about

Claire was drawn to photography at a young age and, at 16, with equipment given to her by an uncle, she built her first dark room.

Her journey has taken her to study in Hereford, Leeds, Camberwell, The London College of Communication and America. She pursued a varied and successful working life in media relations, until in 2007, the magnetism of photography finally called her to commit to it professionally.

Claire has long sought to capture the intimate, ethereal atmosphere of Pre-Raphaelite and pictoralist photographers. Finding tuition in these now alternative photographic practices was a struggle in England but, in 2007, having looked much further afield, she found her teacher. John Coffer is the grandfather of Wet-Plate printing – the process used by the earliest pioneers of photography. Claire has been working as John’s assistant ever since, dedicated to learning this disappearing and difficult art.

Wet-Plate photography involves infinite patience and risk. It is a slow, cumbersome process, but it restores sentiment and daydream to an image – qualities that are so often absent from modern pictures. The process is hugely rewarding for the photographer is both artist and alchemist, and the result engages the viewer’s senses with a beauty and romance akin to poetry and music. 

Claire also works as a commercial photographer. She undertakes commissions for both press and private clients and is capable of producing excellent work in many fields. Her declared aim is to go ‘into the moment’: to show how time outside the moment still hangs in this one moment, in the abstract subtleties of mood and atmosphere that draw the viewer into the experience.