Claire Bemister

Ohhhhhhh, newborn squidgy goodness!! Be still, my beating... ovaries? Baby E was a snoozy delight, and big brother H made me both giggle and marvel at his upside down antics. At their beautiful home in Woking, Surrey, it was an absolute delight to capture this fresh family of 4 with baby E only a couple of weeks old. There were lots of breaks for feeds and cuddles, and it was a really relaxed session, with a lovely mixture of those storytelling documentary photos for those me

Kirsten and Stephen asked me into their home in December to capture baby Sadie. I’ll be honest with you, as I was with them. I wasn’t sure whether I was the right photographer for them. You know how much I put my heart and soul into every family and every couple, and we had recently lost Bear, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready. And these first photos are too precious, I know how much they mean, I didn’t want to let anyone down. But after a deep heart to heart with Stephen whil

So, last week I was chatting about how to improve your pictures of your kids in terms of getting angles and natural moments, and how to best capture their perspective. This week, we’re going to have a whistle-stop tour of some really simple yet effective ways your can make your images look better by how you place things within them. Basically, some simple composition tips! These work for photographing kids, friends, landscapes, shelfies, flowers, fruit bowls.. you name it! I’

Well. I wasn’t expecting to write a post quite like this, and I’m guessing you weren’t expecting to read one. As the lockdown is extended for at least another 3 weeks and any initial energy begins to wane, whilst uncertainty still lingers, we’re all finding our own ways through in our own set of circumstances. And I guess for the most part, that means a lot of us are trying to appreciate the small things and little moments and each other as best we can. And yes, these are str

I was asked back for a third time to photograph this lovely family - and honestly there is no greater compliment. Previously we had worked together for a maternity and newborn shoot, but this time I was a birthday gift to the grandparents, and it was an amazing morning. We all met up at David and Lor's home, and they just let me do my thing whilst we all hung out: I love documenting family life, from the gentle play time with the baby of the family, to the banter between brot

What I love about kids parties, is the sheer joy and utter excitement they bring! Amaya had a particularly fab one for her fifth birthday, on her favourite theme - puppies! It was a fully decked garden party, complete with BBQ, homemade elderflower fizz from Grandma, facepainting skills from Amaya's auntie, and some spectacular entertainment from Ellie of Buttons Parties. The kids went on an adventure to find the stolen doggy treats across all sorts of perilous obstacles - th

The #beastfromtheeast swung by ours, briefly! Snow days off school meant work was put on hold, but we couldn't just sit inside, we had to get out and muck about! I always admired the snow - less so when Matt throws snowballs at me INSIDE the house. It was Oscar's first proper snowfall and we had to make the most of it, so we were outside for what felt like most of the time, interspersed with lots of hot chocolate and marshmallows, obv. Uninhibited play is the BEST way to take

The initial conversation went a little like this: "So, how do you feel about the New Forest? Specifically, Lyndhurst and Beaulieu? Only, there's this really amazing sandpit area, and some amazingly empty heathland!" Gemma and Dan were "well up for it!" and so off we headed, navigating our way around boggy marsh and uncooperative native species (namely horses that would know exactly where we didn't want them to stand)! Dan was particularly excited about the horses, and I think

Where did what begin? Well, this blog begins here - hello Blogosphere! I figured for a first post, it might be fitting to go back to where photography began for me. Honestly, it started with my grandad. He played golf, created masterpieces of woodwork, and often held his camera in his hand (when he wasn't talking with his hands, he did a lot of that...) He would sit us down after holidays and show us slide after slide up on a projector screen in the living room, and I didn't