First of all, hamsters are nocturnal animals who are awake at dawn and dusk. So you shouldn't try and fit a hamster into your schedule. You should try and fit yourself into the hamsters. They're pnluy suppose to be awake at nighttime and early mornings. Therefore some of them think it's daytime with all the bright light. If your hamster closes it's eyes everytime you turn on the light, it could be because the light is to bright. And by the way, I would never ever take a flash photo of my hamster. That would be cruel to their eyes.
Every hamster has their own sleeping patterns and times that they're awake. One of mine is awake early in the mornings, just for at little bit. She'll wake up some where between 5.30 and 8. She's also awake for around 20-30 minutes in the afternoon, where she drinks, eats and sniffs around. Then I don't see her again until somehere between 22 and midnight. Then she's awake for about an hour and then sleeps again. And then finally around 2am she's awake for a few hours where she's doing normal hamster stuff, like running in her wheel and being really active etc. She's awake quite a bit so I'm pretty lucky when it comes to photosessions and interaction. My only advice would be to interact and take photos when your hamster wants to. Turn down the light a bit and interact with your hammy when it's awake. Then it will more likely stay awake long enough for you to take some photos or something like that
But always remember that they're nocturnal and you'll just have to do things their way. I hope you'll be able to take a few photos some time soon