Brenda is BY FAR the best family photographer! Her energy and enthusiasm is extremely comforting, especially when trying to wrangle kids under the age of 5. During our photo session, my wife and I were worried about our youngest son and whether or not he'd listen to us during the photo session. Our hopes were to get ONE photo of all of us together that we could print in our home. To our surprise, Brenda was able to capture over 50 AMAZING photos of all of us. We were completely shocked at how she was able to capture our children's personalities so effortlessly and with such patience and understanding. We couldn't be happier with our experience and plan on using Brenda for ALL of our family photo shoots! read more

Where to start.... We are beyond thrilled we found Brenda! We started our journey together over a year and a half ago with a maternity photoshoot, which was not only was a lot of fun but she she takes the most flattering pictures!! Which I'm sure other mother to be's can appreciate! No one is feeling glamorous at 36 weeks pregnant, ha! However each and every picture was perfection. Not to mention her editing skills are incredible. Fast forward, we had 4 additional sessions with our son, where she was able to capture his little / big personality. The pictures exceeded our expectations in every way possible, and give us great memories to remember his first year of life! We are now expecting our second child, and without a double Brenda will be there to capture the next milestone for our family. Brenda is talented, caring, and has a true passion for her craft! We love her!! read more

Look no further. Brenda is a gem. She is hands-down the most professional, responsive, creative and friendly photographer I met. We have three toddlers and a wild dog. Brenda managed to get beautiful pictures of us. Our children loved her. I am so pleased with the outcome. We are so impressed with her work and will hire her again. read more

I cannot say enough wonderful things about Brenda and her photography!!! Brenda has helped capture my little guys first year of life and every shoot was absolutely amazing! My husband and I have gone through a lot trying to have a baby so picking a photographer to capture these precious moments for us was very important. Let me tell you.. Brenda was/is AMAZING! I'll always be able to look back in these moments and appreciate them. Thank you Brenda for all your work and we will be back maybe for more pics with the pups :) Book Brenda if you want real lifetime memories!!! She's seriously the best!!! read more

I highly recommend Brenda Simpson of Bijou Blue Photography. She took photographs for my 5 year olds birthday party and she was fantastic with kids! She has so much patience and lots of energy staying on pace with all the children. She was able to catch some great "candid" shots as well as coax the little ones into adorable poses. I have also seen her portfolio and her child and family portrait work is stunning. She really seems to have a unique vision for photography. read more

Brenda took our daughter's newborn and 6 months pictures and we cannot be happier. Not only did they turn out beautiful, both shoots were so relaxing and fun. She is wonderful with little little ones, and with the rest of us as well. Pictures turned out wonderful with a great balance of studio portrait and our personalities and styles, even our interactions with each other. read more

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I am a design professional and I have some pretty high standards. Brenda is my absolute favorite family photographer. Her work is breathtakingly beautiful. I think what really sets her apart are the following three things: (1) Editing. Brenda does the best digital touch-up and editing of photographs I have ever seen. The colors are more vibrant, the contrast is striking, and she will cut-and-paste various elements from various "takes" in order to achieve perfection. She will clean up dirty hands or smooth out complexions or remove grass stains. She will take the best smile from each family member and combine them into one amazing finished product. And I don't know how she makes the light glow, but she does. (2) Creativity. When she photographed my family, not once did we get asked to turn our chin awkwardly to the left. Instead, we climbed railroad tracks, we hid in bushes, we looked for butterflies, and we just walked around. Nothing felt forced or posed, and she end results really show that. (3) Patience and Laid-Back Attitude. In addition to the list of pose ideas she had in her head, Brenda also asked the kids for their ideas as well -- AND WE DID THOSE TOO. This made it feel fun and interactive, and kept the kids engaged. To loosen things up, she told a series of knock-knock jokes while snapping away, and got some honest and happy smiles out of everyone. So much better than "1-2-3-smile!" She was never frustrated and was always flexible. If the kids were tired of standing on the log, she didn't push it. She knows what will get the best results, and being willing to go with the flow is what gets her there. No one who hires Brenda Simpson is ever sorry they did. read more

