Where do I even start? Oh my goodness. If I could give Cary 100 stars I would Throughout the years I have had different needs for Photographer and Cary has been my go to for them all! Headshots, family photos and most importantly and recently my husband and I got married and of course Cary was one of my first phone calls to make sure we could get him on our big day. He is worth every penny!!!! He's kind, sweet, creative, and over-the-top with his customer service. I seriously have endless words of gratitude for this man and his talents. The best part about working with Cary is his patience so if you have a request he will make sure that you are 110% satisfied. read more

Cary did a fantastic job capturing our daughters beautiful day. The pictures where full of real action and emotional shots, truly capturing these wonderful moments. Cary was very accommodating and professional. He blended in without feeling intrusive taking pictures during those precious moments. I would 100% recommend Cary P. Photography to any one that wants real emotion and special moments captured on film. read more

Cary Pennington takes beautiful photos, I'm going to say that right here and now. He captured my now husband and my quirky personalities in our engagement photos perfectly and I THINK he did the same in regards to our actual wedding photos but to be completely honest, I have no idea, as we have seen only a few sample shots (that we had to request about 15 times for) and are waiting impatiently for the rest. Getting married around the holidays is great, because then you can simply frame wedding photos and BAM- holiday gifts taken care of! However, this is NOT the case if you use Cary as your photographer as it takes him apparently 8-10 weeks to get photos back to you (as per the contract, that apparently my husband and I did not read close enough, because my husband and I were literally asking for photos the day after our wedding, lol). Right now we are on week 6, which completely stinks because we really wanted to give the gift of wedding photos and we wanted to make a holiday greeting card as well. Initially when we did not know about the 8-10 week turn around time, we emailed Cary a few times asking him about our photos. No response. We emailed him again. No response. His lack of communication is a huge turn off. We finally got a response about three weeks later and he was able to upload ten "sneak peak" photos, which pleased me greatly because man is he a good photographer... But this little sample made us hungry for more, and none of the ones uploaded were good for holiday photos (but they were kick ass photos in general). I emailed Cary about a week or so later, and he told me he would get me three more photos (family shots) however.... I HAVE HEARD NOTHING from him since. NOT. A. THING. And honestly, this actually reminds me of our communication PRIOR TO our wedding day as well. Typically (so I have been told) photographers and the bride/groom go over a shot list prior to the wedding. Making sure to touch upon the types of shots we want... Sure, we made it clear to Cary that we wanted candid shots more than anything else, but since we never went over anything, I have NO IDEA what Cary captured on film. In fact, I did not see him for more than half of the wedding and reception, and there were key moments during the reception where I thought to myself "where is Cary? I hope he got this on camera." And I guess.... I will find out in another 3-5 weeks? I really have no problem waiting. Seriously. But I just absolutely, positively HATE the LACK OF COMMUNICATION. My husband is annoyed. I'm annoyed. MY HUSBAND AND I ARE USED TO COMMUNICATION.... ESPECIALLY IF WE HIRED SOMEONE to do something for us (in this case, photos). I truly understand that we are not Cary's only clients.... But he specifically told my husband that our wedding was the last one of the season for him (i.e. He would be far less busy). One last thing I wasn't a huge fan of... During the wedding reception, around 9pm or so, Cary came up to me and said... "Okay, my time is up... I'm going to go." - wait, what?! YOU COMMUNICATED NOW? Yes, I do understand your contract says you are to work X amount of hours, but why not tell my wedding planner who can then relay the message to me? One must know that on a bride's wedding day, she is on cloud 9, and nothing translates... Everything is hazy, so it's smart to simply make small talk with her. lol... Instead, Cary dropped that bomb on me, I was a bit taken aback by his abrupt STOP and after he left, I realized there was ONE photo in particular I wanted, ONE PHOTO... And we never got it. I will forever be sad about it. FOREVER :( This all being said, Cary is a VERY nice guy and as I said, from what I have seen, his photos are stunning and make brides look like goddesses and grooms look like Prince Charming... But, his lack of communication turns truly me off. read more

Cary Pennington Photography - Mr. & Mrs. Ashworth at The Omni L'a Costa - Event Photography Near Me - Solana Beach, California

See all

I worked with Cary to help me with headshots for LinkedIn. They turned out great! He is very responsive and accommodating.

