About
Stephen Hamilton built his career on a passion for showcasing food in a natural and enticing style, always pushing the envelope in pursuit of honest, authentic imagery that heightens taste appeal across all categories. He loves an integrated, sensory approach to food, as it allows him to expand the visual story and bring food to life.
Team Leaders
Stephen
Deirdre
Deirdre is the executive producer and director of operations at SHP, but you can just call her “the cat wrangler.” She knows better than anyone that no day at the studio is the same, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Outside of work, Deirdre loves spending time with her family and going for bike rides. If you need recommendations on where to find the best tacos in town – from carnitas to carne asada to fish – Deirdre is your gal.
Miles
Miles is the Studio Coordinator at SHP. He loves being in a creative environment and learning something new every day. He’s the smiling face that greets clients as they arrive and he’s the studio’s best barista. When he isn’t at work you’ll find Miles at the gym or when his creative juices are flowing, designing his own line of clothing, Flow Unlimited. His favorite spot to eat is X Pot where you can find him digging into the wagyu and sushi.
Kate
Kate is a photographer at SHP, where she enjoys getting creative and meeting challenges with the rest of the team. If she’s not working, you might find Kate kayaking or relaxing on the beach – or day-dreaming about her favorite food: mussels, served with crusty bread and an oaky Chardonnay. Her favorite Chicago restaurant is Piccolo Sogno, where she orders the spaghetti nero with clams, shrimp, calamari, and yep, mussels.
Sandy
Sandy is a photographer at SHP, where she loves interacting with coworkers and clients who visit the studio. When the weather’s warm, she’s an avid gardener (especially tomatoes!) and bee keeper, and has a rabbit named Kevin. Her favorite Chicago food was the beef curry udon at Momotaro.
Ben
Ben is the studio’s motion camera operator, occasional director of photography, video editor, digital tech, photo assistant, and chief jack-of-all-trades. His favorite part of work is collaborating with such a talent team… and getting to eat amazing food. When it comes to restaurants, there’s no place he’d rather be than waiting staring down a seafood tower at Bavette’s with a dirty martini in hand and a ribeye on the way.
Stephen Hamilton
Director, Photographer, Publisher
Stephen Hamilton is a food and beverage director and photographer whose work has appeared almost everywhere you see images of food—on television, in national magazines and cookbooks, on packaging, and across seven seasons of Bravo TV’s Top Chef (as well as appeared as a guest judge on Top Chef Masters). Stephen built his career showcasing ingredients in all their organic, beautiful reality. His natural lighting style and tight taste appeal let food’s honest, fresh allure speak for itself.
Drips, pours, crumbs, bites – flaws aren’t necessarily flaws. Less is more in terms of styling; more is more in terms of exploration. Stephen brings a visual feast to life by taking an integrated, sensory approach to his subjects. This holistic perspective has garnered the attention of numerous agencies, international food companies, and restaurants. His work has won numerous awards over the years, including top honors for his“food porn” series at Graphis International, with seven images featured.
In recent years, Stephen has grown his photography business into a full-service production company. Stephen Hamilton combines his talents with those of an on-staff producer and editor as well as a roster of skilled photographers. Flexible, generous studio space accommodates multiple simultaneous shoots, offering clients start-to-finish capabilities from pre-production to in-house retouching.
Philanthropy & Sustainability
No Leftovers
Long time believers in giving back, our team has been diligent in making sure no excess product from a shoot goes to waste. For over 20 years, we’ve donated to food pantries, hunger relief, community centers, churches, homeless shelters and even inner city summer camps. Please contact us if you know a group that would like to be on our donation list.
Images for Artisans
During the pandemic Stephen realized he could support small food producers and artisans by photographing their specialties for use in sales and marketing materials. Images for Artisans was born. Stephen has shot delicious images of handmade bagels and cookies by Salt Spoon Bakehouse, to perfect produce grown by Urban Growers Collective and even hand-crafted Farmstead cheese made by 10 Jersey cows and Inga Witscher, the host of Around the Farm Table.
The outcome of Images For Artisans has become a creative collaboration which benefits the participants on many levels including a feature story on the Who’s Hungry? Magazine website. If you would like to see if your artisan food or beverage specialty qualifies, please contact us.
