Every photo is a WINNER!! Just got the photos back from our wedding in April. They are everything we wanted and more! My husband and I are both so pleased! I knew Janae was the one immediately. As soon as I looked at her Instagram account I fell in love with her style. I asked for specific photos and she accomplished them effortlessly. Julia was terrific, too! Janae and Julia worked very well as a cohesive team. Janae and Julia's photos are flawless! From start to finish Janae nailed it. The website is absolutely gorgeous with a beautiful layout of our special day. I wish the website could be memorialized forever. Janae is prepared, thorough, and delivers exquisite, timeless photos I'm going to cherish for the rest of my life. The photos impeccably unfold special moments and tell a comprehensive story. The photos exude happiness and make me feel good. Every time I look at them I'm able to experience our wedding again and again. Thanks for everything, Janae! We appreciate you! read more

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Absolutely loved the photos that Janae and her assistant, Lacey, took for my wedding. It was such an important part of the wedding day - that we would be able to save some of the incredible memories - and they were able to do just that! I am extremely happy with their work - they were professional, understanding, patient, and so very talented. I would hire them again and again. Thank you so much Janae! read more

Janae Shields Photography - Lovely photos that I will cherish forever - thank you Janae! - Photographers Near Me - San Francisco, California

Janae is a wonderful talented photographer who is beyond easy to work with, she's shot our growing family numerous times. You can't go wrong choosing to work with her! read more

A good friend of mine had recommended her wedding photographer, Janae Shields, to me. And I am so glad that she did! Janae was the first photographer my fiancé and I met with, and after meeting with her, she was the last. That is typically not my style--I usually like to meet every person, weigh every option, compare every price list. But after our meeting, my fiancé and I were certain that we wanted her to shoot our wedding day. Janae showed us samples of her work, as well as the different styles of albums that were included in the various packages. The albums were gorgeous, and very high quality. When she showed us her albums and some samples of her work, we were very impressed. What struck us most was that the photos were so beautiful and really told the story of the events of the day. It made us feel like we were there at the event watching it all unfold. Janae has always been a pleasure to work with. She responded quickly to our emails and questions. She was extremely helpful in the early planning stages, helping me map out a timeline of requested shots. On our wedding day, she and her assistant arrived on time and did an amazing job of capturing all the photos that we had wanted, while working with a huge list of family shots!! We received the image gallery and a lovely slideshow of the day a month to the day of our wedding! I can't wait to find some time to choose which photos we would like our custom photo album to have! There are hundreds of great shots to choose from... Janae is a great pleasure to work with and an excellent photographer who will capture the emotion and all the events of your big day. I have gotten TONS of compliments from friends, family, and colleagues on our wedding photo gallery and the slideshow. I highly recommend her! read more

From my old Yelp account back on 1/9/2008 Janae was an absolute pleasure to work with & we couldn't be happier with our wedding photos. We get so many compliments! It was so hard to pick which photos to use in our album because they all turned out so well! People often comment our photos look like they are straight out of a wedding magazine and some even mistake the wedding photo I have on my desk as the one that came in the frame. They can't believe it when they realize that it IS actually a photo from my wedding. Not only is Janae a talented photographer she has a great personality and is an absolute professional. She helped us work out our wedding day timeline so that we could be sure to capture every shot we wanted. I also appreciated how smoothly and kindly she handled family members who in their eagerness to get their own photos were intruding on the photos Janae was taking. Janae has a way of making you feel calm and comfortable, even on the day of your wedding when you are anything but calm! We definitely made the right choice with Janae. read more

OOOOOMMMMMGGGG!!! JANAE SHIELDS ROCKS!! D-Day was Oct. 18th and Janae and her assistant captured all the important moments- expressions on our parents faces, the kids throwing petals in the air, our officiant cracking a joke that got our guests laughing, I could go on & on. If you're looking for a professional photographer who has real passion for her work and takes a genuine interest in you she's the one. Her customer service is amazing (I swear I have no idea how she's able to follow up on my questions-- which were many! -- so quickly, especially because I knew she was booked for several weekends one after the other. She is open to hearing your vision and gives you feedback if you ask. And her enthusiastic/engaging personality helps her get along with just about any personality among vendors and guests (trust me, this is huge). Finally, she put together an amazing slide show (with music!) for us that we forwarded out to friends who all loved it... we felt like celebrities. If you're on the fence between Janae and another photographer I wholeheartedly recommend Janae, I can't say enough about her and would give 10 stars if I could. read more

