Snaps Photography By Heather Hamilton

Snaps Photography update.

2010-12-12T16:18:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I just wanted to give a update. I will no longer be Snaps Photography. There has been a lot of changes for the studio. There is now TWO photographers. New studio name is Studio Intrigue. New web site is www.studio-intrigue.com

Scott began his photography career in Arkansas and Oklahoma, shooting weddings and portraits successfully for the past seven years. He’s been recognized by the photography community in many ways, including having images published in several books and magazines, and is a featured blogger on several photography related websites. Heather likes to call him a “big city photographer”. :)

Heather considers herself to be a “small town photographer”. She loves her hometown of Kewanee and couldn’t think of a better place to call home for her business. Her studio, Snaps Photography, has been a mainstay of the local business community.

Until recently both have worked separately, and each in their own way have been greatly successful.

Heather and Scott started their photography partnership when both of them needed a second shooter for a few events and projects they were working on. It was within seconds of shooting together they knew they had tapped into something amazing. Two of the best photographers working together toward the same goal and setting the bar even higher was very exciting to them. They discovered that when working together, the possibilities were endless to give their clients incredible images that they will love for a lifetime, and give them the best possible experience of being photographed.

Scott is well known in the photography community as a mentor and instructor. His classes and seminars fill up quickly and often have waiting lists. His knowledge of lighting techniques and his style of working with his clients attracts photographers from around the country.

Heather has also been a mentor for fellow photographers who are new to the business. Her extensive knowledge of lighting, contemporary posing styles, and building relationships with her clients is admired and sought after by many.

Both Scott and Heather love watching fellow photographers grow with their craft and become successful in their business. Stay tuned to our blog for more information about a new project they are working on for 2011.

Please feel free to take a look at the new website, new blog, new work at www.studio-intrigue.com

Trash The Dress

2010-09-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Trash the dress can be an amazing thing for many reasons. These so-called Trash the Dress photos have become all the rage with brides who want to add something unconventional to their wedding albums. And unconventional they are.

Yes, it's destructive. Yes, it's wasteful.
Who's going to wear their wedding dress again?

Do you really think your daughter is going to want to wear your dress, the dress you picked out for just you on your special day? Umm probably not she wants to go with you and try on, feel, cry and have her own moment picking out her perfect dress.

Trash the dress can have you and your husband, or you and a few of your married friends, or just you.

So lets make art!

{S} Family

2010-08-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

What can I say about the {S} family.... Besides I LOVE THEM. I have had the great pleasure of photographing Mr. J form the age of 6 months, our first session he was teething, we still got great images. Then his second session was amazing, he ran a lot on that one it was almost as if he had grown up right before my eyes. For our third session we went out of town to IA. I learned a lot form the session one there is rush hour traffic in the bigger cities, and two do not do water shots before you get all the shots you want.. You will not get a child out of the water and if you do they are not happy about it lol. I love the imagination Mr J has. He vacuumed the whole park with my bag...=LOVE if only we adults would tap more into that. Here are some of the great family images we got form the session.

Mr.&Mrs. Greene.

2010-08-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love weddings. There is something magical about being apart of a couples wedding. I love watching the love they share. I started the day with the bride to be in her dressing room capturing her getting ready. I also had some time to go into the guys dressing room. Its funny how the two dressing rooms are completely different. The Grooms room was calm, quiet, goofing off, playing cards. The brides was well a brides room ,tears, laughing, high energy. Tiffany and Albert will always have a place in my heart! Their wedding was BEAUTIFUL!
Tiffany is working towards becoming a photographer. I love helping her in any way I can to make it to her goal.

Again congratulations to the both of you. May your love grow every day!

Baby {K}

2010-07-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy, I'm behind on my blogging. I just wanted to post a few from a recent baby session. I promise to try and do better with my blog. This baby boy is only two weeks old. I almost forgot they come that small. big brother, Mom, and G-ma joined us for his first time session. I am proud to be the one that took his first real picture.

O baby, Baby, baby.

2010-07-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know I am not a baby photographer by any means. I specialize with kids one and up. I love capturing kids playing, running, laughing just them being them. However I did my first real baby session. This little girl is the cutest happiest baby I have seen in a long time. Maybe its because I have twin two year old's and they are crazy lol. .I think the best part for me was getting to hold her, love on her then I got to not wake up 3-4 times in the night. :) .I look forward to watching you grow baby girl ,for many many years, and capturing it along the way.I am very blessed!

