Maria from the Santa Cruz area is exceptional in every way, an exceptionally talented photographer,…read morean exceptionally kind, warm and nurturing individual, and an exceptionally enthusiastic and consummately professional participant in our yearly family beach shoots. Maria brought pure joy to each of those four mornings photographing myself, my husband, our two daughters and their spouses, and our seven grandchildren. She has created memories that will last a lifetime and will create even more for us next year when we return to Santa Cruz. One more note: Maria has taken headshots during two of those shoots for my husband's and daughters' law firm that capture the spirit of their firm and their shared professional goals.

Maria from Pink Light was so fun and easy to work with. I'm awkward in front of the camera, but…read moreMaria made it fun! She captured so many great shots. Shortly after my wedding, she sent me a little sneak peak to share with family and friends. I would absolutely work with her again. Her prices seemed on par with other photographers I looked at and friends have worked with.

Moments in Time owner, Adam W, was absolutely amazing. After reaching out to multiple photographers…read morein the area to capture our anniversary pictures, we could not be more pleased. Being from the East Coast and 2400 miles from our home, we wanted our annivetsary in Carmel to be remembered forever. Adam not only captured memories that will last a lifetime, but we also gained a friend. Adam is a remarkable person and is gifted to give just the right guidance for capturing the most beautiful images on Carmel Sunset Beach during golden hour. We have worked with multiple photographers in the past, and Adam is a gifted photographer who truly captures moments in time. Let him capture your next big moment. You'll have images you'll cherish for a lifetime!

I am so glad I hired Adam for my surprise proposal to my girlfriend. Living in SoCal and having…read morenever been to Monterey/Big Sur, I planned my whole proposal based on google searches, reddit threads, and word of mouth. Being a Big Sur/Monterey local, Adam provided extremely helpful insight and feedback for my proposal. He definitely helped relieve a lot of the stress during the planning phase of my proposal. On the day of the actual shoot, the day-of jitters was overwhelming at times, but Adam's energy and demeanor was very centering. He was patient and gave my new fiancee and I space to calm ourselves, and also knew when to take charge and guide us with our poses. He also had amazing and creative ideas for how to pose and brought us to local, reclusive spots to take intimate photos. Best of all, Adam always had a smile on his face and he made us really think like we were supermodels walking the runway haha. If you're going to do any photoshoot, especially a proposal or engagement shoot, in the Big Sur/Monterey area, I would highly recommend getting Adam!!

Chris was absolutely amazing! He helped me throughout the entire process, from choosing the right…read morespot to the photoshoot day of. We met prior to talk through the plan and he mapped out my route to propose. I was given a personalized website with all the details. He is very responsive, we had sneak peek photos the same night! I highly recommend! Thanks Chris for helping make our engagement so special!

Chris was the best combination of very efficient and effusive/disarming. He even got our camera shy…read more4 year-old to give genuine smiles for the camera! He got every posed shot on our checklist plus some great candids all in less than an hour. Impressive for our large raucous family.

We selected Susan from five local finalists, based mostly on their portfolios, and Susan's…read morerepresented the greatest range of artistic angles and the widest range of couples. Her body of work is much more than the traditional formal wedding and for these reasons we chose her. We paid a bit extra for an engagement session before the wedding and that album is terrific and made us all the more confident of our choice. On the day of the wedding at the Seascape Resort, Susan was central to making our day perfect, arriving well before others and staying all the way through dinner, dancing, and the rest, and she was critical in helping with the flow of the entire event, like a best friend there to help produce each part of the afternoon and evening. Susan would get ten stars if they'd let me give them!

My family was together for a reunion in Santa Cruz and we wanted a family picture. Because this had…read morebeen planned in advance, I sent several emails to photographers on Yelp and Susan was the one to respond promptly. She accommodated us in every respect, for which we were so thankful since we realized it was the holiday season. The setting for the pictures was beautiful. She showed patience and creativity in working with the 18 of us. She was a delight to work with and pictures were everything we could have hoped for.

We used Rebecca Stark for our micro ceremony and wedding reception (two seperate days). We loved…read moreour photos from both days and loved how easy it was to get along with Rebecca. She did a great job dealing with the harsh sun of our micro ceremony and helping us feel comfortable taking photos. Our sunset photos from our reception are beautiful. She was a great choice!

Rebecca photographed our recent wedding on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. she took stunning…read morephotographs, before, during, and after the ceremony. She made sure to get many different poses, candid and staged, and included the ocean view and cliffs that we had requested. We ended up with around 150 high quality photos, and she provided them in a gallery we could share with people, and also downloadable in hi-res for printing and sharing online. Highly recommended!

If I could give Rose ten stars I would. I moved to Santa Cruz recently and reached out for…read morematernity photos. After looking through her website, I was immediately attracted to her aesthetic. I reached out, she was professional, creative, kind. She worked to understand my likes and dislikes and found a beautiful location to shoot. The day of she brought great energy and the photos were amazing. I could not have asked her for more. We booked her immediately for new born photos and hope to work with her to capture our little family as it grows.