Photography was VERY important for me and I knew I would be very picky about choosing a wedding photographer. I looked through hundreds of wedding photographer's websites and blogs, and narrowed down to a handful and started meeting up with the potential photographers for our wedding. I liked Janae's soft/romantic style, and that her pictures did not look too posed but very candid/natural. We setup a meeting to meet with Janae at her home office and felt really drawn to her personality, energy, and positiveness. We booked her soon thereafter. Janae was so great in her communication! She always responded very timely and responsive, which was great, and I loved how professional she was. I could always count on her replying to my email the very next day. We booked her about 1 year before our wedding, and all throughout our engagement we kept in touch. Our engagement session was great and we were very pleased with how the pictures turned out. She gave great, clear directions and made the session very easy and fun! She also sent me a questionnaire before the wedding where we outline the timeline, orders of pictures, etc. It was so cool that during the day she had familiarized herself with the name of our family members so the formal portraits went very smoothly. Again, taking pictures with her was just so easy and it really made for great, natural pictures. She delivered the pictures earlier than expected, and we were SO happy with how they turned out! We immediately got working on the album and again, she delivered it timely and we love our wedding album. Overall, my husband and I were absolutely pleased with Janae and would definitely recommend her. read more

Sorry that this is so long overdue, but we couldn't have been more pleased with our wedding photos. Janae was amazing to work with. She gives you enough direction without feeling posed. She got amazing shots of our special day. She was able to organize people without being bossy or annoying as I so often have experienced from photographers at other weddings. Our pictures are so wonderful and she makes sure to get the shots that you want and is very receptive to make sure the event is captured completely. I would highly recommend to anyone, esp for wedding but also for smaller shoots as well. Thanks Janae! read more

We wanted somebody who could produce high quality work, share our aesthetics, and is a complete professional as our wedding photographer. Janae was exactly that. Through her photos, we were able to re-live the entire wedding from multiple angles. She took both our engagement and wedding photos. We were impressed with how well she knew the locations in area. She knew at what time of the day we should be at which side of Alamo square so the sun was in the perfect spot shining through two intersections. She knew which truck to sit on at the Thomas Fogarty winery for the token winery shot. This moved the photo shoots along swiftly, which was essential for a hectic wedding day - we even had time to sit down to eat! Janae also knew how to work with her clients effectively. She was clear in her instructions on how we should pose (and they were not awkward poses) so we knew exactly what to do. She would also explain what the timeline of a photo shoot would be up front in email so we were all on the same page. She delivered the photos ahead of schedule so we were able to see our wedding photos before we went off for our honeymoon - huge thanks! On the wedding day, Janae also had her assistant Julia to help. Julia was also terrific in communicating with us in terms of what we should do. She was also very patient as we were getting ready for the wedding. Her wide shots during the sunset photos were absolutely gorgeous. We are able to preserve all the beautiful details of our perfect day because of Janae and Julia! We loved them! read more

We loved working with Janae!! She shot both our engagement session and wedding day photography, and she was so talented, professional and also so much fun to work with! On our wedding day it rained, and Janae and her assistant had to navigate (themselves, the wedding party, and the guests) in the misty weather - which was probably not ideal nor easy, but ultimately the photos turned out beautifully! For our engagement session, it was the first time any of us were on that particular site (something we requested) but Janae was still able to lead us around and take amazing photos! That was a lot of fun. We are so happy with Janae's work, and would highly recommend her for any occasion that warrants high end photography! read more

I totally agree with Kim S. Janae is the best photographer out there! I found her from Cinnibar Hills stacks of wedding photo albums. Janae's stands out. I couldn't find anyone else's that look any better. I really like her journalistic style. As it turns out, she totally exceeded my expectation. She posted the pictures during our honeymoon. I showed the slideshow to one of our tour group members and she later commented on how amazing my photographer was. And that was just the beginning. After I sent out her links, I got tons of feedback and 9 out of 10 specifically complimented my photograher. They told me that Janae totally captured my wedding day. She got the spirit and the moments of our August wedding. She got that day down like no others. She is also very easy to work with. She guided us with good examples of schedules, with helpful questions. She was calm and in control. She was also very nice and patient with my guests while asking them to get in position. One guest also told me how she liked my photographer because someone else had a very demanding and rude photographer. all and all, Janae is great. I highly recommend her! read more

