Claire Bishop is the founder of Rewild the Frame, a photography business that aims to showcase our true relationship with nature and the positive stories of living in harmony with the outdoors. Rewild the Frame is a certified B Corporation, meaning it meets the highest of standards for social and environmental impact. Claire offers her photography services to brands and small businesses who want to capture real, honest people and showcase their love for the natural world within brand imagery.
“Natural brand photography helps businesses become more accessible and relatable to people which in turn builds trust amongst its community and boosts business.”
Photography has always been a part of my life
I have always carried a camera with me. I recall as a young child I would take photos of animals from a farm near where I lived, and I would always be the one with a camera when I was out with friends.
As a young teen, I would stand in the queue at Boots waiting to collect my photos that had been developed only to be disappointed when they came out all blurry and overexposed (yes, these were the days before digital). I would also spend evenings looking through old family photos with my mum wanting to know who was who.
So, when the opportunity came to study photography at A-level, I couldn’t say no. I worked with a traditional film camera in the darkroom and was awarded the A-level Photography Exam prize, alongside studying psychology, history and biology.
Following my heart back to photography
At university, I followed my passion for psychology, specialising in child development, evolution and health and wellbeing. Post university, I went on to work briefly in account management for a corporate gifting business, spent some time working as a learning support assistant in a local secondary school, and then settled down to spend some time raising my children.
During this period, I took time to document my family life and experiment with a camera. Then, when the time came and our youngest of four sons was approaching school age, I knew the time was right to consider my work options. It was at this point that I considered the option of taking my photography to another level and embracing it as a business. It was time to follow my heart back to photography.
The business initially grew out of my love for nature, real-life moments, connections and celebrating the beauty of the everyday. It was from my own experience of the positive effects on my wellbeing of being fully immersed in nature that led me to bring together all these aspects into my photography and business.
Initially, I focused on working with families and reconnecting people back to nature to boost health and wellbeing. However, this soon evolved into working with brands and small businesses to capture real, honest people and showcase the love for our natural world within brand imagery.
My focus is on natural light photography, honest storytelling and empowering others to reconnect with nature, and celebrate the natural beauty of the self and the world around us. From here, my company, Rewild the Frame, was born.
Creating a regenerative life for people and planet
I work with businesses that are environmentally conscious and focussed on creating a regenerative life for people and planet. I travel to clients and work with them in their natural environment to ensure we capture imagery that reflects their personality and passion along with showcasing their relationship with nature.
We work in harmony with nature, capturing the natural beauty of the landscape and the natural beauty of being immersed in nature. This applies to working with service and product-based businesses. We focus on celebrating the beauty of the business and the joy of nature’s connection with the imagery that we create. All photos are created with ease and elegance to ensure that nature is celebrated and reflected authentically.
When capturing an image to reflect the moment, I am looking for the light, the true essence of the person and a little bit of magic. It’s always there and working in alignment with nature helps to bring this out.
On a personal level, I work with nature each and every day as well. When I am not on-location with a client then I am looking to nature for inspiration in my personal work and business.
Nature is key to our health and wellbeing and by learning to embrace nature in our everyday lives we can learn to live more compassionately and consciously. I know that spending time outdoors every day is vital to my personal wellbeing, focus and creativity and therefore I prioritise spending time outdoors every day.
Connecting with ease, honesty and beauty
A natural approach helps businesses connect with their audience with ease, honesty and beauty. There are no falsehoods and no masks. We are going back to our natural selves, embracing nature and championing real-life people and stories. Natural brand photography helps businesses become more accessible and relatable to people which in turn builds trust amongst its community and boosts business.
There has been a 71% rise in popularity of searches for sustainable goods over the past five years, with consumers demanding honesty and transparency from the brands that they choose to purchase from.
People want to be supporting businesses that are creating a positive impact and people want to be reassured that they can trust the business that they are investing in. Natural brand photography offers an easy option for businesses to embrace an honest approach within their marketing.
It’s also a wonderful way for businesses to celebrate their relationship with nature and join a movement to champion natural beauty. The majority of imagery used in business photography is highly edited and manipulated for advertising purposes which is primarily used to generate revenue for corporations and increase consumption.
The natural approach to brand photography champions real beauty and nature and is committed to empowering people to make conscious choices to care for the planet and choose products and services that are creating positive change.