We've gotten our holiday photos taken by Brenda for the past three years both outdoors and indoors. She does a fantastic job composing great shots in many settings. It was a challenge one year getting a decent shot of all of us (I think it was dinner time or something). After the shoot, Brenda opened up her photoshop and composed a shot that captured each of us smiling. Definitely check Brenda out. She is very friendly and works really well with a wide range of personalities. BTW, Brenda took such a good headshot for me that I use it as my professional photo. read more

My husband and I recommend Brenda and Bijou Blue Photography whole heartedly, without hesitation. She was referred to me by my coworker who used her for her maternity, newborn and now all her family photos. I knew Brenda's work was great because I get to see my coworker's sweet little boy's beautiful photo in the office everyday. I booked her for my son's first birthday and she arrived early to scope out spots for our family photos and check out the lighting. She had a calming and energetic presence and just having her there early was one less thing I, in my hectic, chaotic brain I had to worry about while trying to set up the party. She was interactive with the kiddos and captured their energy and smiles wonderfully! She even made the adults smile! The best part of course are the photos ! I truly did not expect to get THAT many photos and have so many turn out so great. Many photographers may charge an arm and a leg for a limited number of photos "they" choose. But not Brenda! I loved that she included an unexpected slideshow sweet enough to make me tear up! And let's not forget to mention she gets the photos to you VERY soon after the event/shoot. You can waste your time by researching, calling and emailing around, waiting and waiting for a response OR you can just contact Brenda and get a response to your inquiry in no time! Why are you still reading my review?! Contact her NOW! : ) read more

This review has been a long time coming. Brenda did our family portraits about 2 years ago. We met her on the beach with my husband, kids and our dog. She has a great eye for photography. She even made sure she met us at the exact time that would be good for lighting with the sun, ocean, clouds, etc. She just make sure everything was perfect. We were extremely happy with the results. Beautiful photos. I've referred her to a few other families, and everybody has been very happy. I know that she has a studio setup now. I'm just trying to plan some time to get back in there to take more. Our family changes so much in a few years. We will always go back to Brenda! She is very professional and easy going. Not to mention that everything is affordable. And her work speaks for itself! Thank you for everything Brenda. You are amazing! read more

Brenda is amazing! She was able to do my maternity photo session on such a late notice so she's pretty flexible with her time. She is also one of the most sweetest and friendliest people I've ever encountered and made my boyfriend and I feel very comfortable during our session. She was able to capture some genuine moments between my boyfriend and I and the pictures turned out incredible! Overall, I was completely happy and satisfied. I would definitely come back to her and strongly recommend Brenda for her work. read more

My husband has spent time as a professional sports photographer, so he knows his stuff and has the glass for it. His standards for a photographer are really high and he looks for photographers who have an eye for things and are creative and don't just produce the same cookie cutter photos or use photoshop gimmicks. We first used Bijou Blue for a shoot with extended family, and Brenda did an awesome job of corralling 2 wiggly and jet lagged toddlers, an infant and reluctant grandparents and capture so many tender moments where we wanted to print out nearly ever photo to frame. We recently signed up for a mini-session in Golden Gate Park and thought we had a great plan, but of course our normally cheerful 1.5 year old son had other ideas and ended up being grouchy and non-cooperative. Brenda was the consummate professional and had a bunch of ideas how to get him to smile a bit, but we still walked away thinking that the session was a bust and all we might get is a bunch of photos of a stoic toddler. I should have known that Brenda would come through -- she managed to capture the exact moments where he cracked a smile, but she also managed to capture so much of what is fun at this stage -- his independence, cuddles, and got some great shots of my husband, who is usually behind the camera himself. We love Brenda and will see her again for more soon. read more

