We were looking for a "documentary" style wedding photographer who would capture the people and emotions of the day rather focus on the generic and cutesy/sentimental wedding details that are always staged the same way. It was surprisingly hard to find wedding photographers who embraced that idea. But Deeba came through in a big way. He not only understood what we were going for but executed it very well. He was great to work with ahead of, and during, the wedding. On the day of the wedding he was able to blend into the background as needed to capture people naturally. And most importantly, the photos were all we could have hoped for. We highly recommend him. read more

This review is long over due! Deeba was our wedding photographer two years ago and did a fantastic job. Not only did he agree to photograph our wedding on short notice, but he was incredibly kind and down to earth throughout the entire process. Deeba was very easy to communicate with, organized, and captured beautiful moments for us. Couldn't be happier! read more

We had a destination wedding in San Francisco (via Wisconsin) and Deeba went above and beyond his scope of work by corresponding with us prior to the wedding to select back drop locations. He did not disappoint and we have some beautiful photos and memories from Muir Beach, Hawk's Hill and some super cool non-landmark, urban shots in San Francisco. He is a very friendly, warm person and worked very well with our group. His strength is his ability to capture candid photos that don't feel forced or awkward. Deeba was the consummate professional. Not to mention that his cost was very reasonable and he took A LOT of shots, which he promptly mailed to us on disc. Deeba added so much to our wedding and I only have good things to say. You won't be disappointed. read more

Deeba photographed our wedding a few months ago and the pictures turned out beautifully. He helped us to capture our low-key family celebration without adding an extra layer of orchestration to the event. We were able to take several lovely posed shots of the two of us in 45 minutes between the ceremony and the reception, and the rest of pictures were of everyone enjoying themselves. We also greatly appreciated his fair prices, his friendly demeanor, and the fact that a picture DVD with all of the shots on it was included in the package so that we could print whichever ones we wanted and share the digital copies with family. Thank you Deeba for the wonderful photographs! read more

Donya photographed our small wedding in July 2010. We loved the pics on his website and felt they had a very photo-journalistic quality, which is what we were looking for. We asked him to be a "photographer at our wedding" instead of a "wedding photographer" and he did just that! He captured the most beautiful candid moments. Nearly every shot we were given (over 300) were beautifully framable. We also had some posed shots to please the family and those worked well, also. Deeba was super professional, always responsive, dressed appropriately for the occasion, and truly, I don't even remember seeing him shooting beyond the posed portraits! He just stealthily captured little, intimate moments! We get so many compliments on our photos, even now two years later (they're on our Facebook page.) Would highly recommend Deeba at Donya Photography! read more

My groom lived in Italy and I had to do the entire wedding planning on my own so I felt overwhelmed with the choices and prices. Because I had been part of weddings where the photographers were loud and rude, I made sure to interview each vendor. Thanks to Yelp, I contacted Deeba and he was willing to meet with me on short notice. I met with Deeba prior to signing a contract with him. From the very beginning, he seemed polite and professional without the arrogance that other photographers I met had. Planning a wedding is time consuming and I came to really appreciate Deeba for his quietly efficient and artistic abilities. Also important, his pricing was affordable and the packages he provided were not set in stone. Due to my work, I did most of communications with him via email. I was impressed by the carefully crafted electronic contract that detailed exactly what we had agreed on. It was easy to fill, edit safe and email back. Due to the distance between the groom and I, we had to forgo any engagement pictures and Deeba gladly traded that for a printed high-quality album. This solidified the deal because it showed his willingness to cooperate. On the day of the wedding, Deeba and Devan arrived at the agreed time to start shooting. The bride and groom were getting ready in different locations. The photos prior to the ceremony and first look were very tasteful. He was not invasive or bossy with the posing, my family seemed to take care of the directions, as expected. During the wedding, the photographers captured all the good details, some pictures made us laugh out loud and tear up. From the moment my dad helped my out the limo, to the groom's first look, to the ring-bearer's full display to the audience, he got it all. Think candid yet refined. The black and white picture left us breathless! During the reception, the photographers captured great moments too, which included great sequences of dance moves that look almost like a motion picture. We went table by table greeting all guest and taking pictures with them. They even got shots of the bride and groom posing for the photobooth with our closest friends. The only hiccup was a small delay on receiving the printed work. All was solved and we are very pleased with the results. read more