Mr & Mrs S.

2010-07-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Jonathan and Jennifer are now married. They had a beautiful wedding at St.Paul's and the reception was held at Wild Life prairie Sate Park. I had such a great time capturing their special day.This is a wedding I will never forget for many reasons, them,the love they share, their family, the friends ,locations, the fact that we all where in the basement for two hours because of tornado's. Even with the tornado's this was a great wedding and reception. The love Jonathan and Jennifer share is rare, it is a great thing to see. Again thank you for letting me be apart of your wedding. Here are some of the great images from their wedding.

Boudoir Photography . What is it?

2010-07-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

At the very start of my journey with photography, I knew I wanted to get into boudoir photography.When I would bring it up to people I always got pretty much the same reaction ; "There is NO WAY I can do that. I can not pose nude"! Me ; "It is not all nudes per say, more implied nude". Then I would try to explain what it is. Most people already have a vision in their head when boudoir is brought up. Boudoir it seems has a reputation. So I thought how can I get people to understand what it is ? I stated to call it Hip, Lips, and Eyes session. That helped. But this got me thinking. What is boudoir really? It really can be many things, nude, implied nudes, seduction, love, flirty, mysterious, fun, I had a great pleasure to do a Hips Lips and Eyes session (Boudoir style shoot) I also did a man one . The response to the images I have gotten has been great. Emails, im's, phone calls, text messages.All the same thing I never knew that it could look like that and be sexy. Book me, I'm in! Now that people see what it is more like. They now want them . No need to be a size 0 ladies! We are real women, and a real women is an amazing, beautiful thing. The images are beautiful works of art.
For the fun of it I googled Boudoir here is what came up:

A boudoir is a lady's private bedroom, sitting room or dressing room. The term derives from the French verb bouder, meaning "to pout"

Boudoir & vintage glamour photography, sexy photo shoots, boudoir makeovers, lingerie, glamour, burlesque & pin-up photo shoots

I'm very excited to say I will now be offering these sessions. Boudoir Photography is now in Kewanee IL.

Boudoir photography sessions are tasteful photos that hint at sexiness. Every person has their own idea of what sexy is as well as what they are comfortable ...

Sometimes it just hits you.

2010-07-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

This week has been a crazy one for sure. I was on my way to a get my kids a happy meal, listening to music as I always do. Some of the best ideas I get, happen when I least expect them. Sometimes I just get in the car to drive and wait for ideas to pop in my head. So on my way to McDonald's images flashes before me all of them come rushing in at once. I use to think I was crazy when things like that happen, now I really embrace my daydreams.
I of course like many photographers have facebook. I love facebook . I put out a SOS. The status was simple; Looking for a man to take it off for me. In front of my camera of course. Must have tattoos and not shy. I found a great subject to photograph. If you have yet to add my page to your list on facebook do so. I try to once a month shot just for me. When I shot for just me I will put it out there what I am looking for.So maybe you might be the one I am looking for next time.    http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Snaps-Photography/246048058268?ref=mf

                                                    So here they are. Enjoy.

A few {S}eniors

2010-06-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

So I just realized while looking at all my files of sessions on my desktop there are a few great images I never put on my blog.... Busy busy me :) So here are some that I love, can not believe I forgot to blog them.

Choices & finding the right fit.

2010-06-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the cites with my family, which gave me great inspiration for this blog post. Really spending the day with them gave me more than one idea for a blog post, but right now I will go with Choices. We all make them big ones ,small ones, ones we have no idea we are making.Daily we make them. This evening we as a family had one to make, now it is not a big choice that needed made but a choice never the less. Where to go for dinner? You will see as this goes on how this relates to the great world of photography. One the family is hungry, two we want food, three where do we go?. The choice : where to eat? Next thoughts are what do we WANT. Pizza, tacos, pasta, hamburgers,steak,soup, salad, you get the point. See the first choice that needs to be made was not WHERE to eat, but WHAT to eat. At first we went about it the wrong way. We started by listing the food place we could go.What we really needed to do was decide what we wanted to eat. We decided we wanted Japanese, after we knew that the rest was easy. Great Japanese we go to Osaka. This got me thinking if we know what we need what we want it makes it a lot easier to go where we need to go to get it. Do you see where I'm going with this yet? If not you will.