Janae took beautiful family photos for us, they turned out very natural and happy, not overly posed or cheesy or stiff. She's great with small children and babies, we go to her at least once a year so we have a beautiful, well-lit high res family photo. We've been lucky to shoot with backgrounds of the Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of the Fine Arts and The Legion of Honor. read more

Last year I interviewed atleast 15 photographers for our August wedding and Janae was our last scheduled interview. Hands down we walked out of the interview and told each other than SHE was going to be our photographer. She had some of the most important things we were looking for: (1) she was SOOOO talented and the photographs we saw during the interview and the online samples were amazing... we could see that she had a GREAT talent (2) the photos told a story.. it seemed like she caught all the beautiful moments, the big picture, the little important details and she did it in STYLE (3) the albums were SOO classy, beautiful, different, and looked like great quality (4) she was outgoing, polite, patient, calm, and appeared easy and comfortable to work with When the BIG DAY came, JANAE was there to make all the beautiful moments last forever. The pictures were amazing, full of talent and SOOO professional. She had the moments all caught on camera and she toook so many pictures.. enough to capture all the details of our entire day. I cannot POSSIBLY be happier with our wedding day photos. From every minor detail put into the wedding to the big picture, the moments, the smiles, the laughs, and the special moments... Janae had our wedding photos posted on her secure website while we were on our honeymoon and it was so romantic to be able to go online and to view the photos at that time... to look back on the day... During the album process, we were able to choose the photos we wanted and Janae was so helpful and SOOOO patient with me. The end result was amazing. Our albums SHOWED a story of our wedding day and most importantly OUR LOVE.. and it did in such a talented and beautiful way. EVERYONE who has seen our wedding day photos have asked us who our photographer was and have given us such wonderful comments about her and our photos... Janae has an amazing eye and is SOOOO talented. I highly recommend her for anyone's big day...and can't wait for another special occasion to have her capture it... read more

I have worked with many, many, many photographers over my years as a wedding coordinator. I had only met Janae a few years ago, and immediately fell in love with her work. When it came time for my wedding, I had a hard choice (choosing other photographers I've worked with longer, or choosing Janae)... I had to go with my heart, and we chose Janae :) Through out our wedding planning, Janae was very attentive- returns emails promptly, etc. The day of the wedding, she was awesome at keeping our schedule, getting all our shots, etc. Couldn't have asked for anything more! She had our digital proofs ready for us to view within 2 weeks after the wedding. I was so excited, but nervous to see them.. hoping I wouldn't be let down. And Janae lived up to all my expectations and more!!! Our pictures are absolutely amazing!!!! She really captured the day perfectly! read more

If you're looking for a wedding photographer, I would highly suggest Janae Shields. She's really cool and easy to work with, and is an amazing photographer. I am in LOVE with my wedding photos, and, compared to most of the wedding photographers in the city, is pretty reasonably priced. read more

AMAZING! That word may be over-used, but when it comes to Janae Shield's Photography it is so true. We chose Janae to be our wedding photographer after a blind test from our families and wedding party. We sent them samples of 3 photographers without any price or contact information and asked them to pick their favorite. Out of 12 picks, Janae was #1 for 11! After meeting with Janae, it was the easiest choice we would make. Her professionalism, responsiveness, and flexibility were second to none. One of my favorite parts of planning with Janae were her ideas! She has so much experience to draw these creative and unique ideas. She really took the time to get to know me and Matt to make sure she captured the day as we wanted. The day of the wedding was great. Her and her assistant were great to work with and half of the time I didn't even notice they were there. She was great with the family pictures (which is never easy with 2 large families). We did a photo-shoot on 17 mile drive after the wedding and it was exactly what I wanted. When we got the pictures back, we were in awe! They completely captured the feeling of the day. They were more than photographs, they really told the story of the day. When I showed people from home who were not able to travel to California for the wedding, they said they felt like they were there. We love them! The only slight (and very slight) negative is that the wedding album prices are out of our budget, so we are waiting to see if we can save and order one at a later date. We do have all of the negatives and are able to print them and do what we want, but the cost of the albums is high for us at this time. However, if I had to do it all over again, I would pick Janae every time! If you decide to go with her, you will not be disappointed. read more

