I am so glad I hired Adam for my surprise proposal to my girlfriend. Living in SoCal and having…read morenever been to Monterey/Big Sur, I planned my whole proposal based on google searches, reddit threads, and word of mouth. Being a Big Sur/Monterey local, Adam provided extremely helpful insight and feedback for my proposal. He definitely helped relieve a lot of the stress during the planning phase of my proposal. On the day of the actual shoot, the day-of jitters was overwhelming at times, but Adam's energy and demeanor was very centering. He was patient and gave my new fiancee and I space to calm ourselves, and also knew when to take charge and guide us with our poses. He also had amazing and creative ideas for how to pose and brought us to local, reclusive spots to take intimate photos. Best of all, Adam always had a smile on his face and he made us really think like we were supermodels walking the runway haha. If you're going to do any photoshoot, especially a proposal or engagement shoot, in the Big Sur/Monterey area, I would highly recommend getting Adam!!

Adam took photos at my daughter's ceremony and did an incredible job! He is professional,…read moredetail-oriented, and truly talented. I highly recommend him!

We used Rebecca Stark for our micro ceremony and wedding reception (two seperate days). We loved…read moreour photos from both days and loved how easy it was to get along with Rebecca. She did a great job dealing with the harsh sun of our micro ceremony and helping us feel comfortable taking photos. Our sunset photos from our reception are beautiful. She was a great choice!

Rebecca photographed our recent wedding on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. she took stunning…read morephotographs, before, during, and after the ceremony. She made sure to get many different poses, candid and staged, and included the ocean view and cliffs that we had requested. We ended up with around 150 high quality photos, and she provided them in a gallery we could share with people, and also downloadable in hi-res for printing and sharing online. Highly recommended!

Maria from Pink Light was so fun and easy to work with. I'm awkward in front of the camera, but…read moreMaria made it fun! She captured so many great shots. Shortly after my wedding, she sent me a little sneak peak to share with family and friends. I would absolutely work with her again. Her prices seemed on par with other photographers I looked at and friends have worked with.

My husband and I got married back in October and Maria at Pink Light did such a beautiful job…read morecapturing so many amazing memories. Prior to our wedding day she was so sweet and helpful and on the day of she was very prepared, with locations and poses in mind so we didn't have to think of a single thing. It was AMAZING! You can tell Maria absolutely loves what she does, she has great energy and very talented! We are going to treasure these photos forever!!

Jessica did our engagement and wedding photos. She was super easy to work with and has a great eye…read morefor detail and photo composition. Both of our families commented (unprompted!) on how nice she was and how easy she was to work with on the day of. She is super responsive, punctual, and we love her editing style. She kept us in the loop about when we would get our photos back and we were surprised at the quick turnaround! I would not hesitate to work with her again and we hope to book her in the future. Thank you, Jessica!

Jessica was our wedding photographer and she did an amazing job! She was responsive, kind, and so…read moreeasy to work with. Most of the day I was barely aware she was there and the pictures came out beautifully! I would highly recommend her to anyone needing a wedding photographer in the area!!

Chris and his team were AMAZING!! We had them for our engagement photos and they captured the…read moremoment perfectly. Highly recommend. They made us feel so comfortable the entire time

Chris was absolutely amazing and so easy to work with! The first thing was that he was incredibly…read moreresponsive-I set up a time to talk with him on his website, we spoke within a day, and we were set and ready to go by the end of that conversation. I also appreciated his familiarity with our venue (the Seymour Center in Santa Cruz) for our family event and immediately understood the vibe that we were going for and how the photos should fit into that. In between booking him and the day of the event, he was always responsive by text and email. On the day of the event, he was on time, managing our stress with ease and humor, and making the photography easy. Our photos came out better than we could have hoped for! I can't recommend Chris enough and thank you for everything

Let me just say I am not photogenic. I have also gained significant weight since having my third…read morechild and having thyroid issues which have lowered my self esteem. I do not take selfies haha. With that said, I really loved birch studios photos on Instagram. I figured she would be able to make me look semi presentable and somehow manage to get a shot of all 10 eyes looking at the camera. Jess worked her magic and the locations have been such a great backdrop. This is our second year using Jess for our family photos and I have never been disappointed! Not only is she the nicest and sweetest photographer, her pictures are stunning, and my review does not do her work justice.

First off, this review is LONG OVERDUE as we are rounding our 1 year wedding anniversary…read more Every time I look at our wedding photos, there is a smile on my face. Jess captured my favorite moments of the day in a way I couldn't have imagined. She also captured wonderfully great moments I wasn't aware of, making the photos of our wedding day even more special! (I've uploaded a few) Jess is a true artist at heart, and we are so grateful she was our wedding photographer. She is easy to work with, organized, calm, professional, and experienced. And most importantly, she has a good eye! Jess helped us pick a place for our first look and bridal party photos close to our venue. She also put together a wedding photo timeline and made sure she knew who we wanted candid and portrait shots with. She delivered on everything we wanted, and she was a pleasure to work with. Thank you Jess! You're an amazing artist, and we will be looking at your photos with smiles on our faces for years to come.

Toan was absolutely wonderful to work with! He was punctual, super professional, and flexible with…read morelast minute changes. He was really fun and relaxed, making it comfortable to take photos with him. We are not models, and he was fantastic about giving direction and posing tips. After the ceremony, our families loved taking photos with him too! We loved our photos, which he turned around very quickly. It was an amazing experience, and we can't recommend him enough!