The first thing I'd like to say is THANK YOU to Brenda and Bijou Blue Photography! My wife and I wanted a non wedding photographer (let's face it wedding photographers are high intensity and high priced) to shoot our son's first birthday (about 80 people). Finding Brenda was a true miracle as everything from the initial discussion to contracting to the day of the event was seamless and smooth. Brenda really took the time to understand what we wanted, she was super communicative through the whole process and never once did I have to reach out to her, she verified everything with us at every step. The day of the event Brenda was there early to scope out the venue and take before shots, she met with us and really took time to understand the shots we wanted. During the event she was a true professional simply capturing the event beautifully. After the event we have spectacular photos and quite many of them, a beautiful slideshow set to music and the speed of delivery on these items was amazing. Brenda has a great eye for those candid special moments through an event and captures them beautifully between her two cameras with incredible lenses, she is a true professional. At the end of the day I really can't say enough good things about Brenda and my family all comments on how wonderful our photographer was. As a matter of fact I have given Brenda's name to a bunch of family as referrals, Brenda I want my commission . ;) Looking forward to working with Brenda again in the future and Thank You again for delivering us the most amazing of memories for our son's 1st birthday. I highly recommend Brenda and Bijou Blue, you will not be disappointed. read more

BRENDA WAS AMAZING!!! My husband and I came in to take pictures of our 2 month old daughter... I was a bit worried since our little one can tend to be quite fussy but Brenda worked miracles with her charm (which was so sweet to witness by the way) and kept baby truly engaged throughout the picture taking. Brenda was an absolute delight to work with and was attentive to our ideas... She added creative suggestions when we asked which also helped to move things along smoothly. She even managed to get great pics with our family pet as well... Great with people and pets so I highly recommend her!! We will definitely be coming back in the future! Thank you Brenda for capturing such beautiful memories, I see these pictures now and not only do they melt my heart but they also make me laugh because we had so much fun in the process read more

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I had some business headshots done and working with Brenda was a great experience! She is very easy to work with from beginning to end, also very quick. Highly recommend Bijou Blue Photography. read more

Brenda is fantastic! We have done two sessions with her already, and she has always given us amazing photos! Both our kids had such a fun time with her. She really made them feel special and was super patient. We highly recommend! Her work is simply beautiful! read more

Brenda did our family portraits recently and we LOVE how all the pictures came out! She knew the location well and when I asked her about outfit colors, she was able to help me out and she was spot on. The colors of our outfits popped against the background greenery and the pictures were crisp and just beautiful. I really appreciated that she asked ahead about my kids' interests, so that she would have conversation starters with them. My 9 and 6 year olds felt right at ease with her. She was great with them! I was surprised at how quickly she was able to get our pictures back to us and I couldn't be happier! I wanted a nice family portrait for my home and I got back so many great pictures to put on my walls. The price for our session was also really reasonable. Brenda was great to work with and very responsive to emails. I highly recommend her! Thanks Brenda! read more

After many years of portrait studio family pictures, we decided to branch out and try for outdoor photographs with a professional photographer. We took advantage of one of Bijou Blue's mini-sessions at Ardenwood Farm in late September and were thrilled with the results. Brenda was prepared with a bag of tricks and a repertoire of jokes to help warm up the kids to the camera She had ideas for poses, but also just let the kids be kids and really captured their personalities and relationship. She was incredibly patient and flexible throughout the shoot. Brenda was quick to get us proofs, even providing a few edited prints as a sneak peek within a day or two of the session. Her editing work was amazing, bringing out the best features within a pose, and merging the best of each person from a series of shots to get a great final shot while still looking natural. She delivered fully edited prints within a week and a half as she had promised. We have gotten compliments from everyone who has seen them on how wonderful they are. I highly recommend Bijou Blue Photography. We will definitely be using her services again in the years to come! read more