I was fortunate enough to inherit Janae from a friend who got married earlier this year. After seeing my friend's pictures, I didn't even interview anyone else. Janae is awesome. She does a great mix of all the shots you are "supposed" to have along with fantastic candid shots. And those are the best at capturing the moment. As everyone else has commented, Janae's laid-back personality was such a pleasure all along the process but especially the day of the wedding. She handled awkward divorced-family moments with ease, didn't bat an eyelash when our schedule ran a little behind and relaxed both me and my husband all day. If you need proof, check out Janae's blog. She posts photos from nearly every shoot she does. http://blog.janaeshields.com/ Highly recommended! read more

After seeing Janae's portfolio and meeting her in person, we knew she was the right photographer for our September 2016 wedding. I was especially drawn to the fact that she incorporates both digital and large format film in her process. She comes to her shoots fully equipped with multiple cameras, lenses and film, ready to capture the moment! We had an engagement shoot at City Hall a couple months before our wedding and we're so pleased to receive those photos back within two weeks of the shoot. Janae is great with posing and giving direction, which is something we really appreciated. She was also able to listen to our requests for certain angles and locations and all together we ended up with a lot of amazing shots! When it came to wedding day, Janae was punctual and prepared. She was great with making sure she had the schedule, family info and details on important shots we were looking to remember well before the big day came. Even when things got changed around she made sure to check in with me to see how we could cover any shots missed. Her second photographer that night, Michael, was great and also did a lovely job. Having both of them there to work together on some shots and then separate to capture the different elements of our wedding really worked perfectly! I'm so happy with the photos and we will definitely look to Janae in the future to capture life's big moments. read more

I had the pleasure of working with Janae for my son's newborn photo shoot. From the very beginning, I knew Janae would be great to work with. She was very prompt with responding to my emails and thorough with providing answers to all of my questions. When it was the day of the shoot, she was super easy to get along with given how personable and accommodating she was. Also, the turnaround time of when we received our final prints was outstanding--less than two weeks! She well-exceeded all of my expectations and I look forward to working with her again in the future. I would highly recommend her to anyone! read more

When it comes to choosing the perfect wedding photographer for our wedding in October 2016, I knew exactly what I was looking for. Being a photography enthusiast myself, I was very particular about finding the right photographer. I wanted someone who we can easily work with, know the venue well, and most importantly, someone who loves their profession and whose style of work we can resonate with. It didn't take long before we decided to have Janae and her assistant Julia shoot for our wedding at Thomas Fogarty Winery. On our wedding day, it was pouring rain in the morning and was supposed to rain throughout the afternoon and night, so I was mentally prepared for the worst weather condition. Fortunately the sun peaked out for a short while and we were able to capture beautiful rainbow. We didn't need to use any of the bubble umbrellas we had prepared in advance! And when it came to shooting the sparkler shot at the very end of the night, It was then when I realized how well Janae and Julia work together as a team. They knew exactly what they were doing and they worked patiently to capture the perfect shot for us. I love night photography (hence the sparkler shot request) and I totally understand the hard work and patience that goes into it (not to mention the drizzling rain and blowing wind that night!). We got our pictures back sooner that I had expected because it's during the holiday season. The photos turned out beautiful and we love so many of them! The photos really captured those special moments of the wedding that we will forever cherish in our lifetime. Thank you Janae and Julia! We are so lucky to have you at our wedding!! read more

We got married in October 2014 at Nestldown in Los Gatos, and Janae took wonderful pictures for us. We also did our engagement shots with Janae at Lover's Lane in SF. Throughout the process, we were constantly impressed by Janae's patience, attention to detail, and kindness. Like many couples, this was our first "photo shoot", and she really did a good job of making us feel comfortable and capturing some really great moments. This review is pretty late, but I hope it helps someone find a great photographer like we had. read more

