Meet Claire

Celebrating your story with love, imagination & a dash of magic

Hi, I’m Claire

I’m the photographer behind Woodland Hill Photography, although if you come to the studio, you’ll quickly discover that taking the portraits is only part of what I do.

There’ll probably be a good natter; I’ll want to know about the people, or animals you love. I’ll notice the little things, and somewhere along the way, I’ll almost certainly rearrange something because it’s two inches further to the left than my brain thinks it should be.

I’ve been doing this professionally since 2000, but the story started somewhere quite different.

Before Woodland Hill

I grew up in Tunbridge Wells and, before photography became my full-time career, I worked in The City. It’s also where I met my husband, so that particular chapter of my life gave me rather more than a career.

Woodland Hill Photography began in 2000, but there wasn’t a dramatic moment when I threw away the suit and marched off into the sunset carrying a camera.

For eight years, I continued consulting in The City alongside building Woodland Hill and photographing weddings. Eventually photography became my whole working world, although quite a lot of what I learnt in my previous career came with me.

More than 25 years later, I’m still here and a lot has changed in that time. I’ve photographed hundreds of weddings, watched babies grow into children, welcomed families back through the studio door and photographed more dogs than I could possibly count.

These days, Woodland Hill is all about portraiture – babies celebrating their first birthdays, mothers and daughters, maternity, families, dogs, headshots and, every so often, an ordinary studio in East Grinstead mysteriously turns into a school for young witches and wizards.

That probably tells you quite a lot about me 🤣

Apparently, I Collect Qualifications

My City career left me with a strong belief that if you’re going to call yourself a professional, you should know your craft properly.

Unfortunately, I may have taken that slightly too literally.

I’m an Associate of the British Institute of Professional Photography, a Licentiate of the Master Photographers Association, an Associate of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers and a Craftsman of the Guild of Photographers. I also hold the Guild of Photographers’ Business Qualification and am a DiPP Accredited Master Photographer.

So yes, I might be a bit of a qualification junkie.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to receive many awards for my photography over the years, including placing 26th internationally in the Abstract/Illustrative category of the 2011 International Loupe Awards.

But qualifications and awards have never meant that there’s nothing left to learn; quite the opposite.

One of the best things a mentor taught me is that, with photography, you never really “arrive”. There’s always something else to discover, something to improve and another way of looking at the world and I still believe that.

The Bit That Matters Most

For all the training, qualifications and years behind the camera, the part of this job I love most is getting to know the person in front of it.

Because I don’t want to photograph some strange, polished version of you that nobody in your family recognises; I want the expressions you know, the relationships you recognise and the tiny mannerisms that make somebody unmistakably them.

It’s also why I believe so strongly in portraits becoming part of your home. Not simply because they look beautiful on a wall, but because the people in them get to walk past them every day and see something much more important.

That they belong there and they are loved and wanted.

Away From the Camera?

I’ve always had a rather overactive imagination.

As a child, I loved disappearing into stories and imaginary worlds. Apparently, I never entirely grew out of it, which goes some way towards explaining Wizard School and the fascination about why a child identifies with a particular character, there’s so much more behind the potion making and feather levitating.

Animals have always been a huge part of my life too, and I am completely incapable of regarding a dog as “just a dog”. I know that the smallest habits are often the things we love most about them.

I’m also a godmother, although my godchildren have always called me their second mum, which is one of those titles that means rather more to me than any of the letters I can put after my name.

If you visit the studio, you may notice the Fortnum & Mason mugs. There is absolutely no professional photographic justification for them. I just think tea tastes better from a proper mug.

So, That’s Me

Professional photographer – Former City consultant – Qualification collector – Animal lover – Creator of magical schools, and someone who still, after more than 25 years, gets excited about the people I meet and what we can create together.

An experience at Woodland Hill was never supposed to be about me.

It starts with you.

So now you know a little about the person behind the camera, I’d much rather hear about the people you love.

Take the first step and call me on 📞 01342-303491