Brenda did maternity and newborn photos for us and they are amazing! She has lots of great ideas and suggestions. When I said I wanted to do the maternity photos outside but I wasn't sure where - she sent me photos of two beautiful local spots to choose from. She knew exactly what time of day had the best light for each location and checked in about weather. Pleasant, helpful, responsive via email, and lovely pictures to treasure. Also reasonable prices after looking at many websites for local photographers. Highly recommend doing newborn photos at home - my husband and I were more relaxed and so was baby. Also - the background is so personal. I found Brenda on yelp and thus feel compelled to pay it forward by helping others to find her :). read more

We recently used Brenda to take a one of a kind picture of our two young girls. We were more than pleased with the result! Brenda is very skilled at keeping the little ones focused, calm and participating. She is also amazing with photo shop! We highly recommend her and her creative artistry. A real pleasure to work with! read more

I have a very active 5 and 7 year old, and I didn't want a family portrait where we all sat around in shirts in matching colors. What to do? I asked Brenda to find a location in the Bay Area with good light, that she knew, where we could capture the energy of my kids in motion, but also the delight they view the world with. That was what I wanted my family portraits to reflect. Brenda was awesome - she picked a great spot, worked with the weather, and brought a great imagination and creativity to the shoot. At the end of the day, we actually got an award winning picture. Thanks Brenda! read more

Brenda combines her expertise with a positive attitude and affinity for children to make family picture day a success. Photographing small children and newborns can be challenging to say the least, but Brenda keeps it fun for everyone and spends the extra time to make sure she gets the perfect shots. Her finished photos are perfection - she is truly a talented photographer. Thus far, she has taken maternity, two-year old and newborn photos for us and we will be coming back to Brenda as our children grow. My only regret is that I did not find her sooner and have her take newborn photos of my first child. read more

Brenda is such a wonderful photographer to work with! We loved our maternity and newborn photo shoots. She was so flexible with our schedule despite some challenging life events. Brenda is talented and captured beautiful life long memories of our newborn and family for us! I rarely get a chance to write yelp reviews but I really had to come here and brag about her. I highly recommend her if anyone is looking for a kind and talented photographer to work with. read more

Brenda of Bijou Blue is an amazing family photographer. We have used her for four years and before that I kept seeing her beautiful work with several of my friends. She is patient with grumpy kids, and seriously seeks to bring out the unique personality of each child (I have 5 so that's a real challenge!). My husband and I love looking back on the many sessions we've had with great fondness. Families are an ever-changing entity, and it is so special that Brenda has been able to capture lovely images that we will always cherish. read more

We were looking for someone to do our holiday family portrait and Brenda was recommended to us by a neighbor in the East Bay. We are so happy to have found her! She was very accommodating and agreed to meet us at the beach in San Francisco on a Saturday afternoon. At the last minute we changed the location to Land's End trail and she was so kind and cheerfully accommodated us. The trail turned out to be quite busy with a lot of traffic, and yet Brenda remained energetic, patient, and good humored. We were very impressed with her wonderful attitude and amazing ability to get a restless 6 year old to cooperate and keeping him entertained through it all. When we received the finished photos we were even more impressed! You would never have guessed there were so many people in the background during the day of shooting. The beautiful images were just us and nature. I worked many years as an art director for various ad agencies and I'm usually quite picky about images, but I couldn't be happier with Brenda's work. We have already asked her to shoot our son's birthday party in the spring. read more

Brenda has such a talent for photography! She can take a child who loves to pose and a child who doesn't enjoy having their picture taken and make it look amazing! I have had kids in both these situations and have been completely happy with both outcomes! She is excellent working with young children and has a way of making it fun for them, capturing them in a non posed completely relaxed and impressive picture. We have gone to her for 5 years now and will continue for many more years!!! read more

Brenda truly enjoys what she does and that is represented in her work. She is able to capture shots that you can only do when you connect with your client. Brenda is very easy to work with and she gets the best out of every pose !! Super kids friendly !!! read more

