
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I love singing and music (even though I have a terrible voice!) and as my kiddies know, relate most things to lyrics of a song (or an episode of Friends!)
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My 9 month honeymoon ended two weeks early with an emergency speedboat trip to hospital from a remote Island in Fiji! We had the most amazing time and amongst other things, rode elephants in Thailand (and thankfully left just before the Boxing day Tsunami struck in 2004), trekked through stunning landscapes (and got bitten alive by mozzies) in Malaysia, visited the unbelievable clean and ordered city of Singapore, cuddled koalas in Australia, skydived in New Zealand, swam in Samoa… and got a terrible virus in the paradise of Fiji!
3. In my 30’s, my days were spent photographing leopard cubs, walking with orphaned cheetah cubs and feeding baby baboons, when I spent two years Fundraising and Marketing for a Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia! And my commute involved walking through the bush watching for scorpions, baboon spiders and deadly snakes.
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4. I am now kept on my toes with two fast growing little people, two small cats (rather than the big cats in Africa!) and my husband, and we live near Woking in Surrey.
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5. I love upcycling and painting or making things (when I have a rare window of time) and am very proud of our dining table, which I made out of old scaffold boards!
3. my approach to brand photography
My approach is all about YOU! It's all about getting to know you and your business, what makes you unique, what drives you and why you created your business. I focus on the person behind the business and telling the story of what you do. So anything from the process of making something, if you are a creative, to how you interact with clients if you provide a service, to where you work and what inspires you.
I think imagery often gets overlooked in content creation, but we all know how powerful great imagery is, and how you can tell a story, increase connection and inspire engagement with the right photo or picture. I love getting to know new people, understanding each business – from their values to what makes them tick - and bringing it all to life through photography.
I want to help you feel relaxed, confident and prepared for your brand shoot, so we can capture naturally happy photos showing your personality and the spark in your eyes! To do this, I have created my Brilliant Brand Shoot Builder to help reduce overwhelm and get you shoot ready.
It takes you step by step from the initial Enquiry Call, through to planning each part of the shoot, to the shoot day itself and then 'ta-dah'... to your bespoke, on-brand gallery of professional photos that you can use to boost your brilliant business!
My ultimate aim is for you to have beautiful, on-brand, engaging photos that you can use on your website and in your marketing every single day; to create a website that connects, engaging content that attracts your ideal client and helps your business to grow.
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All of this means I don't just turn up with my camera next week! I encourage people to book at least 4-6 weeks before you are looking to have your shoot, so we have plenty of time to get everything in place. I know what it's like juggling your own business and all of the things so my approach is about having a fun and stress free brand shoot!
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4. Who do I work with?
I work with small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches and consultants across many different niches. I have worked with a variety of businesses such as Mindset, Transformation and Confidence Coaches, Wellness Experts and Nutritionists, Bakers, Caterers and Cookery Schools, Podcast Managers, Sound Healers and Finance and Tax Advisors. See some examples here.
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My niche is people who love what they do and have a passion for making a difference or bringing more joy and happiness into their clients lives!
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I am location based, so travel to the location that works best for you - whether that's your home office or studio, an outside space, or a hotel that aligns with your brand. I love discovering new places, and finding what helps to bring out your brand, values and personality! I cover everywhere within a two hour drive of Surrey - from Kent to Oxfordshire, Birmingham to Bristol, Essex to Hertfordshire, and everywhere in between. Previous brand shoots have taken me from Ivybridge in Devon to Nailsea in Bristol, from the Heybridge Basin and Romford in Essex to Shirley and Solihull near Birmingham. As well as a huge variety of Surrey locations including Haslemere, Godalming, Woking, Weybridge, Teddington and Richmond.
I work with small business owners in Surrey, to deliver bespoke galleries of photos they can use in the months ahead to create conversations, share their story and interact with their ideal clients.
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I work with new businesses and business start ups to help them get the initial photos they need, or to upgrade from an old corporate headshot, to a new profile photo full of personality.
I also love working with business owners who are ready for their next stage in growth! Those that have invested their time and energy into building their business and securing clients and are now ready make it a sustainable, income generating business. Those that have been going a year or two and are now clear on who there ideal client is, how they support them, the difference they make and their brand identity. I absolutely love helping these people bring their business to life, so they can have a website to be proud of and create content that connects through their social media channels.
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Whatever the stage of your business, I am passionate about helping and supporting other small businesses to develop, grow and flourish with what they do. Bringing your passion to life, is my speciality.
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5. How do I work with you?
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My Brilliant Brand Shoot Builder helps me to understand what your superpowers are, why you are passionate about your brilliant business and what it does for others, so I capture the essence of you in your brand shoot. I take you through the whole process so you don’t have to worry at all! From an initial enquiry call to allow us each to find out about each other and how we can work together, to planning the shoot including locations, outfits, props and accessories to the day itself.
A brand photoshoot with Claire with the Camera, is all about YOU! My small business brand shoots are not about being posed, perfect or over-produced:
💫 They are about being 100% you!
💫 Perfectly imperfect YOU!
💫 Wearing what you want to wear
💫 And finding locations that fit with your brand
YOU are what makes your business UNIQUE. You are the only person that can do what you do, in the way that you do it, and my aim is to bring that to life!
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The shoot day itself is the culmination of all the planning and work we have put in, which means we can get out of it exactly what you need. My bespoke service means you will end up with a full library of images to use over the coming months that showcase your business brand. My shoots are all about creating variety, to give you images for all the content and marketing needs; see the 12 types of photos that I think every business should have.
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With my combination of photography skills and creativity, and your fabulous business, I'll capture you in action doing what you do best! My photos can help tell the stories around you and your business so your audience will be able to learn what you do, why and how.
And we will definitely have some FUN on the way!
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You can read my previous clients' feedback about how happy they were here!
6. Find out more
Do sign up to News Flash to receive my tips and updates on how to better use photos for your business.
I love to hear from new people and would be delighted to chat more about how a business brand photography session could help your small business grow. You can arrange an easy, no-pressure Enquiry Call to find out how we can work together, or feel free to drop me an email at claire@clairewiththecamera.co.uk.
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For me, it’s not about ‘perfect’ photos, it’s about photos that are PERFECTLY YOU!
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Claire x