Kirsten was a complete joy to work with! I felt so comfortable during our headshot and lifestyle session. Her professionalism and enthusiam kept the session so light and fun. I was BLOWN AWAY by the photos- they were some of the best picture I have ever been in. Kirsten really captured who I am :) She even retouches the photos- in such an elegant way! I hope to work with Kirsten again in the near future! read more

Since 2017, Kirsten has been my go-to photographer for professional headshots--both for myself and my daughter, Malia, who is an actress. I was initially drawn to her work after seeing her incredible portfolio of well-established actors, and from our very first session, I knew we had found someone special. Kirsten has a remarkable talent for making you feel completely at ease in front of the camera, allowing her to capture your true essence in a way that few photographers can. Every session with her exceeds expectations, and her keen eye for detail ensures that each shot is both natural and flattering. Her studio is bright, clean, and beautifully designed, creating the perfect setting for stunning, natural-light photography. We've even had the chance to take rooftop photos, adding an extra layer of fun and creativity to the experience. Over the past 8 years, Kirsten has become more than just a photographer--she's become family. She has been capturing my daughter's journey from childhood to adolescence, preserving each stage of her growth with such care and mastery. Even after moving from the Bay Area to Southern California, we still take the yearly trip for a photography session with Kirsten. I'm very thankful to have Kirsten as a large part of my daughter's acting journey and look forward to many more sessions to come. I highly recommend Kirsten for her professional photography services--whether for business or show business. She is the absolute best! read more

I was dreading the need for new headshots, but Kirsten made the process painless, and got some great photos (radically better than the last professional headshots I got with a different photography studio). I would recommend her very highly! read more

If you're considering booking Kirsten for headshots, just do it. I'm a new model and was in need to new headshots, and I was so impressed by how professional and quick Kirsten was. I was able to book and confirm my shoot within one day, her studio is beautiful and has plenty of street parking nearby, and most of all she is so kind and had great energy. I highly recommend booking her! read more

Kirsten is reliable, professional, and supportive. I've worked with her for all my headshots for over 10 years (social media, acting, modeling, professional), and she continues to be among the best in the business. She has a great eye, offers her thoughts, listens to yours, and has fun with it! She captures not just a great photo, but an unexpected one (or several) that makes you say, "Yeah, THAT'S the real me!" Her studio is located near some great outdoor features (exposed brick, mullioned windows, cool outdoor seating/bars) that offer variety in addition to the indoor shots. Her communication is quick and accessible, and I know we'll see each other for some updated photos in another few years! read more

If you're looking for the best photographer in the Bay Area, stop here! Kirsten is an amazing talent! These are the best in all the years I've needed professional headshots. She knows how to use lighting and background and encourages the best out of her subjects. She made me feel at ease and was a joy to shoot with. Honestly, there were so many good shots to choose from that it was really difficult to pick which I should use. It was absolutely a wonderful experience with extraordinary results! read more

Kirsten Lara Getchell Photography - Fabulous Photographer - Session Photography Near Me - Berkeley, California

Kirsten is fantastic! She came to Napa Valley to take corporate headshots at a leadership team event and was an absolute pleasure to work with. It's easy to see how passionate and talented Kirsten is. The photos are amazing and our leadership team loved the outcome. Kirsten delivered the final batch of retouched photos within a week, which was much faster than expected. I HIGHLY recommend Kirsten for any headshot needs. read more

Excellent photographer with a keen eye to get the best shots out of you. Highly recommended!

To get to the top of any profession takes hours and hours of practice. But the truly gifted also have something special. Une magie spéciale, something magical! That's what you can expect when you have Kirsten work her magic on you with her top-tier photography. She made me feel so relaxed, was fun and interesting to chat and her studio was in a really quirkly area I loved. The photos she took of me made me look far more beautiful than I am in real life! I highly recommend her as a talented photographer AND an excellent human being. read more

Kirsten has been taking headshots of our employees for over two years now. She helped scout for outdoor locations that would capture the vibe we wanted for our company's website. She photographed our entire team over the course of a couple of days and has done several shoots since then as we've hired new people. Her work is consistent, she is easy to communicate with, scheduling is a breeze, proof galleries are easy to navigate, and turnaround time is excellent. Check it out here: dh-construction.com/who-we-are/our-people/ read more

Strongly recommend Kirsten! The headshots came out great and I had an amazing experience. A friend of mine recommended Kirsten to me. I'm new to the world of auditions, and Kirsten was kind enough to talk me through the process and even provide resources. During the photoshoot she came prepared with coats and t shirts, and genuinely cared about the outcome of these photos + how I felt throughout the shoot. On top of everything, she is very responsive. 10/10 professionalism. read more