Janae is AWESOME. We love her and couldn't be happier with our choice to use her for our wedding day. I interviewed a lot of photographers. It was a choice between Janae and Michelle Walker, who also seemed excellent. Michelle was $4000 more expensive but she does have more experience and did a great slideshow. Janae offered amazing photo albums that most others did not, she was cheaper, but she also agreed to do the slideshow for us. With that promised to us, we decided to go with Janae. Janae has been so sweet, warm, organized and super professional throughout the engagement session, the wedding, and after. I love working with her - she's always very responsive and easy to reach. The photos were online in just a couple of weeks, the slideshow was done too, and we were able to enjoy our photos right away. Our album is gorgeous too! She took so many photos so we had enough photos of everything we wanted. She was excellent in directing all of us in the photos. Most impressive was how she managed/directed the entire family portrait shoot - not an easy feat by any means. She was so patient and made sure everyone was looking at the camera and posed correctly. All of our other vendors and guests commented on how great she was too. I can't wait to have her take more photos of our growing family. You will not go wrong if you choose Janae! read more

Janae is a photography goddess! My husband and I had the good fortune of finding Janae (hidden beneath a mountain of mediocre, cranky SF wedding photographers) and she is truly a stand-out in the often over-rated wedding industry. Janae did a fantastic job of capturing every moment of our July wedding, and blending in seamlessly to our day. It was like having your best girlfriend from college there with you...she was patient, calm, organized, confident, and helped out with whatever we needed. There are very few women that I would want around when I was getting primped and stuffed into my wedding dress, and Janae took pictures of the entire thing with grace and respect. Getting married means having a crew of "helpers" with you for 12 hours straight, and Janae and her assistant were such a calming presence. They arrived early, kindly let us know when it was time to catch some great sunset or moonlight pictures, and took advantage of all of the amazing scenery. Janae's creativity led to some great FUN shots that are so classic and timeless looking. They gently guided us through the shots they needed to take, and then quietly stood back and got the candid shots that told the most poignant behind-the-scenes story of our day. Janae's skill in capturing the perfect shots made us all look like glowing, sexy, wedding models. I was amazed when we got home from our honeymoon and Janae had already posted all of our wedding pictures to her website. As an added bonus, she had put a "best of" slideshow together with the amazing pictures from that day, and had read my mind by setting the slideshow to my favorite song. Janae's pictures are stunning....beautiful lighting techniques, dramatic (yet tactful) poses, and tearfully sweet candid moments that truly capture the magic of our big day. I'm embarassed to admit that I have watched our slideshow 20+ times, and I still get chills when I see the gorgeous, romantic shots that Janae has crafted. She documented EVERYTHING, from my lost-in-thought getting ready face, to my open-mouthed screams of joy after being pronounced husband and wife. Little kids peeking out from doorways, the look on my mom's face when she walked me down the aisle....Janae made sure to capture every second. After all of the horror stories you hear about wedding photos, Janae was the 3 carat diamond in a sea of cubic zirconia wedding photographers. My new hubby and I feel so lucky to have found her! read more

We hired Janae and it was undoubtedly the best decision we've made so far for our wedding. Our engagement session photos are gorgeous and we can't wait for her to capture our big day! Aside from her talent as a photographer, she's just a COOL person. She makes you feel completely comfortable and lets you have fun. She is totally prepared and plans ahead for things you don't even think of. A true professional and one with exceeding talent. A special thanks to all the Yelpers out there -- it's how we found her in the first place. read more

Janae photographed my wedding and I could not be happier with the results. I knew I wanted to hire Janae the minute my husband and I first met with her. She was easy going, friendly, and had a beautiful portfolio. She also came across as extremely professional and had shot at both of the venues we were using. My belief that we had made the right decision was confirmed when we did our engagement shoot. She immediately made us feel comfortable and relaxed. We knew we were in the hands of an expert as she directed us through the shots with ease. When we got the pictures back we loved every shot! We used the pictures both for our save-the-date card and for our guestbook. Janae responded quickly to my e-mails and phone calls. She also made sure that we communicated before the big day and established exactly what shots we wanted and what the timeline was. When it came to the actual wedding day Janae and her assistants were there on time and made sure that we were on schedule. She did so many beautiful and creative shots and really incorporated the surroundings to make our pictures unique. When it came to cut the cake my husband and I just stared blankly at it as we had no idea how to proceed. Janae quickly jumped in and told us exactly what to do, which we really appreciated. She helped ensure that the day went smoothly. I was so excited to see the wedding pictures. When we received them, ahead of schedule, we were thrilled with the results. She had told our story beautifully. The only problem was narrowing the pictures down to create the custom photo album. I wanted to use all of the pictures because they were so gorgeous. After the wedding multiple people commented on how professional Janae was, from her ability to quickly direct group shots to how extremely pleasant she was. Several of my friends who got married around the same time I did lamented the fact that they had not hired Janae for their wedding (especially after they saw the pictures). Janae was a pleasure to work with and produced truly beautiful pictures that told the story of our day perfectly. I would recommend Janae to anyone. I will use her for any other events I want professionally photographed. read more

