Shayna Hardy Photography

Where can I begin about Shayna and her services. Shayna photographed our family for our son’s 2 year pictures. Every single conversation, meeting, e-​mail, Shayna was so responsive, professional, and KIND. We took our photos at Millennium Park, they turned out FANTASTIC! Shayna came to our home and got to know us and our little man and just made the entire process wonderful. The added personal touches, the beautiful packaging, the little extras just mean the world to us. We’ve used other photographers for our newborn and 1 year pictures and Shayna by far blew their services away.
I honestly could go on and on about Shayna’s services, techniques, professionalism, and thoughtfulness. I recommend Shayna be the ONLY one to capture your special moments, we plan to use her again for extended family pictures and the years to come. Professional brilliance, thoughtful, patient, warm, inviting, I can go on and on!

Shayna is awesome. Let’s break it down: having a newborn is pretty stressful. It takes a special someone to bring a magical suitcase full of props and make your baby girl (who kind of looks like a little old man or a burrito, depending on the swaddling situation, LOVE YOU BABY G!) look super cute in a snap. Also, when your baby refuses to fall asleep (see: cranky old man) or poops EVERYWHERE (see: burrito), Shayna takes it all in stride, complete with a white noise machine.
Patient, sweet and talented– you’d be a fool not to book her today!

We’ve been privileged to work with Shayna over the past few years to capture some amazing memories and experiences of our family as we grow and live life in the city. Our first time working with Shayna, we asked her to scout out a location that communicated life in the city, and she came up with some amazing options. I’m not talking skyline in the background or Lincoln Park (nothing wrong with that, just played out in our opinion), but captured solitude and peace in the midst of busyness, family moments where industry and neighborhoods collide, and intimate glances between father and daughter, mother and son with a whirlwind of traffic within a few feet. Shayna didn’t even blink about the challenge of bringing our extended family (and their dog) into the shoot, and we have some great shots captured that we could have never of planned on if it weren’t for her imagination.
More recently, we’ve worked with Shayna and wanted to capture us in the neighborhood we’re raising our family in. Once again, she exceeded any expectation we had and had some of the most unique, fun, and challenging shots of any family portrait we’ve seen.
All of our family and friends love looking at the story that Shayna has visually communicated with her work, she is truly an inspired artist. Her passion for making lasting memories and moments shines through her work, not just by coming up with fun ways to take shots, but the way she communicates before, during and after the shoot itself. We are blessed to know Shayna and look forward to continuing our relationship with her.

Working with Shayna has been the best decision we’ve made in a very long time. She is, unmistakably so, one of the most talented and conscientious people we’ve come across. From our very first meeting over the phone, to discussions about our particular style and tastes to the thoughtful meeting in our home prior to our photos, Shayna was warm, inviting and professionally brilliant. She meticulously took the time to capture particular photos that we wanted. She was patient to get the perfect shot. She spent precious hours to perfect all our images. In short, Shayna is a dream.
We researched newborn photographers in the Chicago area for a good month or so. We talked to countless of them and not a single one could hold a candle to Shayna. She was prepared, knowledgeable, prompt and courteous. Most importantly, though, she has a talent unmatched in the newborn photography field. Every person who has seen our photos has gushed how beautiful and amazing they are and that they have not seen anything like it.
We worked with Shayna on our maternity and newborn sessions and then in perfecting our unique birth announcements. Every step of the way, we were presented with a product that was unmatched in the field and that stood out as being luxurious and highly-​coveted. The wall-​wrap photos and printed images were high quality and will last a long time. Shayna was so time-​efficient and quick to get the final products to us and to give us exactly what we needed.
In working with our baby, Shayna has the most gentle, calm and serene temperament and really worked patiently with our newborn princess. She thought about every little detail to make her comfortable and was particular to her needs and her safety. Unlike other photographers we researched, Shayna actually came to our home to capture the baby. This was really important as traveling after giving birth even a few blocks is quite the experience. Shayna worked in the comfort of our home and we are indebted to her for that. I would not hesitate at all to recommend Shayna with any newborn. She has that unmistakable mother’s touch that is prized and sought-​after in the newborn photography field.
There are no words that could succinctly convey our appreciation, our gratitude and our excitement about Shayna. As far as we’re concerned, Shayna is the preeminent newborn photographer and the only one we will entrust to capture out little princess on film.