If there was an option to give Brenda 10 stars I would! Brend Simpson is fantastic! I have a 6 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. We have a ton of photos of them but I wanted something completely different - a photo that we would keep on our wall forever. Brenda knew just the right spot with a really cool tree. She had our kids climb and hang all over the tree while she snapped photos. Our tree photo turned out so georgous that even the clerk, who was helping us find a frame at Aaron Brother's, gasped when he saw the photo! He couldn't believe that Brenda was able to get such great facial expressions and posses out of my kids. Brenda is professional, creative, and very kind. I highly recommend her! read more

To make it short: Brenda is one of THE BEST decision I made in planning my baby's 1st birthday party. To make it long: Moms and Dads are pretty forgetful. Call it lack of sleep... high energy babies, work, life, etc... In the midst of getting through the first year - you realize that the first amazing year is about to arrive... and you haven't planned the party. Then you have to scramble to set up a party and make it special - with a LOT less time and energy to plan it (unlike your wedding)... Venue, Food, Guest List, Favors, Decorations, Dessert... did I forget something? YUP! I need to look after our baby and try my best to be a great host/hostess to your guests... AINT NO BODY GOT TIME to go around and take pictures, right? Sure, your Aunt Susan will send you 100 blurry photos from her iPad/iPhone... and in there, there's a good shot here and there. But the photos are of the same people - that she was hanging out with... The party's over and now your scrambling to clean up and put things away... and then your baby's ready for her night routine... The day (like your wedding day) is a big blur... and you go on with your week. Shortly after the big day, you get a cute message from Brenda with a little spoiler photo.. and now, you want MORE. Then a few more days later, she gives you a BEAUTIFUL video slideshow... shortly after that, you get her MANY, beautifully edited photos. Brenda was able to capture MANY moments that we missed - this is priceless. She went above and beyond by getting to the party earlier to scout the area... and she even helped me set up a little bit! It was a beautiful windy and sunny SF day and she was running around, and sweating photographing our guests and the party atmosphere. Can't even tell you how many times I've seen the video slideshow on repeat. Of course, the guests loved seeing it and we were able to share the day with our families and friends who couldn't make it to the party. Don't spend all that time and energy planning a cool event that you won't remember. Have Brenda come and capture your day so that you can have fun with your guests and cherish the memories. Remember, without photographic evidence.. it didn't happen. :P Beautiful, high quality images Lots of photos VERY TIMELY and punctual delivery - which is what most photographers LACK. Worth every penny. Thank you so much, Brenda! read more

We have used Brenda for family photos for several years. We knew she took amazing pictures of the family. However I just used her for product photography. She blew me away. The product photos were exceptional, great perspective, perfect lighting. I am certain that my online sales from these photos will be fantastic. I was really impressed that I was able to drop off lots of products and a complicated set list she was so meticulous in making sure she got everything right. Amazing product photography! read more

Brenda took photos of my husband and I in the evening of our wedding day on the beach outside of Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay. The actual wedding was in downtown San Francisco during the day with a separate photographer that took a lot of our formal photos, so our hour with Brenda was amazing since we could just relax and be us since it was just us three on the beach. The session was relaxed, fun, creative, and felt like we were having a friend take our photos. We received our photos very soon after and they were all gorgeous, impossible to choose a favorite in the group. I am so happy we decided to do an additional photo shoot and chose Bijou Blue to do it! read more

My inlaws were visiting from out of the country, and we wanted to have some nice photo's taken with the family. Our daughter, a very active 16 month old, can barely stand still. Brenda came well prepared. She knew the exact locations to get perfect shots. She brought a "busy bag" to help keep our daughter entertained and focused. And, she captured photos that we will cherish for the rest of our live. We would happily recommend Brenda, and look forward to using her again in the future! read more

I truly recommend Bijou Blue Photography. Nice, cozy, warm, clean and well prepared studio. Very professional photographer. No stress for babes nor parents. Just FUN! I couldn't by happier! read more

