I’m Skyler Hopkins, a Seattle-area photographer based in Everett, shooting portraits, headshots, couples, and local sports across the Puget Sound. No studio, no flash, no stiff posing: just real locations, natural light, and enough direction that you actually feel comfortable in front of the camera.
It started in 2019, on a trip to Portugal for my sister’s soccer tournament: Team USA against international competition. I wanted to bring a disposable camera along, but by then they were either impossible to find or absurdly expensive, with weeks-long turnaround on the film. So I picked up a Canon AE-1 film camera instead, just to have something for the trip.
That was enough to get me hooked. I upgraded to a Nikon DSLR and started shooting my sister’s club soccer games, then found myself heading into Seattle for street photography, and from there into portraits. Somewhere in that stretch, my framing, editing, and eye for a professional-looking shot got good enough to invest in a Sony A7IV and build out a full lens kit for whatever a shoot calls for. From there it turned into real work: friends and family sessions, events, social content, and full-time coverage of my sister’s games; she plays for Seattle University Women’s Soccer, which is where the sports and NIL side of the business started.
How I Work
Natural light only.
No flash, no strobes, no studio setup. Golden hour, overcast daylight, or the ambient glow of an urban evening; natural light does almost all of the work in a good portrait, and I know how to find it.
Real locations.
Every session happens somewhere with actual character: Seattle streets, waterfront, rooftops, light rail platforms, the sidelines of a real game. You bring the goal, I bring the location knowledge.
Real coaching.
If you've hated every photo of yourself, it's almost never about how you look; it's about never getting direction. I tell you where to put your hands, when to relax your shoulders, when to actually laugh. Most clients walk in nervous and walk out surprised.
Sports & NIL, the same way.
Game coverage and athlete portraits get the same natural-light, no-gimmicks treatment. No harsh gym flash, no generic backdrops: just real plays and real moments, shot to actually be useful for a highlight reel, a sponsor deck, or a recruiting profile.
Who I've Worked With
Beyond Seattle University Women's Soccer, I also shoot athlete portraits and NIL content for other local teams and individual athletes across the Puget Sound.
Based in
Everett → Seattle
Camera
Sony A7IV
Service Area
Everett to the Canadian border