Kirsten is a gifted photographer, a true artist. I will always recommend her to everyone I know. The photographs she did for me are beyond outstanding! In addition to her consummate professionalism, she is also a remarkably kind person Patrick O'Reilly read more

Kirsten is an amazing photographer and super friendly! I had to take some headshots for a company website, and was kind of nervous since it had been a decade since I took the last one (and in the interim, I crossed the 40 mark...). She put me at ease, created a really positive atmosphere and produced a series of fantastic photos! read more

Just left a photo session with Kirsten and Rachel Rockwood (stylist/makeup) and loved the experience. Both completely professional and yet warm, inviting and unpretentious. Kirsten's studio is well lit so whether in or out lighting was natural and open. It was so nice to have a makeup artiat prepared to make up brown skin, naturally and beautifully. Rachel constantly checking in with me for consensus. Kirsten is an excellent guide in playing with the camera and had simple and helpful suggestions to relax me and get me to shift from frame to frame. She has a quick turn around and can retouch photos. I am a fan and will return. Oh, and she's got great taste in music too ;-) Thanks Kirsten and Rachel. read more

Kirsten is fantastic! I found her as I was looking for a Christmas present for my old roommate, and decided to get both of us photo packages. My old roommate will be going for a maternity shot while I opted for a headshot package since it felt like it was a good thing to have. Not only did the pictures turn out amazing, but Kirsten was really friendly AND has a super-quick turnaround time on photos. We did our shoot on Saturday and by Sunday morning Kirsten had pictures in her online gallery ready for browsing. Definitely highly recommended! :) Can't wait to see my old roommate's pictures! read more

I cannot say enough good things about Kirsten's work! I was in need of some new head shots and came across Kirsten on Yelp. I am so pleased with not only the results, but how the shoot went overall. Her stylist Rachael did a GREAT job on my hair and makeup and Kirsten made me feel very comfortable in front of the camera. When I got them back, I was just in awe. My boyfriend even stated these have been some of the best shots I've had taken yet. So very pleased and highly recommended!! read more

You wanna get great Headshots that get you booked? Call Kirsten. It was great working with her. A pro in every sense of the word. Walked me through the entire process. From clothes to pick to photos to use. She is also one of the sweetest people I've met. For good shots you need to be calm and she really helped me with that. Bottom line she's the best. Period. read more

Kirsten is amazing. She is such a pro and a joy to work with. She makes being photographed easy and fun and always gets beautiful results. The only headshot photographer I'll use! read more

Kirsten is wonderful to work with! She made me feel comfortable, and I had a lot of fun! These are my best headshots.... she was able to capture exactly what I wanted. Thank you, Kirsten! read more

Kirsten is awesome! Made me feel very comfortable and did a great job. Headshots turned out great.

I had the best headshot experience with Kirsten and talented MUA Rachel. Kirsten made me feel so comfortable and confident which is hard for me to do doing headshot sessions! She is so warm and friendly and just puts you at ease. She excels at making you look natural and at your best. Thank your Kirsten! You are my forever headshot photographer. read more

I am an aspiring actor here in the Bay Area. I am just recently beginning to put more energy & effort into acting & knew I had to get some professional headshots done. I did a little bit of research online & came across Kirsten's work. Right off the bat you can see how talented she is at what she does & I knew I wanted to work with her to get my first set of headshots done. Kirsten did not disappoint! First off, she is soooo easy to work with. She made me feel so comfortable & she was so easy going. I let her know that I was a newbie & that wasn't at issue at all! She's such a professional & makes the talent feel so good! I think she really has a tight grip on getting the best out of whoever she is working with. If you're an actor seeking headshots here in the Bay Area, I 100% recommend working with Kirsten. She's such a sweet person & just extremely talented at what she does. Thanks so much Kirsten! read more

A few months ago I was signed by MDT Agency, Inc. to do print modeling, voice-overs and on-camera work. It has been such a fun adventure, and I have had some really amazing opportunities arise! When I got started, they recommended Kirsten Lara Getchell to do my head shots. Since then I have also worked with Kirsten as a makeup artist for other models shoots, and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her! She makes you feel so comfortable in front of the camera, and really knows what she is doing from a technical standpoint as well. If you or anyone you know is looking to get some solid head shots, I highly recommend working with this amazingly talented woman. read more