Cary is the best! We booked our engagement photos and wedding with Cary and could not have been happier with the results. His photo quality is beyond any I've seen. He really knows how to capture the beauty and emotion of a moment. We wanted to do our engagement photos in our college town, which was over 300 miles from San Diego and he was happy to oblige! Having our pictures taken where we met meant so much to me and really allowed us to be ourselves in a place we were comfortable. Our engagement photos turned out beautifully!!! Cary was wonderful at our wedding. He captured everything so beautifully and the photos really bring back all the memories from a wonderful day. Thank you again Cary! read more

See all

We used Cary for our engagement and wedding photos in 2009. We were more than pleased with how they turned out. He was professional, kind, engaging and punctual. It was a pleasure working with him and I would highly recommend using him for any photography needs! read more

See all

Cary has a great personality and is very easy to get along with. Our photo sessions with him seemed very natural and easy going. We did our engagement session with Cary and had a great time. It was fun, the background choices were gorgeous, and he was able to capture the true US! Cary has a great photogenic sense and found many arresting settings. We are confident that Cary will do an amazing job portraying the most important and best day of our lives!!! read more

I looked and looked for photographers when trying to decide on the right person with the right style to do out wedding. My husband was confident in my decision so he let me make it on my own. I had almost given up my search when I was on Pinterest and came across someones wedding photo and thought it was beautiful and exactly what I was looking for. I went to his blog and was amazed at what I saw. I was a little afraid he wouldn't do it because he was in San Diego and I am in Long Beach. But after our initial meeting he assured me there was no problem with the distance and didn't charge me anymore for the drive. I was surprised and delighted because it seems that most wedding vendors will try to charge you for everything. My bridesmaid and I went to his office and I was more in love with his work than before. I paid him immediately and booked our date. On the day of my wedding Cary and his assistant were the best. They arrived on time, early even. Got to know me and my fiancee and those people most important to us. From the moment they began shooting I knew it was the right decision. See I hate taking pictures. Other than my wedding photos you would be hard pressed to find pictures of me. I was at my most comfortable that day in front of him. Not shy at all. Cary and his assistant were everywhere without being intrusive. My wedding photos came out better than I expected and I am showing them off to anyone who will look at them. My wedding day was the best day of my life and Cary was a big part of that. Thank you Cary, you are now part of our family. :) read more

Cary Pennington is incredibly talented, professional, a pleasure to work with, and is hands down the best at what he does! My husband and I were absolutely thrilled by the quality of our engagement photos. He captures the beauty of love in every shot! All of our friends and family were blown away by his photography! They deemed our photos "magazine spread" worthy and we have to agree ;). EVERYONE wanted to know who took them!!! Cary even designed our "Save the Dates" which turned out beautifully unique. He made it so easy to order them and they arrived very quickly! We couldn't have been happier! We very recently got married and we cannot wait to see the photos he captured!!! He brought along 2 assistant photographers and we're sure they didn't miss a thing at our wedding! Again, Cary was wonderful to work with and I'll be sure to write another review once we are able to view all of our wedding photos :). He very kindly showed us a sneak peek of about 30 of them at the end of our reception, and we have to say that we are confident that they will all turn out amazing!!! Ahhhh! The anticipation!!! We've had a phenomenal overall experience with Cary and we'd highly recommend Cary Pennington Photography to any couple!!! read more

Cary is the best! Searching for a wedding photographer was definitely a tough task. But when we came across his work, we were sold. Towards the end of my search, I listed the top 5 photographers I was interested in pursuing, and asked my cinematographer brother to give me his opinion on who was the best. He immediately picked out Cary's work as standing out above the rest. With the help of my brother's professional and artistic eye for the kinds of details that make a photograph great (details that I know nothing of), we knew Cary was the one. Cary himself is just great. He is such a nice and genuine person. Extremely easy to talk to and so likable. He was also very professional, and responded to all my emails quickly. On the day of our wedding, he made us feel so comfortable. He told us that he was all about capturing the natural and candid moments, and less about posed shots. This is exactly what my husband and I were looking for. If you're looking for a wedding photographer, look no further! Cary's the best. read more

My husband and I had Cary as our photographer for our engagement and wedding photos! He is so amazing! I saw Cary's work a few years before we got engaged, and wanted to hire him for my wedding ever since! His photos capture so much emotion and have a beautiful artistic quality. We were so fortunate to have worked with Cary! Cary was the first vendor we hired, and he was so helpful from the minute I called him. He really helped us determine what our priorities were for our wedding day, and he recommended some other great vendors that we ended up selecting as well. You have to really like your photographer because they are with you most of the day on our wedding day, and you kiss a lot in front of them and stuff. I am usually really nervous about having my picture taken, but Cary made us feel totally comfortable the whole time. He helped us learn how to be photographed during our engagement photos so we were naturals for our wedding. Cary made my husband and I both look great! He is such a pro. He and his assistant captured every moment I could have wanted, and my husband and I LOVE our engagement and wedding photos! read more

