Hi! My name is Claire and I'm a 20 year old photographer.



I first started my path down photography when I was about 8 years old. I grew up watching equestrian Youtubers like Lauren Allport, This Esme, Equine Cass, Fallon Taylor, Matt Harnacke and Jessie Drent just to name a few. I loved seeing how they could document their life, journeys and tell a story all through a camera. Inspired by them, I knew that I needed a camera of my own! After a little convincing, my dad took me to Walmart and bought me an old and affordable Nikon camera with a SUPER crazy built in zoom lens on it! (that I still have by the way!)

I ran around all day taking pictures of everything I could think of: my dog, our horses, plants, and bugs. Eventually, I figured out how to set it up to record myself riding, just like the vloggers I admired. I filmed myself jumping, trail riding, and just ponying around the pasture.

Unfortuantly in early 2016, our Arabian gelding, Khan, was diagnosed with Equine Osteosarcoma in his jaw at the age of 37. (A type of bone cancer that's rarely found in horses)

Because of this, I stopped riding as much. When I did ride I could only ride him in a neck-rope as bridles and halters were uncomfortable for him. By August 2017, my dad and I agreed that it was time for Khan to fully retire. Wanting to give him one last experience, I led him on foot through his favorite trails behind our house. An ode to our chapter together.

This was when I did what I consider, my first memorial pet photoshoot.

    As I got older, I slowly fell out of photography when I started to focus on my riding and school. For my high school art class, they asked us to take a picture of something and recreate it in pencil. Being 17 now, I had long forgotten that I ever even had a camera in the first place and the prompt reminded me of that cheap Walmart camera. When I dug out my now-even-older, dusty, red camera and turned it on, the first things that I saw were the pictures of Khan that I took when I was 10. This brought back so many amazing memories we had together, and this moment was when I realized how much of an impact a few simple photos can make. That feeling can never be replicated.

And that is why I continue to do what I love, capture memories.