Here lately I have see a lot of photographers listing this on their sites.
Specializing in:
~Outdoor photography.
~Families
~Infants
~Kids
~Seniors
~Engagement
~Wedding
~Boudoir
~Pets
~Sports
~Flowers
~Life Style
~and more...
please visit website for more information.

Lets talk about the first problem here. This photographer is specializing in everything? = this photographer is great at everything? WOW!! Lets think about this a little more. If I were to want McDonald's fries, but I go to Pizza Hut. Sure I can order fries. Yup yup I sure can. Then they get to the table...Hummm , they are made from potatoes, they are crispy, they are fries.But are they anything like McDonald's fries?The answer is a big fat NO. Why because Pizza Hut is for, Pizza, not McDonald's fries as they may have added it to the menu to make people happy. And you did get your fries that you ordered. The question is: are they as good as you wanted? Are they as good as they can be? No, you wanted the thin, salt, deep fried fries from McDonald's. What you got where thick, un- salted, crinkle cut fries.(man now I want fries from McDonald's lol)

Other example: Buffet food (Just in case you need one lol) When you go there, we all know all the food will be to say the least alright, nothing grand, not the worst, but not great at all 300 items that is put out.

I for one have reasons why I love each and every session I offer! I do not do it all. For that would be unfair to you my clients and unfair to me. I want to give you the BEST! Not just Ok .There is nothing wrong with doing more than one thing in photography. I am a family,senior,wedding photographer.That is what I do and do great. I like it that way. I don't want to be just ok at everything. I will be the best I can be in what I offer.

So in short if you want McDonald's go there, if you want Starbucks go there, don't go to the gas station for your Starbucks fix :)

Bucket list

2010-06-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. As you can see I'm not much of a blogger per say. I do have something I want to share today.
My Photography Bucket List:

1. Photograph my little brothers commitment ceremony. That may be hard, do to the fact I will be in it, but I will work it out.

2. Build a school in another country, and photograph the journey

3. Big city street life. Old men, train stations, the homeless, street performers, etc.

4. A birth of a child.

5. Photograph a detestation wedding. (Hawaii maybe)

6. Firefighters at a fire.

7.Photograph President Obama with his family.

8.Photograph the life of Jackie Warner. I loved her show, even she made me want to work out.(LOL)

9. Photograph Eminem.

10. Photograph children of Africa.

11. Oh I forgot, Bill Clinton.

As you can tell some of these are more realistic then others.Over the years I'm sure I will add more to the list. Hopefully I will be able to cross off more then half of these in my journey of photography.

What is your photography bucket list?

{2010} Prom.

2010-05-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

The phone rings, it is my baby brother. The conversation goes a little something like this. "ummm so next week is prom". Me "oh yeah" I already know where this is going lol.. Him " aaaa yeah do you think if your not busy..... You would take some pictures of me and all my friends"? Me "of course." He is my baby brother after all. I just keep waiting for him to become a hairdresser so I can get my hair done.

Saturday I meet them at the studio. We decided to go out to the back, my favorite place to be is out and about. Anything a brick wall, a door way, a curb, light post, these things can all be transformed with the right angle, setting, and lighting.

I had a great time with these young adults! They are fun, caring, funny, and free spirited. I truly enjoyed the hour I spent with them. I cant wait to work with them again!! =)

Here are some of the great images we got.

Jonathan & Jennifer {E} Session

2010-04-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

I had the great pleasure of doing an E session with Jonathan and Jennifer. These two have never been professionally photographed, so this was a great joy for me, to be the first one to do so. I think they are naturals in front of the camera. The love they share is great which you will see in these great images. I love E sessions. This is a time for a couple in one of the busiest times planning their Big Day, to just relax, laugh, hug, kiss and just have fun with each other for an hour or two. They will be married Saturday, June 5th, 2010 at St.Paul's Cathedral in Peoria; their reception will be at Wildlife Prairie State Park. I look very much forward to their wedding I just know it will be great!
Here are some of my favorite images of the two of them.

