Guest Blog Post: Clair Bremner, See Be Art Photography.

Name: Clair Bremner.

Position: Photographer, See Be Art Photography.

Clair is a natural light photographer specializing in candid, relaxed lifestyle portraits on location. Kids portraits, baby portraits, newborn portraits, toddler portraits, families portraits.
Based in Kilsyth but will travel Melbourne wide including all areas within one hour of CBD.

Hi, My name is Clair Bremner and I’m the owner of See Be Art in Melbourne.

I have been a professional photographer for over five years now and a scrap-booker for about four years. I’ve been asked to talk about the importance of photography in Scrapbooking and to also give a few tips on how to take better shots of your kids/family.

Unfortunately that is not an easy topic to cover in just a blog post LOL!! Photography is such a complex art form with so many different aspects that need to be taken into consideration. But that doesn’t mean you need to be a professional to create professional looking images. It’s more about what you photograph than how you photograph when it comes to scrapping.

Obviously I just adore the art of photography (otherwise I would bother making it my career), but what I love most is the ability to catch moments that happen in my own family on a day to day basis. I use to love sitting and looking through my childhood photo albums, and I think it is so important to capture these moments of childhood before they disappear and life becomes too serious.

The photos I like to scrap the most are the everyday moments. Sure it’s great to have a few perfect shots of your children looking adorable, but it is just as important to get shots of them looking not-so-perfect. Or even just chilling out doing the mundane things that make up every day life. And it’s those types of images that you don’t need a professional for. You can achieve them yourself by just stopping and looking around at your life and discovering what needs to be captured.

Don’t be afraid to step back and involve more of the surroundings when taking photos. It’s great to compare how small your child is against certain backdrops around your home or the location you happen to be in, like a door frame, on the couch or in their bed. I took on a project at the beginning of the year to take a photo a day for 30 days. It was a great challenge that really forced me o open my eyes and utilize what I had around me to help capture my children doing their own thing.

When composing your photos it is important to remember the rule of thirds (divide your image up into 9 squares and always compose the main subject into the division of one of those squares). However rules are meant to be broken. Try to alter the angle of your camera. Get down to their level or shoot them from above. Use the surroundings to frame the image and take the photo in an unexpected way. And if your game hand over the camera to your child and let them take the photos (obviously not recommended for expensive Digital SLR’s LOL).

The last point I’d like to make is that when photographing your own children, try not to put too much pressure on them. If you try to “set up” a shot too much or force them into a certain position or emotion you will all just walk away feeling frustrated and disappointed. Taking photos shouldn’t be about achieving the “perfect moment”. It should be about capturing your child’s real personality. If they are more shy and moody than outgoing then there is no point forcing them into doing something that they don’t normally do for the sake of a good photo. If you relax and let them do their own thing then the right moments will just happen on their own.

Thanks Clair!!

To see more of Clair’s scrapbooking head to her blog.