We hired Janae for a family photo shoot which no one was super excited about except for Mom! Well, that changed because of Janae! We ended up having a great time, feeling super comfortable and the photos are absolutely gorgeous! We love our photos, Mom is so happy, and I have Janae to thank for making what would normally be a painful, awkward couple of hours and making it fun! read more

Janae Shields Photography - Family Shoot - Photographers Near Me - San Francisco, California

I got married October 2007, and I live near Boston and I planned my Portola Valley/Palo Alto wedding remotely. I started planning far ahead and photography was one of my number one priorities. After meeting Janae I knew she was THE photographer for us!!! She is sweet and personable. Her sample albums and proofs were gorgeous. I love how she takes both formal portraits and candid images. Choosing Janae was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life; I feel it was life changing-because I know I will have the most amazing wedding images to carry with me for the rest of my life. She was perfectly organized in the planning stages; helping me plan the minute-to-minute timeline for the day. She offered artistic and practical suggestions in order to help have a smooth and enjoyable wedding day. Having Janae actually photograph our wedding day was such a pleasure!!! She really is fast; she captures the attention of the group when needed and sits back for the intimate moments. I feel very fortunate to have planned my own wedding close with my own maid of honor's wedding. We were married 3 weeks apart and Janae was a part of both of our special days!!! I was so lucky to have worked with her for 2 weddings!!! The true test is the actual photos; and they are truly amazing!!! I can not say enough about how when I got home from my honeymoon I literally cried when I saw them. She created a beautiful slide show that completely 100% encompassed my emotions of the day. All 900+ images were perfect. She can find a beautiful setting in any nook of a parking lot or side alley of a church, seriously! Planning the album was a delight with Janae. It was difficult choosing only 100 of our favorite images (I could have had all 900+ images as they are all amazing) for the album we had selected; but she stuck with me and helped analyze every little wrinkle and blink to help us create the perfect album. I just picked it up and it really is a work of art!!! I urge anyone looking for an efficient, warm, friendly, professional and highly talented photographer for their wedding to choose Janae Shields!!!! read more

Janae shot our wedding and our entire experience (from meetings, to the wedding day, to the photographs) was excellent. We contacted several photographers and met with a few, but Janae was the most personable and professional. I got a warm fuzzy feeling from her the day we met her for our first meeting and I knew I'd feel comfortable having her photograph such a huge day. It was important for me to have someone that I connected with given that I thought the day would be so emotional that I'd need a calming person photographing me. She was extremely professional throughout, flexible and easy to work with on our wedding day. The whole bridal party was impressed after I had us go to Nob Hill for some pics and Janae was super coordinated in getting all of the shots we wanted in the neighborhood. Janae sent us the link to our pics and a slideshow less than a month after our wedding date. Everyone has been impressed with our pictures and we are very satisfied with the results. She is very talented and I am so happy she worked with us. read more

In searching for a wedding photographer, we hoped to find someone professional (ie. responsive, diplomatic, capable of herding large groups, prompt) and who has a unique perspective. My wife was a bridesmaid at a wedding Janae photographed last year. The resulting album was exceptional. After reviewing portfolios of other photographers, our decision was easy. From Janae's pictures, you can appreciate how she integrates setting, light, and the personalities of her subjects to capture unique, compelling images. Each of Janae's pictures of our wedding reflect how we felt at a particular moment or about our friends and families. We now have more than 600 pictures that elicit specific stories and reflections of our wedding day. It's a perfect collection of memories. Beyond her perspective, Janae is the consummate professional-- timely, detail-oriented, able to direct-- and friendly, thoughtful, genuine, and sincere to boot. She's one of a kind and, if you're lucky enough to snag her to capture your wedding, she'll make you feel and look that way too. read more