I commissioned Cary to take some business headshots of me, and he did a superb job. He was friendly, easy to work with and went out of his way to ensure I was comfortable while he snapped away... the finished product was more than I could have asked for! In fact, I received so many compliments on the photos that he took that I decided to add him to my preferred vendors list for weddings and the like. Hats off to this true industry pro. read more

Cary Pennington Photography - Event Photography Near Me - Solana Beach, California

Cary produced quality, professional photos at a competitive price. I was very satisfied with the product and have gotten compliments on my photos. It is great to have professional photos on hand for LinkedIn and other various reasons in my line of work. Thank you Cary! read more

I was searching and searching for photographer for our wedding in June and most of them are booked already!! Everyone I spoke to told me that the one thing that you need to get a really good photographer for your wedding!! We found Cary Pennington from the lady that was going to do our wedding coordinator, she gave us a lists of different photographers in the area. We called several of them, and we were thankful that Cary was available for our wedding day!!! We met up with Cary and he welcome us like we already known him!! After getting to know Cary, we were happy and we already had a great feeling that he'll be a great photographer especially after he showed us his sample pictures. Cary showed up with his assistant on our wedding day and they both are amazing photographers. Obviously they are an experience photographers and their work is superb. I like how Cary wants to get to know us before the day of the wedding, so on the wedding day, he was able to joke around with us as he's taking our pictures. His pictures are amazing, he captures pictures that we don't see, and his works are excellent and very detailed. And I like how he does his own editing on the pictures. We can't wait to get our wedding album that we ordered. I'm glad we found him and Thanks Cary for doing amazing job. read more

Working with Cary was a very comfortable, fun and professional experience. We felt like we were with a friend from the start of the project to the end. The photos turned out lovely and we are very pleased. We needed an indoor studio and his Solana Beach studio was perfect for our shots. Hope to use him for outdoor takes someday! I recommend Cary Pennington Photography without hesitation. read more

See all

I attended a wedding that Cary photographed. It was an especially heartfelt and touching wedding because the bride was terminally ill and wanted her dream wedding! She got that dream wedding and the images that Cary took are breathtaking and are a lasting memory for all of us who knew Ashley. Sadly, she passed away just several months later. Being a part of this whole experience touched me on many levels. I am a retired wedding photographer and as I watched Cary do his thing, I was incredibly impressed with how he ninja'd his way around to capture the most amazing memories for this family...the whole time staying respectfully out of the way ... and yet his images look as if he were right there in the moment. It takes great talent to accomplish this task! Amazing job, Cary! I am forever grateful for the images of Ashely that you took. read more

We were lucky to schedule Cary for our New Year's Eve vow renewal on such short notice. I was impressed by his website and very excited to have him shoot the event. He captured many wonderful candid shots of ourselves and our guests. Cary was extremely stealthy and managed to capture some precious moments behind the scenes. He also captured some beautiful pictures of our venue and decorations! But I do wish that I had communicated with him about specific shots that I really wanted. However, that's mostly my fault for being so busy with other aspects of the event. I would totally go with Cary, but let him know what it is that you want. He is a talented photographer, professional, and took hundreds of pictures! It took a while for him to through everything and edit. But, it sure was worth the wait! read more

Cary was great to work with, very personable and fun with the kids. The photos are beautiful, and we're so glad to have those memories of our family reunion. He responded promptly to my texts and emails and got to our photo location, Dog Beach, before we did. I would highly recommend him! read more

Cary Pennington's brilliant photography graces the homes of our entire family. Cary has an artist's eye for setting up wedding and family photos that show all participants in the best possible light ! When we hired Cary for our second daughter's wedding, we had had some negative experiences with other photographers. We were looking for photographer who was reasonably priced, dependable, professional, prepared, and who could manage a timeline for the wedding. Cary has all of those skills and coupled with his extremely pleasant personality, made pictures a fun time for our large wedding party and family . We still enjoy looking through the delightful wedding album he put together for our daughter, and would recommend him for any weddings, events, or family photos you may need. read more

Had a photo session with Cary Pennington today and he was amazing. He's very creative and made me feel completely comfortable. Can't wait to see the final photos as I know they will be beautiful. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a great photographer read more