{B} Family Session

2010-04-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

The {B} Family came to me all the way from Iowa to get their family images.They have four boys, one of them was not able to be with us. I had a great time capturing these boys. At first the youngest did not like me, in fact he cried when I said hi to him. After a little time we became best of friends. With little ones it takes time for them to trust you, as that is how it should be, after all I am a stranger (if it is their first time with me). So if you are booking a family session with me please know I take my time with your children, so that they get comfortable with me and my camera. Then I can capture your child the way they are. Here are the images from that Session.

Yup there are a lot of them! They are all to great not to post them all! This is about how many proofs you can expect to get. Thanks for looking!

Breaking Free.

2010-04-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had an image in your head? One that you know means a lot to you, and one that will mean something to someone. One that tells a story, not just your story but a story that millions of others may share? Well I have had one of those images in my head for at least a year now. I shared that idea with someone, they in return shared it with someone. I was asked to create that image that was in my head for a domestic abuse shelter that is having a Breaking Free night. The image in my head fits. I'm happy to share these images with all of you. I hope that I captured your story, my story, your friends story, your Aunts story, your moms story,well.

The hurt, the shame, the pain, the helplessness, the fear.

I have left that bad place, I have left the pain, the shame, I am strong, I am powerful, I am beautiful, I am smart. I have broken free. {Breaking Free}

Jonah

2010-04-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

I would like to start off by saying thank you for visiting my blog!! Most of the time I add my new images to my facebook fan page, however I have decided I will not be doing that anymore; do to the fact, I do not like the idea that facebook, once you add images, then has rights to them. So from here on I will be putting them on my blog. I LOVE facebook, and I love getting feed back from all of you!! It helps me know what you, my fans, and my clients like so please feel free to leave comments on my blog or even my page! Your comments help me out alot in knowing what you like. Sometimes it is hard for me, I see things a little different than most.

Now back to the reason of this blog JONAH!!

This was my second session with Mr. Jonah. The first one was last summer, he was teething poor guy. We did get a lot of great images out of that session. Some of my favorite images come from that session! Today I had the great pleasure of capturing Jonah again!! He has grown so much from last session! It was so crazy to see him today looking like a little boy, talking, walking, laughing, and running. He runs now, and this little man, boy can he run!! Today I was reminded why I love being a family photographer! I get to watch these great lil people grow up, and I (lil ole me) gets to capture their childhood!! I love every minute of that!! I will get to watch Mr. Jonah grow up from birth all the way up to his wedding day! Wow that is a great thing!! While all the way I will capture him, the way he is!
So here are some of my favorites from today.

Quentin Turns Three!

2010-03-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

Quentin Turns Three. Quentin's parents brought him into my studio this weekend for his birthday.What a joy this little man was! He is very sweet, well behaved, and just a doll. I was truly excited, we planned a cake smash! The weather was nice out, so we went for a walk. On the way back he must have decided I was OK, he held my hand all the way back. I look forward to many years of capturing Cutie Patootie Quentin. Maybe next time he will give me that HI-FIVE. Here are some of my favorites from our session.

First session in my new studio.

2010-03-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

I had my first studio session a week before my studio really openend.

I had the great pleasure of photographing three beautiful girls! I had a great time with all three of them! The oldest she is so sweet and loving! One of my old cameras broke, and she is going to try and get me another one to replace it. How sweet is that!!! The middle child, reminds me, of me when it comes to being in front of the camera. So her and I played some hair games to make her more comfortable. The baby of the family WOW, now she is something! I was sore for a few days after that! I chased her around the studio for a good hour. I was able to capture some of my greatest images with these girls! Here are some of my favorites.

With this one we did the hair trick! It worked! She had fun and it shows in her smile!

You can just tell she is a good Big Sister!

The Big camera she is holding is the one that got broke =(

But it was not by her. I did it..

And then she was off!

Snaps Photography Grand Opening!

2010-02-27T18:16:00.000-08:00

Thank you for your intrest in my GRAND OPENING!!
I have been on location for two years. I recently found a great space to open a studio to better serve my clients.

