~ cool stuff ~ » Claire Pearson Photography

A few things about me:

I'm British.

My favourite relaxing passtime is knitting. In times past it used to be running (alas, not much since giving birth to my delightful daughter - one day I'll run a marathon again).

When I first came to Basel I brought with me only some clothes, 2 pairs of shoes, a shuttle computer (very small desktop PC, no monitor) and my cello in order to live a more simple life. It worked... for a while.

I am the eldest of three, my two other siblings being brothers, Dan and Tom.

There is a 13 year gap between me and my youngest brother.

I grew up in small southern villages in the UK.

I have a degree from the University of Sheffield in Mathematics and Philosophy.

I really wish there was a real fish and chip shop here in Basel. Just one. (Nordsee doesn't count!)

Same goes for a M&S.

In the right mood my eyes can change colour and become flurescent green.

I love taking pictures.

Category Archives: ~ cool stuff ~

~ And we are live again! ~

Monday, April 29, 2013

Ooops, if you tried to contact me in the last couple of weeks I have not been here! When I say here, I mean online. You would have seen a nice page from my website host instead that isn’t half as pretty as what is usually here.

In other news, I have some creative plans in mind for the next few months after a week away in Jamaica!! A little bit of sun, sea and sand was just what the doctor ordered. I am now also a PADI certified open water diver! Yey! Next will be to do a course in underwater photography. I will keep you all posted.

No pictures for now, but I plan to put more up soon.

Love Claire x

P.S. I am also selling my Elinchrom lighting equipment if anyone is interested. If so, just contact me through this site or email.

~ What I have been up to the last few months ~

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Hello world!

How on earth has it got to April already???

So, as there has been very little activity here on the blog and over on my facebook fanpage, I thought it was about time I made another post and updated everyone. Two things: I am still alive and I am still in Basel.

My quest for a programming job bore fruit and I am currently working at Actelion as a Drug Safety Programming Expert. It’s been an interesting few months – I started just at the end of last year on only a few days notice. I am working 50% and this is actually working out to be a really nice balance.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. I LOVE being in a big company again and getting a regular monthly paycheck.
2. I LOVE going for lunch with ‘the girls’, otherwise known as the ‘french connection’ (they are all mostly french speaking).
3. I LOVE the routine of going to the office – something that I had already started in March last year with my office in town.
4. I LOVE having weekends back (after about 5 years!!!) – half with my wonderful daughter and half to do as I like.
5. I LOVE having met a lot of new people that are completely different from my client base.

So, all in all, I am pretty happy with the changes. The 50% means that I can still pick up my daughter at 3pm when she finishes school. I have to be in every day, so days are short for programming work, meaning that on the days I don’t have my daughter each week (Wednesday and Thursday) I can come home and get on with some photography work outstanding – including all my personal stuff. Would you believe that my daughter Maia STILL doesn’t have any albums of her own – this will change in the next few months for sure.

Do I miss working as a photographer full time??? Honestly – not entirely. I am super proud of everything I have achieved and feel great knowing that it’s something I am definitely skilled in. I would totally love to come back to doing it again one day, but preferably with a more stable home life in the background. I love that I have created lots and lots of happy memories for hundreds of families and I love that I have a skill I can use in all walks of life – to gift, to sell or to keep for myself.

I did start a ‘Picture-a-day’ Tumblr at the beginning of this year based on macro photos to keep my trigger happy finger in check. This has fallen a little to the wayside, but I hope to pick it up again and perhaps catch up with posting other photos that I took on the same day in previous years – that is, if I didn’t take a photo that day. Keep an eye out for an update when I get some free time to dedicate to the task.

One exciting trip this year so far – that I took on one of my precious weekends, is the one that I took to visit awesome friends in Montpellier back in Feb. I enjoyed some much needed sunshine on the beach alongside some super days full of laughter, great food and shared time. Here is evidence of that:

Photo credit: Susanna Reay

I’ve been reading books on Simple Living lately and found lots of interesting blogs. I am thinking of posting about how I am reacting to these influences and how I am finding it all. Also, I want to put up more of my every day photos – maybe a summary of each month?

Anyway, if you are interested in my random musings and photos, just leave a comment and it will spur me to add more.

I hope you are all well and happy and I hope to interact with you soon!

Claire x

P.S. If you ask really nicely and I have the time, I am still taking on some photography assignments. Preferably family related ones.

~ Big Announcement ~

Thursday, December 13, 2012

I have a big announcement to make: I will be wrapping up my photography business for now.

Since my daughter started Kindergarten and I lost my ‘weekend’ midweek with her, the balance of work/life/family just hasn’t been the same. I also had this link pop in my inbox last week and it really resonated with me. Creating and running my own business has been amazing and the flexibility of the work around my family commitments has worked very well. I have had so much fun with all you lovely families over the last 5 years, it’s been brilliant! I am hoping to get a job back in the Pharma industry as a SAS programmer again. In fact, anyone that actively and successfully helps me to get a job will earn a Full Premium photography session from me as a reward!

I have no idea how long it might take to get myself back into the corporate machine, so in the meantime I will continue with the photography, but on a month-by-month basis. One weekend a month, I will set up a doodle schedule with time slots and anyone can sign up for slots based on booking a mini, half or full premium session. These will be the options available:

Mini – 20 min session, including 12 jpegs – 400CHF

Maxi – 40 min session, including 25 jpegs – 800CHF

Mini and Maxi sessions will be back to back with each other and in a location of my choice which will be announced with the doodle sign up sheet. Mini sessions images will be delivered digitally only. Maxi and full sessions will be delivered digitally and also on a custom USB stick.

Full Premium – UP to 2 hours in a location of your choice, includes at least 50 jpegs a coffee table book and canvas – 1600CHF

At the beginning of this year I waited until there was snow for the winter mini sessions, these were at the beginning of Feb, so I will plan to start my monthly sessions from around the same time in 2013. The mini sessions from my 4 Seasons Winter sessions last year came out really well and I would highly recommend getting all snuggly with hats and scarfs and joining me for some sledding or snowball fights.