Tried to use Cary for some head shots - what a nightmare. No longer has studio on Cedros but still lists this location. Bought a Groupon and made an appointment with him for a few days later. Then things went downhill rapidly. Got a song and dance about the value of the purchase, unable to schedule for 8 weeks - he suddenly couldn't book me till April unless I returned the Groupon and paid him directly. Didn't get a straight answer about what the $100/$200 would get me so canceled the appointment. read more

Cary is a nice guy and before the wedding he is very responsive. After your wedding is over, you need to email him at least 2 times to get him to respond to you. Then he will be weeks and months late from what is listed on your contract with downloading your photos and delivering your album. First he only uploaded half of our photos and blamed the internet. We got the package with the album included and here is where the excuses really came. There was always some sort of crisis going on in his life/family or he's just on vacation somewhere with no internet which is why he could not return emails, send you the link to download your photos and finish up your wedding album. It has been 9 MONTHS since my wedding and I still do not have my wedding album. He claims he is very busy, someone is always ill, he has limited internet, blamed me by saying I didn't respond to the album company's email (I never got it), and when you ask him questions like, how many photos do I pick for my album? He doesn't respond to your email so I picked way too many photos and emailed them to him hoping to get a response about my album so he could start it and then he told me I picked too many and never saw my email where I asked how many photos....even though he just responded to it. He only gives you half the information when he asks you to do something and when you email him for clarification, he never responds to your emails. Nice photos but horrific customer service. read more

Cary is AMAZING! I'm the youngest of five children in my family, and 3 out of 5 of my siblings used him for our weddings (and I guarantee it would have been 5/5 if we had known about him for the first 2!). Being the youngest, it was nice not having to do the photographer search once I got engaged. I knew EXACTLY who I was using, even to the point of making sure Cary was available before I settled on a date with the church/reception venue. And it was easy selling my husband on using Cary--all I had to do was show him my brother's and sister's engagement/wedding pictures (not to mention their beautiful albums). So basically, Cary is worth every penny. Being that your wedding is one if the most important days of your life, you definitely want a pro--and Cary is that. Also: He and his assistant photographers are really personable and easy to talk to. My husband and I are both super shy and not great with the small-talk. It was easy working with Cary. My family is very Catholic and so we all had traditional, reverent church weddings. Cary knows what he is doing and is very respectful and doesn't get in the way (and I'd imagine this is true for all faiths). He also captured the beauty/magnificence of the mass in a way that my husband and I were very happy with. Did I mention we also used him for a family photo-shoot of my entire family? With my parents, the five of us kids and each of our families, you're looking at 12 adults and 11 kids under the age of 8. On the beach. Not an easy task, but of course Cary handled it beautifully. And what a cool reunion for all of us who used him for our weddings :) So to sum up: Hire Cary! You will not regret it! read more

Cary is a fabulous photographer in that he takes striking pictures and creates picture perfect products of very high quality! Cary took our engagement pictures and our wedding pictures. He was very professional in all that he did and a friendly guy to work with. We were most impressed with the shots he was able to capture on our wedding day. Our favorite part of working with Cary was designing our wedding album. His creation is one-of-a-kind and a piece we love to show off! You will not regret choosing Cary to capture your wedding day! read more

Just got our engagement pictures back from a shoot with Cary and let me tell you, he is the best! Some of the comments that we've gotten from people looking at our pictures are,"I can't believe how natural and comfortable you two look." "You look genuinely happy and in love." "Where are these taken?!, they are absolutely gorgeous." The point is...Cary will capture the essence of why you are getting pictures done, because you are in love! Trust his artistic eye and you will absolutely be happy with the end result! read more

We were referred to Cary from a previous photographer we used who is no longer in the business. We hired Cary in October 2018 to take photos of our family. He is in North County but had no issue at all meeting us down in Point Loma/Shelter Island. He responded promptly to emails and arrived early to our shooting location. Within a month we had our photos emailed to us with an easy link to view and order our photos. It was all so easy. Cary seemed to really understand lighting and suggested great specific locations. We can't wait to use him again. read more

He shot our wedding in October. AWESOME, awesome pictures. My wife and I love him. We found Cary because he came highly recommended and we totally understand why. He's a master at his craft. read more

Works well with kids and captured great candid photos! He was referred to me by another photographer who was already booked up for holiday sessions. We had our pictures taken at Del Mar Dog Beach at sunset and they turned out really well. His final images and retouching work was also very nice. read more