I'm very excited to announce the Grand Opening!! March, 20 & March, 21 11:00am till 3:00pm. Bring in the little ones to get a picture with some baby bunnies. One 5x7 $10.00, this will not be a real session. First come first serve no appointments will be taken. I will take a few images of your child, however, there will be no proofing session. I will pick the best image and print it with my professional lab. You will be able to pick up your image on April , 2, between 5:00pm-8:00pm.

There will also be Easter candy, door prizes, and more so Come on in and see the NEW Studio!!
Snaps Photography
115West 3rd St
Kewanee, IL 61443

If you wish to have a full session with the whole family for Easter do not hesitate to make your appointment today!
(309) 854-2468

Life Images Part 3.

2010-02-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

Finding the beauty in my life! Life Images Part 3.

I took this on Valentines Day.
# 9.Got Love?

# 10.'Patiently Waiting'

#11. Health Care.

#12. Desolated

#13. Family.

Finding the Beauty in my Life....Life Images Continued!!

2010-01-31T16:06:00.000-08:00

Finding the Beauty in my Life....Life Images Continued!!

# 6. Never Enough!!

# 7. Everyday.

# 8. The lights are on! But is anyone home?

Finding the beauty in my day to day life

2010-01-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have decided to start taking images of my day to day life. One image everyday! this will be hard due to the fact my life is well boring, my house is always a mess, and did I mention I have two year old twin boys! lol.. I want to find the beauty in the crazy, messy thing I call my Life!

# 1 Spilled Milk.

Day 2. Tangled

Day 3. Maybe Today?

Day 4. Health.

day 5. I choose to go up!!

Tyler the Senior

2009-12-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Here we are on his Graduation

Tyler McDole. He is a Senior near and dear to my heart he is my little brother. We did a few sessions for his Senior images Summer and Winter. I guess that is what happens when your big sister is a photographer. I'm truely very proud of him, nothing in his life has been handed to him and most people I know could not have succeeded in school the way he did. He is the baby of the family and has three older sisters. He is a great Uncle to his nephews and niece!! We get on his case when needed , but all in all we know he is a good kid!! It is his goal to go to a cosmetology school and work in a hair salon, so I figure all the photgraphy I have done for him will one day be paid back by him doing my hair! I would truely be lost if he did not come over on a regular basis to eat my food and borrow my car. I love you Ty and I'm so proud of you!!!

Hayley {Sen10r}

2009-12-21T17:08:00.000-08:00

I had the Great pleasure of capturing Hayley for her Senior images!! She attends Galva High School. Not only is she beautiful, but she is smart, funny, nice, patient, loving, and a true joy to be around!!!! We choose a few locations for her Senior Session. Kewanee, a farm in Galva, and Galva High School where she is an active member of the Band. She was also featured in the Galva News.

O the weather outside is frightful..

2009-12-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

So as most of you know I'm a on location only photographer. I love working outdoors. There are so many more options with photography outside, however the weather outside is frightful and not being able to take images is already driving me crazy. So I decided to do some studio work with my kids at home. Here are the stunning images of that session

Mr & Mrs Klein

2009-12-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

Mr & Mrs Klein I will start off by saying their wedding was Beautiful!! It was at the Indian Creek Vineyard in Toulon. If you are looking for a venue for your wedding I highly recommend this place!! The wine is great as well, I have been back a few times to buy some along with using it for my E sessions. You will love this place! OK the wedding I must say again it was Beautiful, but see for yourself. I will have a hard time narrowing down the images. I will post both images of Bride and Groom and some of just the Vineyard.

Michelle and David E session

2009-12-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

Michelle and David live far away as well. They drove very far to have their E session with me and I'm glad they did! Michelle and David are a fun, loving, happy couple. It was a pleasure working with them! David came up with some great ideas for their session. I look forward to their up coming wedding, I know it will be beautiful and fun!

Tiffany and Albert

2009-11-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to my blog! I have had a great busy season. I just started this blog, so I will be working backwards. I hope you don't mind. I will begin with Tiffany and Albert. They were referred to me by Michelle and David, whom I will blog about the next go round. Tiffany and Albert drove very far to have me take their Engagement images (over four hours). So here are some of my favorites.

They where both great in front of the camera!!

The Love the two of them have for each other is contagious, and shines through into my camera.

I'm looking forward to their wedding day!!!