I'm glad that I chose Deeba to shoot my engagement photos. He has a very artistic style, and captured me and my fiance in an authentic and meaningful way. We wanted DC to be the backdrop of our engagement photos as it's the city where we met, and Deeba was excellent in choosing locations with the "red-brick/row-house" aesthetic that we liked. Highly recommend! read more

My wife and I had a small, courthouse wedding with not too much fuzz, but one thing we did care about was having a good set of photos as memories of the event. Deeba did an absolute great job at that. Pictures are beautifully composed and, just as we wanted, very natural. Deeba strove to figure exactly what we wanted out of the photos and how to accomodate it. He is very professional and very easy to work with. It was great working with him and would definitely recommend him. read more

Deeba is a fantastic photographer. I hired him to shoot my proposal at the Georgetown Waterfront. He did a great job capturing the moment with the beautiful back drop. And he was very easy to work with. I told him exactly what I wanted and he executed it perfectly. Everyone loves our pictures! read more

Deeba was my wedding photographer (with an assistant) this August in Oakland, California. I just put together my album and am delighted with the results! There was a lot of chaos surrounding our wedding - in part because half our guests came from abroad - and I barely gave Deeba any directions to work with and hardly talked to him at all on the day - in hindsight I'd recommend if you're getting married have a think about who/what you want photos of and give some direction! Anyhow - we were quite lucky with the results and have a nice blend of portraits and candid shots. We were on a tight budget and I found that you get a lot for your money with Deeba - and that is rare to come by when it comes to wedding expenses! Anyhow he totally went with the flow, and I will also say that during the ceremony I was hardly aware of him yet he captured it from every angle - which is exactly what you want. My other bit of advice - if you have a wedding with more than 100 people it really does take two photographers so consider that. read more

Deeba shot our wedding with a second shooter and was a fantastic choice. We met up with him before the event to talk about the kinds of shots we wanted, and he was extremely easygoing and professional. We can't say enough how happy we are with the results. Deeba also took fantastic sunset photos during our reception, and also took a few experimental moonlight shots. He and his partner worked very well with the videographer as well. He also was always under the radar (not noticeable) but was there to patiently capture all the great moments of our family and friends. We really admire his work and think you can't go wrong if you choose his services. read more

Deeba did a wonderful job taking our wedding photos- we had a small civil ceremony and he perfectly captured the intimacy and joy of the day as well as taking beautiful portrait shots. We've received a ton of compliments on the beautiful photos. He is extremely professional and easy to work with and was able to send us the finished photos in just a few days. We also appreciated that he made all the photos available online for quick viewing, sharing, and downloading. I thoroughly recommend Deeba! read more

We had a wonderful experience with Deeba. We hired him on a Monday or Tuesday for a wedding the coming Sunday (I know, a bit last minute!). He was very flexible and accommodating. The day of the wedding, he arrived at the time he said he would and immediately set to business. One thing I really appreciated about Deeba was that he was so nice and calm! He never rushed us and was willing to do anything (including take shots outside in the freezing cold and snow, although I eventually decided that I didn't want to be outside anyway!). He was with us for about 3-4 hours and after about 3 weeks, provided us with 360 beautiful photos. He captured many wonderful moments in really unique and authentic ways. I love the candid photos and the posed family photos. He took some adorable photos of our friends' baby and lots of great ones of our friends and family. He has a great eye! Very happy with the experience and the results... absolutely recommend Deeba!! read more

Deeba's wedding photography was amazing! This was the very first time I have ever worked with a professional photographer. I read all the guidance on the wedding sites about selecting a wedding photographer. I spent hours investigating wedding photographers web sites and referencing reviews and wedding site rankings. Ultimately, the deciding factor for me was trust. Arguably, one of the most important decisions for your wedding is the photographer. After all the joyous wedding moments have past by so quickly, you have the photography to remind you of the great times. You want to be able to trust that the photographer will capture those fleeting moments for you majestically. Deeba achieved this masterfully. From our very first consultation, Deeba was professional and clearly distinguished his photojournalistic style. During the engagement photo shooting, we built a rapport with Deeba. Deeba is very easy to work with and through collaboration we were able to capture the perfect engagement photo for our wedding invitations. Deeba was even better during our wedding. He was able to capture the precious moments seamlessly without being intrusive. He was also very flexible with our chaotic schedule and on-the-fly demands. My wife is art school trained as a photographer and during our wedding she requested some shots. Deeba was adept at accommodating the requests and took some spectacular photos. My favorite photos from the wedding our ones where I didn't even know they were being taken by Deeba. He has the talent to recognize a special moment intuitively and capture it in a photo idyllically. Many of our family and friends complimented us on our wedding photos and thank you cards which featured five of our favorite photographs. Overall, I highly recommend Deeba for his professionalism, unique photographic "eye", and for capturing our timeless wedding memories masterfully. read more

