Meet Hailey Schnieders | Embodiment Portrait Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hailey Schnieders and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hailey, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I like this question a lot because I’m actually in the very beginning stages of growing my photography business.
Right now, my thought process revolves around a few core things:
1) Creating the space and setting for an introspective experience for my client that is both, candid and honest in the images, and therapeutic to his/her nervous system
2) Supporting my client’s reinvention process (a career shift, new life chapter, breaking their current narrative)
3) Recognizing beauty and rawness and organic emotion unraveling, and capturing it in the least invasive way

As a developing portrait photographer, it feels increasingly important to me to protect and help preserve my subject’s presence and attunement to themselves and their surroundings in any present moment. From this place, I know we are creating art and magic with little effort. It is a dance of rejuvenation and liberation.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Please tell us more about your business.
I am in the business of documenting play, expression, joy, sadness, fear, liberation, novelty, and our shared humanness. When you work with me, you are getting your photo taken, there is no doubt about that. But how you get your photo taken, what you feel, the internal shadows you dance with, the tears you may cry, all amounts to a re-surfacing of something delicate and fragile within you. Our work together is synonymous with the massage you put off for years, but are 100% better because of. It’s less photography and more therapy in my eyes. The photos we capture each become their own reminder of who you are, why you are who you are, and why the world needs more of exactly who you are.

We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about.
The photography genre of naturalism I seek to uphold is inspired by the thousands of photographers, past and present, that let their love for human connection and visual poetry define their heart-led artistic desires. I am still discovering what sets me apart from others, but right now I am in both the role of photographer and model. I desire to know fears and anxieties of being in front of the camera, so that I can support my clients in navigating the stormy nature of their mind.

I am excited to be in the business of heart-relating while beauty-creating with people that are led by a soulful commitment to their own authenticity and expression. I am excited to dismantle the lackluster and egoic relationship to seflies and over-edited portraits, while cultivating reverence for emotionality and the stripped back bare version of you.

How did you get to where you are today business-wise. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges?
Well, I worked in the hospitality industry long enough to say enough is enough. Haha. I do owe a lot to all the jobs I worked that influenced me to daydream and imagine better for myself. I think we need those. I think we need to get frustrated and intimate with the possibility that we are wasting our life feeling comfortable with being small. Other than that, I got to where I am by studying the women around me who are pursuing what they love, with integrity and infectious commitment to their mission.

What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way.
I’m starting to realize that I’ll never have all the skills necessary to execute on something new. And letting that dampen my curiosity, zest, and vitality towards a project or new path is the bigger failure than a project not coming to a desired fruition.
Involve God in your hopes and dreams, and speak to him regularly and honestly. Give thanks for what you have and where you’ve been, and then continue welcoming what you’re praying for. Take a risk and find out that God knows your dreams and is always ready to catch you when you fall. More importantly, he has your hand and knows how to navigate.

What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Who I am, and the ethos of my work, grew out of one very important decision: to abandon everything I became intimately familiar at home in America, and buy a one-way ticket overseas to backpack by myself for three years. I am more content with myself and the quality of my soul than ever before, surrounded by people and experiences that round out my health and quality of life. If my brand could impact you in any way, I hope it supports you to choose of whats best for your individual evolution towards fulfillment, radiant health, and love from a thriving community.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, if we were in Boulder together, where I lived for the last 2.5 years, our day would look like this:

Wake up at home in the canyon to the sound of birds and the creek across the road. Lay a blanket on the balcony or by the water where we’d stretch, move, and get warmed by the mountain sun. Next: cold plunge in the alpine water! Duh.
An elaborate breakfast would somehow appear on the kitchen counter once we finished sipping matcha, cacao, or coffee with heavy whipping cream. By 10am we’re driving to the Boulder Circus Center for a morning of movement at the life-altering Contact Jam (Sunday mornings!). We’d probably then need to jump in the creek again (Colorado summer heat is no joke!) but we’d mosey up to Lyons or Buckingham Park with our book and a journal. Soon we’d be itching for live music so we’d make the winding drive up the mountains to either Gold Hill or Nederland. Should we want pizza, which is expected, we’d hit up Crosscut Pizza, with playing cards, or probably Skyjo. We *might* take a picture on the way 😉 But no promises.

Now, if we were at my current home in Pueblo, Colorado, things might look a little different. I’m only two weeks in, so I’ll have to report back once I get clear on which coffee shops are best and what part of the Arkansas river is best for tubing. Standby!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
It has always been about the people, so I have to thank a few that have been instrumental in reassuring me that I have a place on this path. Ryan Valasek for insisting I bring a high-quality mirrorless camera on my international solo backpacking trips, and starting a blog to share the journey. Elly Schultz for consistent, honest, and thoughtful compliments of support in my creative writing and photography endeavors. My mother, father, and brother for always noticing and speaking to my creative strengths. My boyfriend Cole, a wizard in all things photography, poetry, and movement, who never fails to light the candle when it goes out.
And to the women: Sofia Arana, Amanda Deckelbaum, Jay Schwartz, Olivia Broughton, Casey Adashek, and all the others who have fed me and validated me in the recent stages of this professional endeavor, thank you, I love you.

Website: https://www.roamerwoman.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roamerwoman

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hschnieders/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hailey.jane.7906

Other: https://open.spotify.com/user/haileyschnieders?si=_nMULO7rRQS6pp5EuWH9FQ&nd=1&dlsi=217afe0863dc4cce

Image Credits
Avery Hericks
Cole Hatcher