Katie, the principal at Shani Studios, is so good that I've used her four times so far: twice for family portraits and twice for professional events. None of the shoots were easy. But all of them were brilliantly and beautifully handled by Katie. We first hired Katie when we heard she did underwater portraits. Our daughters are virtual mermaids, so we loved the idea of photographing them in their "natural habitat". But the photos of them in the depths of our pool were so much better and more beautiful than we ever imagined. After all, we never get to really see them underwater from an underwater perspective. Everyone who sees these pictures is amazed and enchanted. The professional events were large fundraising events: one at a major tech company in San Francisco and the other at a VC firm in Palo Alto. Lots of crowds, lots of VIPs, many of whom were publicity-shy or publicity-demanding. Katie handled it all with grace, charm and skill to produce excellent shots. Much better results than far more expensive event photographers I've worked with. Finally, I had Katie do some more traditional portraits of my daughters. Since they're both on the Autism Spectrum they can be hard to capture on film--reluctant to pose and hard to engage. But Katie did a fantastic job of engaging them and beautifully capturing their personalities. Shani Studios delivers every time. I cannot wait to work with them again. read more

Katie and the Shani team are amazing. I've head so many good sessions with her for my family. My daughters are on the Autism spectrum and it's difficult to get them to pose and take instruction. Katie's patience was amazing. She has captured my girls and their personalities, both on land and underwater! We love her work so much, I hired her to do new headshots of me too. Now, I hate photos of myself, but she made me look and feel beautiful. read more

I'm not a big reviewer type. I read reviews all the time, but have never felt compelled to write one until now. A little background might be helpful: I have been told on numerous occasions, by more people than I'd like to remember that I am probably one of the least photogenic people on the planet. (My family has albums of photos to prove it.) So, it shouldn't be surprising that I don't jump up an down with glee as the prospect of getting my picture taken. I'm in residential & small commercial solar sales. One day my boss got the great idea that we should all get our pictures taken and send them out as part of an introduction email to prospective customers who contact us wanting us to come out to there homes to discuss going solar. Needless-to-say, I immediately started freaking out imagining the prospect's response to seeing my typical "deer in the headlights" image glaring out at them from the email. My boss' plan was to simply pull out the cell phone, snap a few photos and call it good. I thought to myself, "Yikes! This dog ain't going to hunt. -- I need to get a professional portrait photographer into the mix!" Fortunately, I had met Katie Krutzner at a business networking group and after both seeing her work and hearing other business professionals rave about how she had helped them, I thought I'd give her a try. Boy, am I glad I did! To make a longish story shorter, the process of working with her was not only painless - she is delightful and her natural way of being created the environment where I relaxed and became much less conscious of the camera. In the process, I found out that Katie actually has a degree in portrait photography. I didn't know there was such a thing as advanced degrees in portrait photography. It shows in her work. Suffice it to say, I am very pleased with the results. A significant number of people who have had the misfortune of being subjected to my typical photos have expressed amazement that I actually look like myself. (Some say I look even better than myself. That;s not a bad thing is it?) One person even said, "Who is the magician who took those pictures?" Thank you Katie! read more

Just had Katie photograph a farewell brunch at my house and the photos are fantastic! She truly captured the heart of the event and there were so many delightful candids! My friend and I were delighted when she shared the event photos with us and we are all ordering many of our favorites. Katie has a very creative eye and seems to capture the most touching moments... I would hire Shani Studios again in a heartbeat!! Those memories are so precious, why not trust a pro like Katie to capture them for you so you can just sit back, relax and enjoy your special event! read more

Our business was in need of a new company photo for our website. So we figured, "we can just do it ourselves!" Anyone can snap a picture, right? After a disastrous photo and a waste of our employee time, we decided we needed some professional help. Our website designer recommended Shani Studios. Katie was great! She was very helpful in planning the day of the photo-shoot and worked around our company's schedule. We are in construction and needed to get our workers out in the field, so Katie met with us early in the morning and was very prepared. She had us pose for both a group shot and then "headshots" of each staff member. She got the job done quicker than promised, and made sure to prioritize our staff headshots, so our crews could get to work. She made our scruffy, rough and tumble group look very presentable, and I'm proud to have these photos on our new website. She got the final work to us very quickly. I like that she emailed a proof as a single pdf file that showed the fifty or so different photos on one easy-to-scan document. It made it really quick and simple for us to choose our final photos. Katie is very professional, easy to work with, talented and affordable. Thank you! read more

Katie is an amazing photographer and I would always choose her for all of my family's photos. Katie did our wedding photos and she was totally on-point, knew all the right shots to take, and seemed like she was everywhere the whole time. Katie also made it really easy with a shot list that helped us to determine the shots that we needed that we would have never known ourselves to ask for. Right after the ceremony she was right there to make sure the right people didn't leave and we got all the shots we wanted in a very organized manner. I could tell she had done things tons of times before as she knew just what to do. To top it off, my wife had to take a few breaks during the reception and it was amazing that Katie was there and captured some really special "down-time" moments as she was really focused on the bride. Katie is as good as it gets, you will be happy to had her at your event. read more

Katie was absolutely amazing. I have never had people comment on my headshots like that did after I posted the ones Katie took. Katie makes you feel comfortable and relaxed and that reflects in your photographs. Her eye for color and location is second to none. Thank you Katie you are simple the best! read more

Quite simply, Katie is awesome! My husband and I had been wanting to get portraits done for a while now, but we had not found a photographer that we liked, until we found Katie with Shani Studios. She took the time to get to know us and listen to us as we explained what we wanted. She searched for beautiful locations and made sure to communicate everything so we could prepare. The day of the shoot, she made us feel comfortable and we achieved all of the locations because of her well kept schedule. We loved the care that she took with us! If you are looking for a photographer that will listen to you and get the results that you are looking for, Katie is the photographer for you! read more