Having decided in early June to marry in mid-October, we had to move quickly in choosing our primary vendors. When we went to the Sheraton in Palo Alto to book the wedding, the event coordinator showed us a photo collection by different photographers of recently held weddings. Flipping the pages, I was knocked out looking at an incredible, amazing photograph taken during a wedding by Janae. There is this rule of thumb that says you are supposed to meet with three vendors and then decide on one but as soon as we met Janae, we looked at each other and said, "she is our photographer." The first thing you notice about Janae is her easy going personality which, during stressful times, is imperative because you need at least one voice of reason. From our incredible engagement session with our 65 pound Labradoodle in tow to the day of the wedding, the pictures were phenomenal. We were concerned about not hiring a videographer but once we saw the pictures and slideshow, we worried for nothing. The pictures were like taking a stroll through the day and captured each moment flawlessly. Some of the shots left us speechless and were so amazing. Everyone we sent the slideshow to cried and commented on how Janae was able to replicate the experience so even if you were not there, you felt like you were in the front row! Everything was perfect, her suggestions were spot-on, she was easy to work with and after the ceremony, got us quickly back to our guests so we could enjoy the evening. She and her assistant were almost invisible which many people commented on as the pictures were never posed but portrayed the essence of the evening. We cannot convey what a special photographer Janae is and we will always be grateful to her for making our day so special. You absolutely cannot make a bad decision hiring Janae as your photographer for any occasion. read more

We had a really bad experience with Janae on a personal and professional level, and at the end of the day we just didn't like her photography or editing skills which bums us out still because there are no do-overs to get the pics we would want. In terms of lighting and editing, my dress looks white washed in most of the pictures, and it honestly just looks like she put a yellowish filter on everything, made things bright and called it editing. Also, all of the family portraits came our terribly...if you're planning on having an outdoor wedding, definitely steer clear of Janae. She didn't take sunlight into account at all and we all look like ghosts because of where she set us up in the family portraits. My mother in-law ordered some hard copies of the family portraits online from Janae and she said the quality was terrible when she got them. She said she complained about this to Janae but got no answer. Finally what bugs me perhaps the most when it comes to pictures is that she did a really bad job of capturing candid moments throughout the night and took really stiff and rushed photos of my bridesmaids and I. Janae did a fine job with portraits of my husband I, and of taking pics of tables and flowers, but a huge part of the wedding was having all of our family and friends together with us and that is where better bridesmaids photos and candid photos would have made a huge difference. Now for the customer service. It said in our contract that we would get all of the pictures from the night, but she actually originally withheld 1000's of pictures from us that she wasn't proud of. I had a very strong feeling that we were missing pictures since I remembered certain pictures being taken of me that weren't in the original batch she gave us (which contained around 950). When I asked her for the rest of the pictures, I literally had to beg her and then threaten legal action to get her to give them to us. She cared a lot more about her reputation than my sentiments from the night, that is for sure. She finally gave in but gave us a LOT of attitude in the process. With the extra pictures I was able to have more moments captured that I would have otherwise been missing, so I'm really glad I got them, although I would still say overall that she did a bad job of capturing the night. 950 may sound like a lot but when so many of them are variations of my husband and I or pictures of flowers, it just isn't sufficient. I just expected way better pictures given the price and that we had two photographers. Side note: I remember asking her to take pics of silly faces my husband was making because it was a joke with us, and she kept snapping the pics right after the faces to catch the laughing part...that's sweet but how about listening to your clients? Bottom line she did not care to capture our personalities or care about our needs, she only cared about furthering her career as a "photographer," and by photographer I mean a layperson who went out and bought an expensive digital camera she could go "click click click" with, with the hopes that some of her pictures turn out good. Save your money and get a real photographer for your wedding. read more

Janae photographed our engagement pictures at Fort Funston and wedding at the Corinthian Yacht Club and we absolutely loved how the photos turned out. Janae made us feel comfortable and was professional, fun, and easy to work with. Our family and wedding party loved Janae as well. We were thrilled with how to photos turned out - she got both the engagement and wedding pictures back to us quickly and they all came out beautifully. Her assistant, Michael, photographed our wedding as well and he was also fantastic to work with. I am definitely recommending Janae to all our friends! read more