She was just OK. Was strongly encouraged by my agency to go to her for headshots, and kept hearing rave reviews about it, but in my honest opinion, Kirsten could have done more to ensure that I got absolutely top notch headshots. While the shots came out okay, ranging from so-so to above decent, I think her shooting style makes people somehow look older and "stale". Comparing her to my previous headshot photographer, she did not nearly make as much effort as the previous one did to make me feel comfortable and in the zone. Example: my previous photographer would deliberately fake laugh and giggle to get subjects happy and have the spark show through the face, and it worked. I was feeling lively within seconds. Kirsten didn't really do that, and the whole thing was over before I knew it, and I felt like I never really got the chance to warm up completely. Secondly, some of the shots came out really strange looking because my hair was strange- if she noticed those things while shooting, she should have told her makeup artist to change my hair style. A better photographer would've made that suggestion to ensure that the subject would be happy with their results. Of course, I'm sure for some people the results worked for them. But personally, I wouldn't go to this photographer again. And at the high price (yes, headshots are expensive, but there are cheaper), it's quite a blow to the wallet. read more

This is my third time shooting with Kirsten and I've always gotten my best results with her! I've moved to LA in the last year and after trying another photographer (who was fantastic, by the way, but the shots just didn't get me in the door as much as they should have) I decided to go back to Kirsten since I was visiting the Bay Area for the weekend. SO GLAD I DID. She accommodated me and was able to book one of my favorite HMUAs (also a regular HMUA of hers) Nikol Elaine. Seriously, a dream team to work with. Kirsten helped me pick my outfits after discussing the looks we were going for. The shoot was stress free and a lot of fun and I was out the door in less than two hours (but I could shoot forever with them. Love them both)! I'm usually super uncomfortable in front of still cameras but Kirsten has a way of putting you at ease and really capturing who you are in the moment. Both my agent and I are very happy with the shots! Thanks so much, Kirsten! read more

Kirsten is fantastic. I really enjoyed working with her. She was very prompt and communicative from beginning to end and went above and beyond, even offering me suggestions about which photos were most compelling when I requested her input. And as it turns out, she was spot on! She's a wonderful artist with a great eye and knows how to get the shots you need to get work. Her pictures have made all the difference for me. I've had my headshots done and redone I've lost track of how many times, and never have they garnered me the response that hers have. The frequency with which I get sent out has increased ten thousand percent, with me going out an average of twice a week compared to my former twice a year or so, (I'm not exaggerating), with my old "professional" shots. Plus! For those of you who, like myself, are not necessarily as intuitive in front of the camera in still shots, she offers great suggestions, and uses fun and smart techniques to put you at ease both mentally and physically. The music playing in the background was an especially nice touch for me. :-) Moreover, Kirsten's really thorough and logistically sound. Shortly after the shoot, she sent me an email with a link to an online gallery from which I could select photos to be edited. After I made my choices (with her expert advice!), she sent me links to the edited photos with versions suited for web upload and printing, and THEN she sent me a disk with a compilation of all of the original shots! I'm telling you, she's the complete package. Definitely a gem. Thanks for your beautiful and professional work, Kirsten!! read more

I've been to several photographers in the Bay Area, and my shoot with Kirsten was, by far, the best. The shoot was easy, efficient, fun, AND, most importantly, I got so many great shots out of it. There was zero ego involved, I felt at ease the entire shoot, and communication with Kirsten is excellent. I will definitely go back to Kirsten when I am ready for new head shots! read more

Kirsten was so lovely to work with! She's a true professional with a warm & fun personality which made the shoot such a breeze. She made me feel really comfortable throughout the shoot, which I think is an important factor to get the best results and I can certainly say that I did! There's so many great photos, It's hard to choose a favourite. I look forward to working with Kirsten again in the future :) read more

Kirsten has done two shoots of my teenage daughter, so clearly I'm a fan. The stylists chosen by Kirsten are pros. Kirsten's kind, friendly, and supportive personality is the perfect recipe for getting the best shots of my daughter in multiple looks. Kirsten provides exceptional performance regarding proofs, touch-ups, and final image availability. We will return. read more

Pretty much can't say enough about this fantastic lady! Not only her skill as a photographer, but her genuine spirit as well. Everything was easy about this shoot; from first contact, to booking, to arriving at Kirsten's gorgeous studio. She has EVERYTHING set up: a make-up table, clothing rack, bathroom, changing station. Great locations nearby to shoot outdoors, or several backdrops in her studio. She was very involved in helping me pick out my wardrobe to match my 'types', and she was spot on with every single one. I have noticed an immediate and dramatic upswing in auditions, callbacks, and bookings, leading to words of praise from casting directors and my agent. Kirsten is quite simply the BEST! read more

Kirsten Getchell of KLG Photography (not to be confused with "KG Photography" which is a different person altogether) does great people photos: corporate headshots, weddings, family portraits, etc. She is so helpful, polite, professional, reliable, hardworking, and reasonably priced. She did a group headshot event for our organization and made it a fantastic experience, she really makes her subjects feel good. She will work at her studio or come to you. She can do all the touchup stuff too. read more