Katie and Shani Studios are amazing!! I had the pleasure to use some of Katie's services for graphic design and photography. Every part of my experience with Katie exceeded each and every expectation. Even the one time she was going to be 4 minutes late, she called me 15 minutes in advance to warn me and apologize. Her level of customer service is rare and was greatly appreciated. I originally met with Katie to design a new logo for my business. I am not an artistic person. But Katie was patient. PATIENT. She took the time to meet with me and listened to my vague and disorganized ideas, thoughts and concerns. She was able to take my chaotic stream of consciousness and come back with an artboard of various ideas. Each of the selections clearly demonstrated the theme, while still offered a diverse variety of options. From there, I gradually provided her [disorganized] feedback and thoughts, and Katie was able to take each of my opinions to continually evolve the design until I was completely satisfied and excited with the design. Since integrating the logo to my business, I have heard nothing but compliments regarding it. I also used Katie's services for a photo shoot in my office. Again, she was patient with me, creative with her suggestions for me, and helpful with her directions for me And the results were incredible! I've had a few professional shoots in the past, including headshots, but the photographs I received from this shoot were by far and away better. The quality of the photo, the focus of the photo and the overall detail of the photo were all better than any other professional shoot I've ever had in the past. I would HIGHLY recommend Katie and Shani Studios to anyone look for a talented, reliable and professional photographer or graphic designer. read more

Several months ago I met Katie at a Head Shot event she was doing at Tart Collections. I was looking for some more professional photos to update my work profile as well as my LinkedIn profile. I'm so pleased with her work. I have gotten many compliments from friends and family. If I had to rate her on a scale of 1-10, she would get a 10! Very pleased. read more

We used Katie for our family photos and Wow! We have three young daughters who are crazy and she was so great with them. They listened and she had little toys for them when they weren't in the shot to help keep them occupied. Oh, and the pictures turned out amazing! I highly recommend Shani Studios for all your photo needs! read more

I've been meaning to write this for awhile. I was at an event with Katie and I just LOVE the photos she took! Beautiful candids as well as a huge fab! group photo. The black and whites are a throw back that reminds me of my childhood. Not only does she have a great "eye", she's personable and easy to talk to while being able to quietly drift throughout the party getting so many photos. When I have an event or know of someone looking for a photographer, I'm definitely recommending Shanti Studios. Thanks Katie! read more

I have never had such a fun time getting pictures taken, nor have I ever gotten such good results! Katie is comfortable and knowledgable. When taking our family shot, Katie sang my autistic son's favorite song which resulted in a good, natural smile. The couples shot was my favorite though. Katie snuck a picture during some little banter and got a picture that brought tears to my eyes. She really captured us in that photo. The lighting and poses were perfect, they took a few years off! We highly recommend Shani Studios. read more

Katie is such an awesome photographer. She was extremely professional and friendly throughout the whole process. When we decided to have photos taken of our little puppy girl I was a bit worried that they wouldn't turn out well since she is a rambunctious puppy who is always looking for something new to chase and explore. But Katie was so sweet with her and captured our pup's personality perfectly! We couldn't be more thrilled with the results. We will definitely be reaching out to Katie for future projects and referring our friends to her as well. read more

My Fiance and I were so nervous about taking pictures since we don't take a lot of us photos (more live in the moment) Katie helped us relax and just be ourselves and our pictures turned out amazing! She was detailed and focused on what we had discussed prior (and lots of pinterest pins! :) ) and helped keep us focused and also showing us what looks best for us. It is relieving to know that our wedding pictures will be just as amazing! read more

Katie at Shani Studios is by far the best photographer I have ever met! I started with their services for my maternity photos. Katie was patient with me, as I am a very paticular person and she made sure that I got every shot I wanted. Katie is also very creative and took photographs that are nothing short of amazing. I returned with my infant and again she was helpful and patient- working with a 5 month old as well as a 6 and 9 year old is definitely not easy! Shani Studios is like no other photographer- I will definitely be returning and sending all my friends to Katie! read more

Katie at Shani Studios is not only an amazing photographer, but she is flexible, knowledgeable and works within your budget! I used Katie for my engagement session and we had a blast! Not to mention she hiked down some pretty steep trails to get to the beach we had envisioned for our engagement photoshoot. I would recommend Katie for any type of photo session, you won't find anyone better in the Bay Area. read more

I recently had new head shots done by Katie and was so impressed! I don't love having my picture taken and she made me feel very comfortable. She also has a great eye for color, making recommendations about what to wear. I've had so many people compliment the pictures after I posted them. I highly recommend Shani Studios and will definitely use her services again. Thank you, Katie! read more

I was fortunate enough to have Katie take my head shots for my business. She was professional, great with communication, and was so easy to work with. My pictures turned out better than I expected. I will definitely be using her again! Thank you Katie and Shani Studios! read more

I'm a professional actor and I recently had need to have emergency head shots taken due to a drastically altered look. I knew Katie because she had been the photographer hired to take pics at a recent concert I was part of, and I called her, hoping she would be available. She moved things around on her schedule to accommodate me and when we had our shoot, she was friendly, disarming and very fun to work with. She captured true moments of joy and laughter (not to mention around 20 awesome headshots to choose from) and was just a joy to work with. I highly recommend her for your events or personal photo shoot. She will make you smile like you mean it! read more

Katie took my head shots last year. I am truly one of the most UN-photogenic people, but Katie took the time to get the right shots, They are the best photos I've ever had taken; very professional, while still being personal and feminine. I get so many compliments on them. I would recommend Shani Studios to anyone who needs business head shots or personal photos. read more