I've never posted on "Yelp" before because I never had a real incentive to do so, but Janae is so wonderful that I wanted to do anything I could to repay her for her kindness and talent. My husband and I interviewed several photographers in the Bay Area before discovering Janae mostly by luck. When we saw her website, we had a very strong feeling that she was the photographer for us, firstly, because her photos were beautiful and her website very clean and user-friendly; secondly, because she was one of the few photographers we'd encountered who actually posted her rates on her site. As Lisa T. mentioned, Janae's talent is on par with other top-notch photographers in the area, but she's more affordable and you get more for what you pay for. Getting the negatives was really important to us, and Janae releases them to you once you've completed your album order (whereas other photographers ask you to pay extra for them, or to wait at least a year before receiving them). The best reason to choose Janae, though, is that in addition to being a talented artist, she is so amazingly easy to work with. She is absolutely professional--every time that we have met with her, and especially on our wedding day, she was totally organized and punctual. She told us exactly what she needed from us in order to do her job, and was always available to answer questions by email (with a very quick response time) or by phone. She is also one of the warmest photographers that we interviewed. She always spends ample time with us in our meetings to answer questions and make suggestions, and the hour we spent with her doing our couple portraits was so fun and relaxing. My husband and I both look so comfortable and happy in those photos and that owes alot to Janae's presence. Perhaps the comments we received from friends and family after sending out the link to our slideshow can provide better testimony to Janae's work: "Your pics are absolutely stunning! It made me cry all over again! " "The two of you and your families look so perfect, you look like professional wedding models! What a perfect and beautiful day that was and the photos are just amazing!" "Those pix totally made my day and totally brought tears to my eyes! they are so beautiful!!!!" "The pictures from you wedding were absolutely GEORGEOUS!!!" "You need to share with Martha Stewart Weddings! I have not seen such a precious setting and just everything is so PERFECT! Your photographer is superb!" "How beautiful! Your photographer captured the day so well and put the pics together in such a fantastic way!" "What a wonderful photographer! Your pictures are the best wedding photos I've ever seen. You both look like movie stars." We love Janae, and would recommend her without reservation to anyone who wants a warm and professional person with them on their wedding day, (and wants to look like a movie star in their photos. :-)) read more

Janae is absolutely amazing!! I just got my photos back from a wedding in April and she totally understood exactly what I was looking for!! There was a perfect balance of candid and elegant photos and she listened to everything that I wanted! You will not regret going with her for a wedding or any event!!! read more

Janae photographed our wedding at Thomas Fogarty Winery several months ago. She and her assistant were very professional and they did a great job. We are thrilled with the pictures that came out. read more

As a former art director, I've worked with at least 30 photographers and have very high standards. Janae is fabulous. Her shots are impressive technically, but also emotionally. In just an hour and a half with us (way more than our toddler son can usually take), she captured so many moments. When it comes time to do our work photos, I'm calling her again. read more

Janae was the photographer for our 7/11 wedding. Everything about our experience with her was perfect. First and foremost, Janae takes amazing pictures!! She has such a creative eye and she made us look so natural in all of our pics. Her style is photo journalistic so the photos tell a story. We loved all of our engagement photos and our wedding day photos. And she works with a Japanese company called La Vie that makes the BEST wedding albums ever. Not only is Janae a master of her craft, she is also so easy to get along with. She makes you feel very comfortable in front of the camera. All of our friends and family loved Janae as well.... she interacted with our guests without being intrusive or overbearing. If you're looking for a talented photographer who will make you feel like you've known her for years, go with Janae. We love you, Janae!! read more

Janae did the photography for our wedding. The package that we chose included an engagement session and release of all photos after 6 months. Janae did an amazing job with the engagement session and on the day of the wedding. She was a pleasure to work with throughout the wedding prep, during the wedding, and afterward as we worked through prints and albums. It's apparent that Janae loves her job and is very talented. I doubt that you will find a better photographer in San Francisco. read more

Janae was an absolute pleasure to work with, professional, reliable, and creative. She is truly talented and so much fun! We couldn't be happier with our experience working with her for both our engagement shoot and wedding. Janae even had great ideas related to color schemes that photograph well when I'd reach out to her for feedback. I highly recommend Janae Shields Photography! read more

I had high hopes for my wedding photographs and Janae surpassed all of them. She is a talented photographer with a great eye and is the consummate professional. She showed up early, walked the location to get familiar with it, was prepared for all the key moments and provided me with so many wonderful photographs, it was hard to choose from all of them. The added plus is her warm and friendly personality which made working with her a pleasure. read more