Amy is our go to photographer. She did our wedding photos and then our baby girls ten years later…read more She is artistic and creative. She only added simple accessories to bring out the beauty of our twin girls. She captured the most candid moments and create portraits that we cannot do it ourselves. I highly recommend Amy as a photographer.

Amy was fantastic! If you are looking for a wedding photographer, shes as good as it gets!…read more My husband and I got married this summer and we knew that the photos were one of the key things we were going to be picky about. When we found Amy's website, we were blown away by her style and how she used a lot of color in her photos (we aren't into the "muted/dreamy" color scheme that some people use). Amy was so easy to work with and got along great with the people in the wedding. She was not pushy with her ideas, but she always had a plan, which I appreciate! We met with her at a coffee shop late last summer to come up with a plan for engagement and wedding photos. She already had ideas of where to go around the Des Moines area. We took our engagement photos in the fall with the colors changing (right during the middle of the Des Moines Marathon, which threw off our plans a little bit). We ended up taking most of the photos at Drake University, but due to her creative eye, you probably couldn't even tell! Before the wedding, we kept in contact about timelines for the wedding day. She was very helpful in helping us come up with a realistic timeframe for everything. On the wedding day, we took most of the photos before the ceremony (it was an evening ceremony) and she did a great job keeping us on track with the time. She had also taken our ideas of locations and added her own to have many unique backgrounds to our photos. All of our photos turned out great and we are happy to have them for the rest of our lives!

Maryam is an absolute joy to work with. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I needed to find a…read morephotographer on short notice. Maryam was very helpful and understanding. I was so grateful that she was able to accommodate us. She was a joy to work with in the studio, and we will treasure her high-quality photographs of our family.

I loved working with Maryam! During COVID I was very picky on higiene and she was beyond…read moreaccommodating and clean. She was able to capture my pregnancy photos better than I would have ever dreamed of! She coached me through the process and that's what made the photos turn out better than I wished for. Definitely doing my new born pictures with her !!!

*Edit -updated at end Posts on the FB that you can "win" a…read moresession. This is a high priced photo - be prepared. I won a session to have a photo shoot for an art portrait with our fur baby. Dahlberg website shows nice fancy photos. Here is part 1 of the review. 1. You get contacted to discuss if you are interested in photo shoot for your win. 2. You get a phone call and the discussion goes very fast. If you take on the session, you need to book and reserve your spot right away. 3. You need to hold your spot with a $200 deposit. It's nerve racking going that fast, but that is a business model that gets people in the door. There is pressure. However I knew that I understood this business strategy. I put down the deposit and immediately had a receipt and an email shortly after confirming everything we had discussed. A few days before they gave me a call and touched base and reviewed what was sent in the email. The day of the photo we got dressed up and headed to the location in Ames. There is a waiting room. It's simple with a couch and nice sign asking you to wait. There are giant photos of families. A nice assistant came out and talked with us, met our fur baby. We made our way into the photo room where we got to work with her and the photographer. They made us feel really comfortable. We shared with them that we were low key and easy to get along with. This was our first official family photo since our wedding photo. They had lots of experience getting our fur baby to pay attention and get some great photos. After the photos you are taken to a waiting room while they pull the best of the photos together for viewing. Then they come get you again and take you into another room where the wall is a full screen viewing for the photos. They throw and lot of information at you. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The next business tactic is that you need to make up your mind about what you want before you leave. Once you leave the photos are gone. Its a old sale way... "don't let them leave without the sale." Claire is a sale women, she also has family who owns the flower shop across the street, but she knows her pitch. Again, be prepared for the higher priced product. They offer financing if you need it. You get to go through all your favorite photos and what your thoughts are. Broke down the prices, broke down each type of print, sizes, ect. She left the room to allow us time to discuss what we could and could not do. The ladies were all nice. The pressure to get average people in the door is not awesome. The experience was unique and fun... so Im holding at a 3 until I see the final product. We made our decisions and now it's just waiting. 8 weeks. The photos are touched up and make their art elsewhere and then mailed to us. Everyone treated us professionally and we had a good time. I will update when we get the art. **Art arrived! YAY! It arrived around the promised time. The delivery box was in tact and everything was well packaged. The photos looked good and then they did send us digital to share on the social media. I'm excited to get the photos up on wall to display. The even called to check in recently to make sure everything went well with the photos. Just be prepared to purchase if you want a "free" photo session. I will hold my rating at the 3 and share that if you don't happen to have the $$$ for photos, no matter what the size, don't go expecting to walk out the door with photos to share. It's a business, it not finished in house and if you're not prepared its a sticker shock.

