Photoshoot with Klara & Rocket

I first met Klara many years ago, when I reached out to her, slightly nervously.

We are both Bicester photographers, and I was worried that the sense of being in competition with each would make it hard to form any kind of friendship.

How wrong could I be!?

In fact, Klara has become one of my closest local friends.

Instead of keeping each other at arm’s length, we regularly exchange ideas and message back and forth most weekdays.

We often meet up, sometimes to go to a gym class together, other times to try something new (including aerial silks and jiu jitsu).

We also have a shared Christmas party, to make up for the fact that us self-employed folk don’t get whisked away for a festive meal otherwise!

It perhaps helps that we have very different photography styles.

Klara is an incredible photographer who specialises in lifestyle, outdoors and at-home photography.

However, more importantly, we’re keen to foster community over competition, and believe that both our businesses can be successful, not just one or the other.

And indeed, her friendship and feedback have made me a better photographer.

So when she was interested in a branding photoshoot as well as getting some images with her beloved Pomeranian, Rocket, I was super excited to work with her.

When she’s not behind the camera, Klara is most likely to be found at her allotment.

She actually took the plot over from me and my husband, once we had finally accepted we were completely out of our depth!

Under her stewardship, the greenhouse has come back to life and gorgeous raised beds are currently blooming with flowers and vegetables.

To use a gardening metaphor, getting to know Klara has been one of the strongest roots I’ve put down in the local area since moving to Bicester back in 2015.

And to think, if I’d been just a little more nervous about reaching out; or if Klara had been hesitant about speaking with a ‘competitor’, I’d have missed out on one of my favourite friendships.

So the moral of this story is to take the risk, and say hello – the chance and benefit of something good happening far outweighs the risk of being rejected.

You can find out more about Klara through her website here.

You can follow her allotment on Instagram here.

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If you’re looking for branding or pet photography and you’re based in or around the Oxfordshire area, please get in contact.

Sarah Plater AMPA is an award-winning qualified, certified professional portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

She is the Master Photographers Association Young Families Portrait Photographer of the Year and Newborn Photographer of the Year for the Central Region (covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire) and achieved a Studio Portrait Finalist Award at the most recent National Competition.