Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Bickley.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Looking back, I actually think it’s funny how I started my business! As a child, I really enjoyed taking my mother’s little digital camera around our family’s beef cattle farm and photographing the flowers and various animals we had. Never in a million years did I think that would turn into a serious career!
I almost stumbled into photography in 2013. My mom was looking for someone to take my brother’s senior photos and had been considering different photographers in our neighborhood and church. On a whim, I offered to take them. She was a little skeptical, but I assured her she wouldn’t have to pay me.
Why she trusted me, a fifteen-year-old with a Fujifilm digital camera and absolutely no experience photographing human beings, I’ll never know! But I’m forever grateful she did, haha!
I had a blast taking his photos, and my mom ended up loving how they turned out. From that day forward, I fell in love with portrait photography!
Somehow, that one senior session grew into thirteen, almost fourteen, years of photographing families, weddings, engagements, seniors, and other special milestones in people’s lives. Over the years, I’ve had the honor of watching families grow, celebrating alongside couples on their wedding days, and capturing moments that my clients will be able to look back on for years to come. What started as a simple hobby has turned into something I never could have imagined at fifteen years old, and I’m so grateful for every person who has trusted me to capture a little piece of their story.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think any artist or small business owner can ever truly say they’ve had a completely smooth road while building a business.
For me personally, a lot of the struggles have come from hurtful comments, mistakes that eventually turned into lessons, financial risks, and personal fears.
When I was starting out, I think I received more rude comments and snarky remarks from those closest to me than anyone else. I had members of my own family tell me that what I was doing would never make any money and that I would have to enjoy photography as a hobby because it would never pay the bills. Sometimes, I look back on those comments because they definitely never leave you, and I laugh. Some of those same people who said those things are now among the first to rave about a session I’ve posted. I think, in some strange way, those comments helped fuel my determination to work hard and prove them wrong.
The financial aspect of photography was (and can still sometimes be) a bumpy experience. Starting out in high school, I had a Fujifilm digital camera, and I loved it. I was content with it, but I knew it would never perform quite like a higher-quality model. I couldn’t afford anything nicer, considering I was operating on my zero-dollar-a-month salary and booking maybe three sessions a year at that point.
I remember a photographer in my community, someone I still admire very highly, telling me, “You’ll never make it in this business if you try to work with that thing. You need an actual camera with interchangeable lenses.” Word for word. It broke my heart, and I went home and cried. I felt defeated, but I kept pushing forward. Eventually, I used almost every penny of my high school graduation money to split the cost of my first DSLR camera and two lenses with my parents.
Now I have too many lenses. I think I’m overcompensating for what I was lacking at fifteen or sixteen years old, haha!
Personal fear also played a huge role in my struggles, especially in the beginning. I tend to be an overthinker and have an anxious personality, but the more I pushed myself to step outside my comfort zone and try things that scared me, the easier it became to work through that overthinking and anxiety.
I’m very much a creature of habit, and new things can be intimidating. Quick prayers often help ease my nerves and give me the courage to take those leaps. I like to say, “Leap, and God will appear.” And He has, over and over again. Sometimes, I just had to trust that He would take care of things, whether they were meant for me or not.
You’ll never know unless you try. That was a huge lesson I had to learn early on, and it’s one I still lean on today because life and photography are ever-changing, and you’re always running to catch up.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a portrait photographer who specializes in weddings, families, seniors, engagements, and more. I serve Louisa County and the surrounding areas. I’ve also had the opportunity to travel to different states and parts of Virginia for weddings, family, and senior sessions, and I’ve really enjoyed it.
One thing I’m most proud of is making connections with my clients. I love building personal relationships with all of my clients because I want them to have the best experience possible while working with me. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m perfect, because I, by no means, am perfect. I sometimes fail or fall short. But I’m human. Someone once told me that people don’t care that you’re human; they want a machine. I don’t believe in that statement. I think that when you nurture a relationship with a client, it feels personal to them, and they become more understanding and develop a stronger connection with the experience that you’ve created for yourself and with them. That’s also a delicate line to walk, because it shouldn’t be taken advantage of. I want my clients to feel like they’re working with an old friend. I want them to feel comfortable, confident, and genuinely enjoy their experience, rather than feeling like they’re just stiffly posing for another picture. I used to not really be a people person or do much talking. But the longer I’ve been a photographer, the more of a yapper I’ve become. I constantly have to remind myself to stop talking during a session and keep working, because I’ll talk your ear off if you let me, haha!
I put a lot of time and attention into the work that I do during and after a session. My family can attest to this; sometimes I’ll be working on a session and spend upwards of five to eight minutes working on one photo. Someone will walk by me and say, “That looks like the other photo you were just working on.” And then I’ll have to admit that it’s 100% the same photo they saw the last time they walked by me, because I’m still picking it apart and making sure I think it’s ready to add to the gallery. I know that sometimes, because of that, my turnaround time tends to be longer than just applying a preset and sending the photos off. I want to make sure I’m proud and confident in what I’m sending back to my clients. They hire me because they trust that I’ll work hard to photograph and create beautiful, lasting memories that they’ll look back on for years to come. I try to put that into every session and every photo I edit. 30 years down the road, they may not remember who took the photo or where they took it, but my hope is that they’ll remember how they felt during the session; they will remember the experience they had. I recently had a bride tell me that she could tell I genuinely cared about my clients and how hard I work to make them happy. That meant the world to me to hear, because I do genuinely care about all of my clients and the memories they’re trusting me to capture.
I’m also incredibly proud of how far my business has come over the last thirteen, almost fourteen years. I’ve been able to turn my business into something that allows me to capture meaningful and significant moments in people’s lives- many of whom continue to trust me time after time with photographing their next season or milestone in life. I’m always learning, growing, and finding new ways to improve the experience for my clients so that they can feel even more special. I’ve grown so much personally and professionally, and I’m still learning. Frankly, I don’t think I’ll ever reach a point where I’ve learned everything there is to know about photography. That’s part of what keeps me passionate about what I do.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Comparison is the thief of joy.
There is a vast abundance of fantastically talented and gifted photographers. It’s so easy to slip into the comparison game and suffer from imposter syndrome, or to get so caught up in the feeling of competitiveness that you lose sight of what really matters. In both directions, that comparison robs you of joy.
I fall victim to imposter syndrome constantly. It’s an ongoing battle. I very often compare my work to the work of those around me and fall deeper into it. I really have to work hard at being kinder to myself; at giving myself permission to enjoy the fruits of my labor and simultaneously recognize that I am just as talented as everyone else.
In all things, remain humble. You can remain humble and still succeed. Being humble doesn’t mean you’re not recognizing your own talents; it means recognizing them without believing you’re superior to those around you. You can celebrate your own accomplishments without dulling someone else’s. You can admire someone else’s value without questioning your own.
Sometimes you can find inspiration in the work of those around you. Every photographer has a different approach to their craft; that doesn’t make their way or my way wrong or less valuable.
I’m still learning to give myself grace and celebrate my own accomplishments without constantly measuring them against someone else’s.
Wildflowers don’t have to compete with one another to make a field beautiful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://clairebickleyphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clairebickleyphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clairebickleyphotography
Image Credits
Personal Headshot of Claire Bickley: Carlee Verling Photography