Looking for a photographer to capture your big moments, who makes you feel comfortable and beyond…read moreeasy to work with ? You have to work with Toanven Photography because you will not regret it at all and get everything you want and more!! Toan and team are the absolute very best - worked directly with Toan, Martin, Trieu, and Michael and all very professional and super easy to get along with! We used Toanven photography for our engagement photoshoot / pre wedding , church wedding ceremony at St.Jarlath Catholic Church and civil wedding at Nella terra cellars. Also used their videography services which was also really great. When looking for a photographer , we wanted to make sure that our photographer is easy going, can help guide us and has experience with our venue. I discovered Toanven photography because my best friend used their services for her wedding and after finding out Toan had lots of experience at Nella Terra we knew we had to meet him. On our first zoom call Toan was beyond welcoming and excited which made us excited. He made us laugh, made us comfortable and answered all of our questions and broke down the whole process. Before the wedding Toan helped us better plan our timeline for photos and took his time to understand what were the "must have photos". He gave us alternatives on how we can still get pictures with others and saving time. His advice on a family shot list was super helpful as well. On wedding day Toan was just the person I needed around me with all the craziness of wedding day. His personality bring calmness and he is quick to think if a photo location doesn't work well for the lighting - he found better positioning and areas for the photos the look flawless. Beyond helpful when it came to posing, how to stand , where to look and capture all the right angles. Lastly, Depending on the package you go for, you will get a set number of edits photos and our photos were so amazing it was hard to reach the number of edits we can use. That says a lot about how the quality of the photos are and how they already shine! So reach out to Toanven photography, I promise you will love every moment!

Olga was very nice to work with. She made our one year old very comfortable during the photoshoot…read more Pictures came out to be really great! Highly recommend!

I was looking for an in-home newborn photographer and found Olga on Google. The booking process was…read moreeasy, we scheduled the session quickly, and Olga arrived right on time. During the session, Olga captured both lifestyle and posed newborn photos. She was extremely professional and showed incredible patience with my baby. I expected the experience to be stressful, but it was actually very relaxing and enjoyable. The images were absolutely beautiful. Olga brought all the props we needed for the session. I highly recommend her!

Sandy is truly one of the most skilled newborn/family photographers in the bay area! I was lucky to…read morefind Sandy 4 years ago with my first born and the newborn photos ended up being incredible! It was an easy decision to go back to her with our second baby. Here are some of the ways that Sandy truly stood out: - Both our babies were born around Christmas holiday and scheduling was not an issue at all for Sandy. She checked in ahead of the appointment to ensure we didn't need to reschedule (much needed for parents that just gave birth recently) and had our themes ready prior to us arriving. - The themes were 10/10, better than what we could've envisioned ourselves. And our themes were generic such as lemon or Christmas. - The amount of patience Sandy has is seriously amazing! Our second baby was a bit harder to photograph compared to the first, in addition to a toddler who wasn't in the mood for pictures, and it didn't phase Sandy at all. She took her time to make sure she was able to capture each theme well and had tips up her sleeve to get the toddler to take some pictures. I highly recommend going with Sandy if you're considering photo sessions! She goes above and beyond to ensure all the special moments are captured and the pictures are so incredibly worth it.

I'm truly delighted to share my experience working with Sandy! Her communication was wonderful from…read morethe very beginning, from arranging the appointment and customizing the scene setup to sending the photos. Everything went so smoothly. I am really impressed by her talent with infants and children; she was fantastic with my newborn and my 2-year-old. Her ability to craft stunning scenes is also incredible. And when it comes to her photography and editing skills, they are truly outstanding--just look at the edited photos, they're absolutely stunning! You won't be disappointed with Clairbare Studios and Sandy's gift for capturing beautiful, lasting memories of your little ones.

I can't begin to express what a real pleasure it was to have Carlie and Gabe document our wedding…read morein August on the peninsula. She was wonderfully responsive via email and since our package included engagement photos, was super helpful in guiding us through all we needed to think about to prepare (what to wear, locations, makeup recommendations, etc). Even more than our wedding planner, we spent the most time with our photographers on our wedding day. Carlie and Gabe are both fun, awesome people who immediately put everyone at ease and truly captured the joy of the day. They felt like great friends that we'd known forever, and we loved having them along to document every moment of the day. Not only that, Carlie and Gabe went above and beyond in a few different ways that meant so much to us. First, I was surprised to learn that they arrived at our venue well before their "scheduled" start time to scout locations for different shots and to capture some photos of the venue before anyone else was around. Carlie also consistently shared more photos with us than we were expecting to see, which was such an awesome treat. Not only that, while the digital photos took a little longer to be ready for us to view, she prepared some sneak peeks and film photos that were ready much more quickly. It was so special to get to see and share a few professional photos within days of our wedding! All in all, Carlie and Gabe delivered all we could have asked for and more. They're the best :) Thank you!!

How do I even begin to tell you how wonderful Carlie and her husband, Gabe, are?! In a nutshell, if…read moreyou don't use them, you will be so sorry you didn't. They were top notch. So professional, kind, warm and talented. As the mother of the bride, all I wanted was for her to be happy with the photographer. Carlie and Gabe made her very happy!