Impact of COVID on my business
I am fortunate that I specialise in natural light photography and so most of the photography experiences I offer are outdoors, embracing the natural world.
Initially, all nature photography walks were postponed. These were monthly wellbeing walks I was running to bring like-minded people together to celebrate connecting with nature and being creative. The benefits of spending time outdoors are profound and I’m looking forward to getting these events back up and running very soon.
In the first instance, there was also an impact on my photography workflow as businesses and families cut back. However, as things began to ease, more and more people were keen to embrace working outdoors and reconnecting with nature in their photography.
Working with families and businesses outdoors is a beneficial experience and the feedback I receive is always very positive. People love to be outdoors and find themselves relaxing into the moment, almost forgetting that the camera is even there.
On a practical level, we always must be aware of the weather, but the key is flexibility and building an open and honest relationship with the client.
The only other practical aspect to consider is the not-so-small role of also being a full time mum to four boys. COVID-19 had an impact on here too as I found myself (like many others) homeschooling and juggling commitments. But once again, it helps to be working in a business that I love and having wonderful clients who appreciate the importance of family/work/life balance.
Our changing relationship with nature
Whilst the pandemic has brought immense distress and upheaval for many people, for others there has been a wonderful transformation over the past couple of years. Many people were gifted the time to slow down, to enjoy walks in nature once again, and to reconnect with their true selves by embracing the everyday nature they have on their doorstep. Their relationship with nature during this time was re-established.
We witnessed many people enjoying their gardens, feeding the birds and observing the seasonal changes on an everyday basis. There was a real buzz around nature during this time and it was lovely to watch and see this relationship evolve once more.
My hope is that this rekindled love for nature is just the beginning for many and that it will continue to expand and transfer into many other areas of people’s lives.
Becoming a B Corp™
In January 2021, I made a commitment to myself that I would work towards the business becoming a Certified B Corporation®. Certified B Corporations® are assessed as companies that meet the highest of standards for social and environmental impact. In December that year, I achieved B Corp™ certification. It was a great end to the year.
For me, becoming a B Corp™ was important as I wanted to ensure I was working to the highest of standards for my clients, for the community and for nature. The roots of the business stem from reconnecting people back to nature and creating a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of people and the planet.
I knew that working towards this certification would be a wonderful achievement and would support my business’ purpose and values. It would also be just the start of ensuring that the business would be held accountable and always strive to create a positive impact for others and nature.
There was a thorough and intense assessment into all aspects of the business to achieve the certification. From the supply chain, customer experience and community engagement to the carbon footprint, the whole picture of the business is assessed.
Small changes, big difference
For those who want to minimise their impact on the planet, start small and take each day as it comes, there are some great tools out there to help you identify where your business is creating the biggest positive/negative impact.
The BIA (B Impact Assessment) is free for all businesses as a starting point. You can log on and begin analysing where your business is doing well and where improvements can be made. It’s important to remember that this is an ongoing process that we are all in together. Ask for help and advice and reach out to other ethical businesses, sustainability professionals or B Corps™. The majority of people are happy to help or point you in the direction of others that can if they can’t.
Another great tip that is really helpful is to become familiar with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Here you can highlight if your business is aligned with one or more of the 17 SDG goals and think about how you can talk about this with your community and empower action/positive change.
And lastly, if you’re looking for a really easy personal swap, switch to natural organic products in the house. One of the first personal swaps I made was to an all-natural soap made by a local businesswoman. This reduced the plastic in our household, the nasty chemicals in our skincare, and supported a local business. Small steps count and they are easy to maintain and replicate.
Capturing a bright future
This year is all about growth for the business, communicating our purpose and working with more aligned businesses to empower positive social change. I have some exciting projects coming up with a couple of clients this spring, one within the circular fashion economy and another with a brand-new product launch.
I’m also looking forward to running new Connect and Create photography walks for the local community in South Gloucestershire, continuing the Rewild Olveston biodiversity project with the local community and launching some new services that can help increase the positive impact of the business.
It’s also B Corp month in March, which is the first time for my business to be involved and the topic is Behind the B. B Corps from around the world will be showcasing their business from behind the scenes, which is brilliant to highlight the honesty and passion behind each business and offer their consumers a transparent view into the business. Business is definitely changing and it is exciting to be part of it.
Main image © Dawn Wilkins Photography https://m.facebook.com/dawnwilkinsphotography/
