Hey! I am so so excited to finally be able to start a blog for all things photography! My goal for the HSP blog is for it to become a place for you to find inspiration, tips, and ideas for your session or wedding day. Over the years, I have learned so many things about senior sessions, couples sessions, and weddings; So, why not share what I’ve learned with you!

First things first, let me introduce myself. I’m Katie, the girl behind the lens and your biggest fan. I have been a photographer for 5 years now (going on six!!!! Crazy how time flies). Capturing seniors and people in love are my favorites but I am always down to try new things. Growing up in Houston my whole life means I’ve found quite a few amazing locations for photo shoots, but we will get to that in a later post 😉

HSP began with what every young girl strived to have circa 2016… cute instagram photos. Junior year of high school was a rough time for me- and I’m not just talking about my questionable fashion choices back then- so my best friend wanted to cheer me up. We decided an adventure/photoshoot around downtown Houston would do the trick. Using my mom’s old Canon rebel series t3i with a basic lens, and not having a clue about taking pictures, I quickly realized how comfortable I felt behind the camera. Going home that night, I ran straight to my computer and began editing with whatever filters I could find on different apps. Soon, I was researching anything and everything I could about photography and editing.

Let’s get one thing straight- I was terrible at first. No doubt about it. But that didn’t stop me from pursuing what I loved. Once senior year rolled around, I began trying to find my style through taking my friend’s senior pictures. Then I was taking friends of friends’ senior pics. While I loved every second of this, I couldn’t help but want to share my love of photography with more than just my friends. I knew I needed to start posting my work to reach my full potential. Thus, Happy Snaps was born. 

I came up with the name because photography simply makes me happy and I wanted to take pictures of other people happy. Photography became my safe place, my comfort, and my passion. I wanted others to feel as excited as I was when they saw how beautiful they looked in their photos. As cliché as it sounds, I wanted to tell stories and show people’s emotions through photos that they could hang on to forever.

Then it was time to go off to college. I thought “oh I will do it on the side, maybe take a few grad photos for people”. LOL yeah right! I had gained much more traction by my sophomore year. I was doing multiple shoots a week and got my first wedding inquiry. Of course I said yes. The couple flew me to Houston for their wedding. Having never shot a wedding before, I was nervous to say the least. But as I mentioned before, I’m a sucker for showing off people in love (: Gaining that experience and seeing how happy the couple was with their photos, I knew joining the wedding industry would be my next strategic move.

Coincidentally, the wedding occurred one month before COVID hit. My study abroad was canceled and it looked like I was stuck in Houston for the summer. While I was devastated about my study abroad, this was the perfect opportunity to take my business more seriously and grow it to a new extent. I became an LLC, completely rebranded, created styled shoots, and started selling prints. Soon after, I changed my college major to focus on photography. Now here I am, recently graduated and running my business full time. 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my photography journey, it’s that everything happens for a reason. Some crappy situations led to my photography flourishing. Never did my 17-year-old self imagine Happy Snaps would be what it is today. So for her, I want to say thank you for following along and allowing us to grow this business together. I truly cannot wait to see what is next for Happy Snaps and what happy moments of yours I get to capture next!!

I am so excited to finally share this blog with you and discuss photography, weddings, and other fun things more in depth!! I always love to hear from my clients, so be sure to comment any questions or ideas you’d like me to write about!!

Cheers, Katie