Deeba shot our civil ceremony at the courthouse and did a wonderful job. The photos came out just how we wanted and were not overly posed. Deeba was timely and very easy to work with and quick to respond to emails while setting it all up. Would definitely use again! :) read more

We had a pretty large weddingin San Francisco about a year ago and we hired Deeba from Donya Photography to shoot it for us. He came on with a second shooter and what mattered to us the most was not having photographers to come in and think its their wedding. Deeba was nothing like that.. He was very amicable, kind and friendly, but definitely a hard worker, that was easy to see. Whenever we would look up, he'd be shooting something and as someone who is paying for a service, you really appreciate that. His photos were fantastic btw. He has a great sense of timing and making things look pretty, getting these shots that we never even imagined. Our photos are just a large set of laughter and great times, and were happy to have these photos to look back on when were older. read more

Hiring a wedding photographer was a pain for us, since we would interview and interview but we never clicked with anyone. We met Deeba at a nearby Starbucks and really got along well with him. He's a nice guy, with a strong professional photography background which we really appreciated. Part of the problem was we would interview people who call themselves photographers, but didn't have the photos to back it up. Deeba did. We hired him and he took care of the rest. He came to our wedding, took god knows how many pictures since it always looked like he was snapping away, and honestly we are sooooo happy with the photos he gave us. I guess what I liked the most was how seamless it all was, and for those who are planning their weddings themselves, the less stress factors you have, the better. He also wasn't pushy or overbearing. He swore that he's nt that type at the wedding, which concerned me because I thought you needed to be to get great shots, but that wasn't the case at all. Deeba was what he calls to be "a fly on the wall" and as a result, took some awesome photographs when none of us were even paying attention. Also his shots of just my hubby and I were like pairings, we loved 'em! read more

Deeba photographed my wedding this past August in Annapolis, MD. His work speaks for itself! Beautiful pictures that captured our big day so perfectly. I feel like I am reliving my wedding day every time I look through the pictures. He was a pleasure to work with and suggested wonderful ideas to my husband and I who are perhaps the less educated wedding planners. I appreciated his candid pictures that don't focus in on our sometimes awkward smiles and posing :) He is so easy to work with and really a cool creative guy! If I need a photographer again in the future, I will most certainly be reaching out to Deeba. read more

My fiance and I selected Deeba as our engagement and wedding photographer. Both photo sets are amazing and we have received so many compliments from friends and family on our photos. What I really appreciate about Deeba's photography is that he captures candid and timeless photos. So I can say that his photos captured the essence of our relationship- genuine and real. At the same time, he was flexible and open to take traditional shots. During our wedding photo-shoot he took the time to show us some of his shots so we could pick what we liked most in the background. Deeba was professional, punctual, fun, and friendly all at the same time. We both felt very comfortable with him. I'm very happy that we had Deeba as our photographer, and grateful that we have timeless photos of our engagement and wedding to look back at in the years to come! read more

I have to say that I was very dissapointed with his photography. He definitly has a good eye but he does not know how to deal with customers. He takes pictures of what he wants. We hired him to be our photographer and he seemed lost and his youth was obvious when he was unsure on how to wrangle our families for photos. He gave direction but it wasn't firm, he didn't seem to know how to work with people to bring out their best in photos or take the best pics. I have so many pictures where people are looking all over the place. He did not have the must take photo list with him and myself, my husband and our party had to run around to try to grab people who we remembered to take pictures with. I would never reccommend this guy. He needs a few more years of experience with customers and bridal parties and also to build his confidence working with people. He was the one thing out of my entire wedding experience that was terrible for me. I really regretted basing my decision on choosing him on seeing a few of his pretty pictures and cheap packages. My wedding was several months ago but I'm still upset about this. read more