Clare has been busy launching her book, so we were thrilled to book her for this interview! Here, she talks with us about photography’s power to document and inspire, and how it feels juggling creative projects with work managing private finances.  

Tell us about your work as a London photographer, specifically London in lockdown. You can see the switch in focus on your Instagram profile from 2019 to 2020.

Yes! I started by photographing empty streets, which are normally heaving with traffic. Seeing them empty was just surreal.

I also discovered the art of looking up. What you can learn about a city just by looking up is amazing. You’ll find the dates when buildings were built, interesting gables and turrets, international influences, historical strata – and I never realised how many roof terraces there were in London!

The lockdown also inspired your beautiful book of photography, London Silenced. What was your motivation to create this book?

At a recent book signing, a young woman asked me to sign the book for her child. She wanted her to see pictures of how London looked at the time she was born. The book is a brief history of that moment in time—a record of something that we will always remember.

The pandemic threw many plans out the window. How many photos in London Silenced were planned ahead?

Sometimes even when you have a strategy, it doesn’t go according to plan. It starts raining, or the light changes. It’s is all about being in the right place at the right time.

I think that applies to many things in life – timing and luck are important. Meeting Emily was timing and luck. The week after we met, I had a telephone call for a job managing private finances. And the next thing I knew, I got it!

Do you think that this mindset to keep open-minded to change is important to today’s environment where lots of people work more than one job?

I believe it is. Photography is wonderful, but the nature of the work can make it quite isolating, so I value the personal connection I make in my other job. It also gives me great pleasure to feel that I’m making a difference to someone!

You won the Evening Standard Lockdown Competition for your photographs. Can you tell us about that?

I could not have been more amazed to win first place, fourth and ninth! I really felt that my work was being recognised.

We love that image of the Albert Bridge! The water is so incredibly still.

It’s very rare that one sees the river like that. The Thames is used not just for transporting people but also for materials, rubbish – we don’t realise just how busy it gets.

That particular evening when I took that photograph, I was walking my dog Stella along the Royal Hospital Road, and I saw this red glow in the sky. I said to Stella, “we’re going to run”, and I don’t often run anywhere! But that evening, we ran to the Embankment.

The water was glassy. I’ve been back many, many times. And I’ve never since seen it like that.

Where would you recommend Londoners go first to take a shot?

There’s always something new to discover, but I can’t resist going to the river. You never get the same photograph because of the changes in light and the activity on the water. Water adds a different texture – the same can be said for a cloudy day!

How do you suggest jobseekers use social media to brand themselves?

You can learn so much from people’s Instagram channels. I think it’s good to have a variety of posts that cover different subjects so that you can present different aspects of your personality and skill-set. We’re all multifaceted and subject to change – like water!

Do you have a central vision when you take photos of London?

I want my posts of London on Instagram to be views that anyone can technically go and see. Many will know those views very well, but I take them from a slightly different perspective, in the hope that they’ll see something they’ve never noticed before. I think that personal touch is important.

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