Shannon Walton Photography bio picture
  • Hi There! That is me, Shannon Walton, in the image directly to your right. The shot was taken by my friend and fellow photographer Kelly and retouched by me, because quite frankly I have wrinkles, dark circles and gray hair.

    I have been married to my high school crush for 15 years. I can honestly say I'm as much in love today as the day I convinced him he wasn't getting rid of me :) We have 3 amazing kids. 2 boys and a girl. Each of them are completely unique and as individual as can be. I like that. It would be boring if everyone was the same. It may sound cliche but they truly are my inspiration.

    I have been told I have a gift for seeing babies and kids the way their parents see them. I like that too. I want to be a trend setter, I don't enjoy the view of someone's coattails. While wanting to constantly be challenging myself to come up with new ideas my main goal is to give you images that you will treasure for years and years to come.

    I really do have the best clients on the planet, so many have become dear friends. Thank you to those of you who have trusted me with your precious memories. I look forward to making many new friends in the years to come.

    Don't forget to check us out on Facebook! I often post images, sneak peeks, and specials on our fan page. Click the facebook link below or "like" us right here on the blog!

Valentine Fun ~ Illinois Child Photographer

I have to apologize because I had intended to do a Valentine mini session and had so many newborns born this month that I didn’t have time.  I’m behind a bit on designing birth announcements and proofing sessions because of the recent baby boom and just felt it wasn’t fair to my clients to add to the work load.  It drives me crazy when people have to wait, I’m not a patient waiter myself:)  Anyway, I bought this frame at the end of December with the idea to do this for Valentines day.  I had seen a cute shot I believe on pinterest (the kisses set up) and wanted to try a few other things I came up with after the kisses inspiration.  I love finding inspiration for images all around me, I really don’t like copying something exactly as I see it, but to use it to come up with my own ideas.   I asked one of my clients who comes every few months to have me photograph her boys if she’d be interested in letting me try the setups during her session.   Can I just say that for a last minute request she did not disappoint with the outfit selections.  I told her she’d never be able to do a mini session because she brings too many adorable options!!  I love these boys.  They have become like family I see them so much.  I even asked if it would be okay for Emma to come for their session because she has been begging to help me.  She did such a great job and think the boys had fun hanging out with her.

I nearly forgot how to post it’s been so long!

Last week I photographed yet another little doll and when I met her mom she said, “Do you ever post on your blog anymore?”   “I read through most of it and really enjoyed reading it but noticed you hadn’t posted since September.”  Yikes, that’s a LONG time!!   So I decided that the first blog post of 2012 should be of her little cutie petutie!  I really enjoyed working with this family.  I always love getting the opportunity to work with someone new.  I enjoy it even more when they come back year after year so I hope I get to see little Miss “A” again in the near future because she was absolutely awesome to photograph.  Smiles came without much effort and to say that her parents were quite smitten with her would be an understatement.  Prepare yourself…she is almost too cute to handle….

 

Little Miss Serious!

I’m pretty sure I pulled out every trick in my hat to get this little beauty to flash those toothless gums.   She just stared at me with those big beautiful eyes for pretty much our entire time together.  I was interesting apparently, just not funny!  We did manage to get a few smiles, but even still those eyes and cheeks are pretty much perfect grin or no grin!  I loved her momma, what a pleasure working with these two and hope to see them for many more (smiley) sessions in the future!

 

Illinois Child Photographer ~ Simply Adorable

Is it really possible to be this cute?  How can so much cuteness be rolled into one little boy?  How on earth will his parents ever look at this face and those eyes and tell him anything but YES?  What is even more amazing is that his big brother is just as unbelievably adorable!  One of my favorite little guys, at one of my very favorite ages (9 months)….

Mom mentioned she’d love to have one shot of his first little tooth popping through.  Mission accomplished!

What did I tell you!  I just want to eat them they are so cute!

Brothers and Laughter.

I recently photographed these two with their little sister.  I have a bunch of images to share from this session once mom has seen all of them.  While I was proofing their images I came across this one.  There is a quote that reads something along the lines of “laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”  So true:)  The three of them reminded me so much of my 3, especially the two big brothers.  When I saw this photo I instantly thought of a similar image I have of my boys from a couple years back.  It has been hanging on my wall until recently when we painted and prompted me to get it back up.  It is one of my all time favorites and makes me smile every time I look at it.  They aren’t looking at me, perfectly posed but I can almost hear the laughter when I look at each one of these.  I don’t expect your kids to sit still like statues during our session together, in fact, my favorite sessions are the ones when my little clients feel comfortable enough to have some fun and most of all be themselves:)

Congratulations to Cori Roberts and Kristen D’Alfonso!  You are the winners of a complimentary session and (25) holiday cards.  Please e-mail shannon@shannonwalton.net to set up your November session!   Thanks so much to all of you for posting your comments!!  Have a great weekend!