Cary is great! His work is amazing and I plan to get more photos taken with him! He made me feel comfortable and spend a lot of time with me. I highly recommend him!! read more

Cary is an amazing photographer! We employed his services for both our engagement and wedding photography. We met him in Solana Beach for our engagement session. The first few shots we felt so silly but Cary was confident the shots would look beautiful. Once we relaxed, we were able to laugh at ourselves and enjoy. When we got our proofs, we were so excited with the photos. I am my own worst critic and I was pleased to see that he caught very flattering angels and candid shots. We received so many compliments on our engagement photos--everyone said they "captured" us. Our engagement photos have peppered the walls of our home. After receiving our engagement photos, we were confident Cary would take excellent care capturing our wedding. When the big day arrived, Cary was early and ready to start snapping photos. One of the reasons we decided to work with Cary is because of his attention to detail--he captures everything! We put so much effort into the planning that it was wonderful to see the photos afterwards and see that he captured all of it. I was so distracted on our wedding day, I was eager to see how everything turned out. Our photos were truly stunning. We love his style and the post-processing is artistic and balanced. His photos are always beautiful. There was so much variety. Other than staging people for the group photos, Cary was a fly on the wall. I don't remember seeing him around the grounds. This style of photography made for very candid pictures. We were so impressed with everything. Cary is such a warm person. We felt comfortable with him after our first meeting. I'm so glad we worked with Cary--a wedding is such an intimate affair, it makes a difference having someone who cares as much as the bride and groom. Thank you, Cary! You were wonderful to work with. Best, Lindsey and Kevin read more

Cary makes you realize why people always say, "make sure you get a professional photographer" for your wedding. Words cannot describe how happy we've been with his work. You can see instantly that he was born to be doing this. His ability to capture the right moment, and his eye for scenery, lighting, color, etc. is beyond compare. Everyone at our wedding said how nice he was, and he couldn't be easier to work with. We could not have been happier with his work. I would highly recommend him for any event! read more

We loved Cary from the minute we met him and booked him on the spot! He is very calm, professional and easy to work with. His assistant was great too, she was very hard working throughout the wedding. Cary did our engagement and wedding photos and we love all of our pictures! Our pictures are well edited and everyone looks really great. There are so many favorites its hard to choose! The quality of his photos are excellent and he gives you a ton of photos to choose from. During our engagement session on the beach, Cary got hit by a wave trying to get a good shot of us and didn't complain once that his shoes and pants were soaking wet and continued the shoot like nothing was wrong! I have recommended Cary to all my friends, you won't be disappointed! read more

My husband and I had a very small, low key wedding on the beach, but Cary treated us like we stars. He is not only amazingly nice and very easygoing, but he took his time, had fun with our guests and us, and made the whole experience so much fun. I have to say, I don't really enjoy having my picture taken, but Cary made me feel really comfortable. It felt very natural and fun and happy, which is exactly the vibe I wanted for our photos. Moreover, he took his time, he took a lot of photos and he was really open to ideas or suggestions for different shots or backgrounds. When we got the photos, we loved them and were really happy. I would not hesitate to recommend Cary, and if we ever decide to do photos again in the future (family photos, etc), he would be my first call. read more

He is a skilled photographer but a poor communicator. He takes a very long time to finish the photos and it takes constant prodding and follow up before he responds to requests via email or phone. Our package included some prints that I finally just gave up on after four months. i will not use again because of the lack of professionalism. read more

My wife and I were married in May of 2013. Cary did an AMAZING job with every aspect of the wedding photography. He truly understands how light, objects, places and obviously people affect the quality of photographs. We saw his work when we went to visit his studio and we hoped that our photo's would be the same quality and as artistically crafted as what we had seen in his portfolio of work. We were not disappointed in the least! Cary did a fantastic job. His fees are very fair and his work is worth every penny of it. read more

We did not look around at any other wedding photographers for our October 2013 date because as soon as we walked into the studio we knew the style/vibe was going to be the perfect match. the studio was very welcoming modern & sleek which is always a good sign!! working with Cary was very easy - quick communication and beautiful work. I would recommend doing the engagement photos prior to develop that relationship so he has an idea of works best for the day of the wedding. One of the things that I loved was the final product. We received the PERFECT amount of photos back..not too little and not too many that would be overwhelming. The photos came back with great variety and every moment was captured. We are consistently receiving compliments on our photos when guests are over and even family friends at our parents houses. He captured some great candid moments which just really express the true emotions of the day. I would highly recommend Cary for your special day. It was a no-brainer for us!! read more