Won a free give away, honestly the only reason I went. Their photographers were very nice and tried…read moreto help provide alternatives when I forgot my tights in a short dress and was not comfortable without them. Not a big fan of some of the poses my infants were put in, but they did great at getting my babies and dog to look at the camera and get some smiles. Not ideal for normal pictures as the smallest family "print" is $1000 for a 14" but if you have money to blow the people are at least nice and you will get a good quality photo. Highly recommend looking at their work before going as it is a very upscale professional looking shoot.

Bill was incredible and our wedding pictures turned out amazing! We had a big wedding party and…read moreBill did an amazing job of controlling the chaos! He was great with the kids and making sure everyone was ready for every shot. We also did our engagement pictures with Bill and they were so beautiful! He made great suggestions for how to pose for pictures and they all turned out wonderful! We could not have asked for a better photographer for our wedding day!

Extreme Photo is by far the best photographer around the Des Moines greater metro area! With over…read more30 years of experience, whatever your photo needs are, Bill's got you covered. My personal photographs and my wedding pics turned out beautifully. He has such an eye for detail! You won't be disappointed. See for yourself!

Working with Jenny Adams Photography was a fantastic experience. She made the process of preparing…read moreand getting photos done so easy. She listened to my daughter and made her photo shoot dreams come true. All the photos were so beautiful it made picking our favorites the most difficult step in the process. I would highly recommend Jenny for any of your photography needs!

From the owner: I specialize in portrait and branding photography, including High School Seniors, Headshots, and…read morepersonal branding sessions.

Beware!!!!!!DISAPPOINTING SERVICE This review has been long…read moredue. I hired Kristen to help us build memories of our 1st newborn child. All I have to say is that we were CHEATED. Kristen had us pay her in full ($400) after the photo session which took place on September 1st 2014 and to date after 9 months, we have not received the prints despite several reminders. First few times she responded in delayed fashion promising she would deliver(and this was now December already). The prints never got delivered, neither were my emails or phone calls returned. As a photographer, I believe she is just average. I do not think I could rate someone's work high if she makes my beautiful child look less than what she is in reality. I am hoping that this review saves someone else from losing the BIG BUCKS for the service she will not provide. If I had a way I would give her no stars in this review. Dipti Agarwal

From the owner: Wedding, Family, Senior, Children and Pet photographyread more

This was the most amazing experience I have ever done!! Stephanie knows how to not make anything…read moreawkward and definitely knows how to make you look beautiful. From the start I felt comfortable even though this was completely outside my box! There needs to be more people in the world like Stephanie. You will not regret your decision to have Stephanie do your photos!

I did a boudoir shoot with Stephanie Marie right around Valentines Day. I had just gone through a…read morebreakup, and I couldn't have chosen a better way to give myself some love than a photoshoot with this talented photographer! I got so much more than photos out of our session. Steph was incredibly supportive and a great listener before and after our session. I left feeling like a rock star both inside and out - and you can't put a price on that. She made me feel super comfortable during the shoot (let's be honest, posing can make you feel pretty silly if you don't have the right person behind the camera!) Every time I go back and look at my photos, I feel so empowered, beautiful, strong, and in love with my images and body - curves and all. It's been a bit since that shoot, and I'm considering doing another one in the near future because I loved it so much :)

The rustic Fairview Lodge is run by Story City and is nicely situated and overlooking the park and…read moreright next to the historical Carousel. This is primarily a meeting venue and a convenient place to "wash up".