Brenda blew us away with her service, communication, and quality of photos. First of all, she was very responsive, kind, thorough, and diligent with communicating with us right from the start. Also, she was so flexible and even willing to meet up on Easter Sunday! She gave very specific directions and paid great attention to detail. She cared a lot about making a personal connection with us and our children. She even thought to ask about what our children and our family's interests were to make this photo shoot unique to us. I was so impressed before even meeting her in person! She was on-time, super cheerful and friendly, and so accommodating. She had such a great, natural connection with kids and even magically got my two-year old to laugh and smile even though the weather conditions that day were horribly windy and freezing!! I was so impressed with the variety of shots she took. She brought props too! We got a sneak peek photo very shortly after and were able to see our edited shots within a week! When I saw the photos, I was taken away by her work. I couldn't believe she was able to capture those images, especially because of how windy it was that day. There were such a variety of photos, combination of family, children, parents, and solo shots. She did a spectacular job and showed true artistry in her work. Her prices are well worth what you get in return. I will now use Brenda for all of our family photos! We can't thank her enough! read more

Brenda has a wonderful eye, immense patience, and a professional demeanor. She is a great photographer for family and individual photos and for special events. She is flexible and responsive to client wishes and affordable, too. She also has extensive editing expertise. Brenda can coax a smile out of my five year old with her silly jokes - that she somehow manages to make while framing a great shot. Brenda's pictures are magical! read more

Brenda is amazing! We've booked her twice now for family pictures, and we'll keep booking with her in the future. She's great with our 1 year old, and is always able to coax a smile. Brenda is full of energy and enthusiasm, and her photo shop skills are unbelievable! Thank you Brenda! read more

Thank you, Brenda!! We love the colorful moments you caught and appreciate how very hard you worked to catch everyone looking the right away. We will treasure these snapshots of family life right now. Thanks for scoping out a great location and arranging for perfect light. You're a rock star! read more

After our first photo session with Brenda, my face hurt (in a good way) from laughing and smiling so much. She even had our very shy 2 and a half year old laughing! Brenda took the best photos of us with our 7 month old and 2 and a half year old and those photos have been all over our desktops and walls at home the last year. Im so glad those precious moments have been immortalized! Brenda took some really fun photos of our kids running...what a great idea! I feel the photos show the love we have for each other. Brenda did such and amazing job photographing our family in 2014 that we booked her again in 2015. When the photos came back, it was like Christmas seeing them. I cried looking at them because they captured our family like iphone random photos never could. She is amazingly fun as well as professional. Her work is just spot on. I think her perspective as a mom is what gives her the understanding of what makes a great family photo. We are already looking forward to next year's photo shoot! I recommend Brenda with no reservations!!! read more

Just finished our daughters 1st year pics and again Brenda is the best! Brenda is so great with our daughter. She helped find the perfect location, and also provided the much needed and usually forgotten clean up supplies for our daughters cake smash. Best photographer we have ever used. Might have to find more reasons to book family pics. read more

This review is so long overdue but so important. Brenda just sent me a video of the beautiful pictures Brenda took for our baby's Red Egg & Ginger Party (Chinese, new baby born celebration). Mind you, this party was just 4 days ago and words just can't express how moved I was by all the beautiful pictures and the video Brenda made to showcase these pictures. I was literally brought to tears as the pictures moved me on such the deepest level possible. For me, pictures are about capturing the feelings on what the pictures show and represent. Brenda shoots pictures from the heart - its why she's so extremely talented and great at what she does, she's truly an artist and you FEEL the depth of her pictures. Soulful is a word that comes to mind. It's the third time we've hired Brenda to take pictures documenting our glorious baby and family journey so you know we LOVE Brenda. Beyond the artwork and pictures, she's SO accommodating, has great communication, makes everything so easy and calm, has a very cool studio and Brenda is just "good people". By the way, even our guests at the party commented and loved Brenda! I look forward to having Brenda document our family journey for years to come! Thank you Brenda, we absolutely love and adore you! (You can't go wrong and are beyond lucky if you get the chance to work with Brenda!) read more