My Photography Story
Wow, I can’t believe I am starting an actual blog with a sole purpose to share my photography tricks, tips, and stories with all of you. For those those of you that are new around here, my name is Clare. I am from the beautiful city of Tacoma, WA and this is the story of how I came to be a photographer.
I first began blogging after I was inspired by reading my cousins’. I became intrigued by the way that they were documenting their lives with pictures and stories of their own children. As an 11 year old, I didn’t have kids but, I had the next best thing, a three year old brother and a five year old sister. I first began documenting using my mom’s iPhone 3GS. It was a simple set up but, I quickly outgrew that.
I stuck with blogging consistently for around three years. It wasn’t until I was in 8th grade that I convinced my dad to let me bring his SLR on a family vacation. Little did I know that these images would open up a whole new world to me. My dad, decided to invest in me and my art and lent me an even better camera, my $800 Nikon D90. As an 8th grader, this was a lot of money and it took me a year to pay him back. For whatever odd reason, I was not thrilled and actually didn’t touch the camera for days. Eventually, I gave it a try and am I glad I did.
My sister and her cat, Chloe (year taken: 2013)
Fast forward a couple of years, I save enough money to upgrade my camera. Because my new “hobby” was getting expensive, I began my business “Photos by Clare” and found my market with high school seniors. High school was unusual for me because while my peers were partying, I was constantly trying to educate myself on the mechanics of lighting. I attended workshops, shot alongside my cousin, read through forums, and so much more.
When photographing seniors, I always felt like I went through the motions. It wasn’t until I was photographing a friend that I actually found meaning in my work. She had brought her mom along and it happened to be a very emotional time. I then realized, that I was in charge of documenting a major milestone for this mom. It was her only child and her child would soon be “leaving the nest”. That moment, was when I realized, this is what I was meant to do and why I felt called to be a photographer.
After high school, I was hit with the reality that I didn’t want to go to college. Despite my high school advisors wishes, I took a couple of gap years. On my first gap year I traveled with a group of kids I had never even met. My photography journey was challenged within the first week of our trip. I had purchased a smaller frame camera to take and turns out, it was mechanically defective. The shutter would go out on random times and became increasingly unreliable. Panic set it fast. How would I continue to document what I was going through? Why is this happening when I have no way to get another camera? At one point, I threatened to leave the trip entirely because who was I without photography?
Eventually, our group was in a big enough city and I could get a new camera. Working camera in tow, I began routinely documenting again. My friend and I were talking about me going full time with my business and I sorta brushed it off. We even had a mini-shoot to test out my new camera and at the time, it seemed incredibly silly to be doing a shoot. I had no idea that the impact this shoot would forever leave on me. Not even two months later, this friend unexpectedly passed away. This incident further shaped the way I would continue to grow as a person and as a photographer.
The reason I choose to photograph is to document our everyday lives. Our day to day may seem completely arbitrary but, when we look back we can see the purpose it creates. My goal is to find the magic of our everyday lives. When my friend passed away, it was the photography that helped heal me and helped me to remember the small details of our days.
If you made it this far, I am honored that you chose to read part of my story!
Clare Irene