Kirsten is top notch, cream of the crop professional headshot photographer. I have "chosen" my 3 shots, but I still bite my nails over it--there are SO MANY good ones! A good problem to have. She was warm, friendly, made me feel completely comfortable and taken care of, and she also was nice and decisive and up front about business-ey things and choices of wardrobe, etc. She made a FANTASTIC suggestion to put my hair up for one set of shots, and I'm so glad she did. Unless you're a professional makeup artist, I HIGHLY suggest hiring one of her contacts. The stylist she hired for me was AMAZING--Teresa Reynolds. I need to give her a shout out on Yelp too. I couldn't be happier with my shots. I'm over the moon. :) read more

Right when we walked in, Kirsten made us feel at ease. We were new to this whole thing and my 9 year old daughter was there to get her head shots done. She was so nice, soft spoke, and not snootie or uppity. During the entire time my daughter felt very comfortable with her. We did check out a few others via recommendations and links. Glad we went to Kirsten. By the way a few of my daughters friends/classmates from acting school went to Kirsten too. Now here's the best part. Pictures were beautiful AND she gives you all of them (and there were so many). Kirsten, if you're reading this, "Thanks again!". read more

Kirsten is a great photographer. I recently came across her work from a portrait she'd done for another author and her portfolio that I found online in searching for a Berekley, San Francisco or LA photographer. Her work was great and she did a fantastic job with my portrait. She made me feel at ease, was the consummate professional, super easy to work with and the pictures turned out fantastic. Oh, did I mention that I live in another state? I was so happy with her work that I'd have no reservations about flying back out to get more photos done and I plan on definitely working with Kirsten again. Looking forward in doing so! read more

Kirsten made me feel so comfortable and I think it came through in my headshots. I was so happy with the proofs that I couldn't just pick three! She does amazing work and is just a lovely person! read more

I called Kirsten 4 days before a major audition, needing quality head shots. She delivered, creating 2 incredible head shots and set them up so I could get them to the lab for processing the same day. She has a gift. She made it easy peasy. Thank you Kirsten. Why settle for less? read more

Kirsten is a true professional and a very talented photographer. From my first inquiry about shooting with her until my head shots were delivered, it was a smooth procedure. She is kind, warm, puts you at ease, and keen on capturing the best dimensions of your face! I trusted her completely. On top of great photos, she was extremely prompt with delivering her services. I highly recommend her and will most definitely shoot with her again. read more

I am am a mother of 3. I spend my days in yoga pants, chasing munchkins. This was my first foray into headshots and I felt...petrified. Kirsten set me at ease with her friendly smile and mellow demeanor. Not 24 hours later, the proofs were ready. Every shot amazed me. There is magic in Kirsten's work. And it's not just that I look like I sleep. My personality is in every picture. She captured me beautifully. What a gift! read more

After looking through a number of portfolios for professional and casual shots (for my business), Kirsten's clearly stood out. They had an 'extra something' in every shot that made them look interesting. I wasn't sure if she could do anything similar for me - but she did. She has the rare magical gift for taking amazing shots - and in creating the space for them to happen. Great job Kirsten! read more

I recently needed new head shots and really wanted an non-SF looking headshot. Seemed like everyone's photos were looking the same here and a little too regional. I wanted photos that would not only work in regional markets for theatre, film, and commercial, but that I could could use in New York or Los Angeles. Which meant they had to be stylish, but also REAL. They had to be able to compete in a large market. So, I looked to find someone who really does work in all markets with a studio in LA. So I did my research (MONTHS of investigating) and found Kirsten! Not only does she have a studio in LA, but she now has a studio in the Bay Area, so I was happy I didn't have to go all the way to LA to shoot. I am so ecstatic (over the moon) that I chose to go with Kirsten. Not only are my photos amazing (!), but they look like me. My agents have been drooling over the photos and they are picky!! What I liked about Kirsten is that she was warm and engaging. I immediately felt relaxed in her presence: like I could be myself. I knew it was going to be a good shoot right from the start because when I pulled out the clothes I brought to choose from for the shoot, she bee-lined for some of the quirkier/more retro pieces and was so excited to add an extra sitting with me after we hit the theatrical and commercial looks to do some totally creative looks with me. We both got so excited it felt like play-time. And it shows in my photos. I keep getting comments that I have never looked better or more like myself in my new shots. I now have four head shots that I use for all different occasions from film to commercial to theatrical to PR. And, of course, I have this one amazing retro-thirties look that I may never use as an actress but I just love it so much that I had to have copies made of it. Believe me, the shots were so good, I could have chosen at least ten more. So, final word on Kirsten.....she is one amazing photographer!! read more