Rose photographed my family and I last year and I will always treasure my images. My family and I…read moreare not fans of having our pictures taken but Rose made us feel comfortable enough to be ourselves and capture some very beautiful and honest moments. I loved working with her and plan on hiring her whenever I am in the area!

Adriane was a complete joy to work with! We initially loved her work and then after one phone call,…read morewe knew she was the right photographer for us. She is professional, creative, so so fun, and just an all-around-joy to work with. She remained in excellent communication with us from the beginning of our planning and was available with ideas and support whenever we needed it. We LOVE her beautiful photos and feel that she perfectly captured the energy of our wedding! 10/10 recommend Adriane for any photography needs!

Adriane was the PERFECT photographer for our wedding. Neither my wife nor I like being the center…read moreof attention, and Adriane made us feel totally at ease. When we were looking for a photographer, we really liked her style - she not only captures people and moments really well, but also the tiny details that we love (e.g., the trees at the venue, dessert cookies, table settings, etc.). She knew the venue (Amphitheater of the Redwoods) very well and took us to a hidden spot on the property that made for wonderful candid photos after the ceremony. Adriane was also really thoughtful and organized on our wedding day. She made sure we thought about whether we wanted certain photos and moments captured when we hadn't thought about them at all...and many of them ended up being our favorites! She was effectively our guide throughout our big day, making sure we knew we were to move to the next phase, letting us know when her time was near its end for any last photos, etc. Can't recommend Adriane enough!

Ashley is a professional! She spent hours with us on the beach to get the perfect maternity shots…read more We have received so many compliments on our photos by her and are really looking forward to our newborn shoot. I can't say enough great things about our experience. Kelly Enghofer

If I could give 10 stars I would. Took some engagement photos with Ashley at shark fin cove in…read moreSanta Cruz. Let me tell you these photos look amazing. Ashley definitely knows how to catch your good side. Photo shoot didn't take long at all, and she got there early. Two thumbs up for Ashley. Thank you

Cannot say enough great things about Julie! She took our wedding photos at Folktale Winery in Nov…read more23. She helped us work through weather challenges, with pouring rain complicating our plans. She did a great job of identifying alternative options to capture photos with our guests, and then finding an opportune moment later on during the event when my husband and I could slip outside and take some photos when it was dry. I also appreciated her incorporation of candid photos along with the staged photos. We got great pictures with all of our guests, as well as pictures of all the décor and the location. She was also lovely to work with, and kept checking in to ensure we were capturing everything we wanted. Highly recommend!

If I could give more stars to Julie I would! My husband and I felt so incredibly lucky to have…read moreJulie photograph us for our wedding in Carmel in October. Our wedding planner gave Julie's information to us along with a couple of other photographers when we were trying to secure a vendor. I loved Julie's style, so we set up a phone consultation to see if it would be a good match for us. We knew right away that Julie would be perfect for us as we clicked right away in our phone conversation. We set up an engagement session with Julie prior to our wedding and that solidified our decision in knowing we had picked the perfect photographer. Julie is funny, down to earth, and extremely talented. She was easy to be around and nothing ever felt too poised. The photos that we got in our final gallery are absolutely beautiful and we have a hard time picking our favorites because we love them all! Julie also went above and beyond normal photographer duties at one point helping to steam my dress and also offered us a free session at a later date when both of my parents could not attend our wedding last minute due to testing positive with COVID. I'm sure there was also much more behind the scenes that I didn't even see. I was really hoping to have a special connection with our wedding photographer and have it be someone that we would want to use again and again over the years after we hopefully grow our family. We are so happy to have found Julie and I would recommend her to anyone looking for a photographer for any type of occasion.

How do I even begin to tell you how wonderful Carlie and her husband, Gabe, are?! In a nutshell, if…read moreyou don't use them, you will be so sorry you didn't. They were top notch. So professional, kind, warm and talented. As the mother of the bride, all I wanted was for her to be happy with the photographer. Carlie and Gabe made her very happy!

We went from engagement to wedding in 90 days. Yeah, that fast. Which means that we had to find…read moreeverything and everyone we needed really quickly. And we wanted to make sure every vendor was experienced and understood our vision for the event because we couldn't afford any missteps from amateurs. Even though it was the most important one, because we had three other photographers flake out on us, the last vendor we hired was the photographer. From the moment she called me back, through our first meeting at our house and subsequent emails and conversations prior to hiring her, I knew Carlie was going to be great. Go to her website and you can see for yourself how comfortable she makes people feel. She's warm, real and professional. And unlike some other wedding photographers who are either cookie-cutter hacks or fashion themselves are high-brow (and over-priced) artistic geniuses, Carlie's talented eye is on what matters most -- people, connections and the feelings she captures in the moment. My husband and I are both photography lovers and hobbyists which means three things, we know and appreciate good photography, we have high expectations and we're more comfortable behind the camera than we are in front of it. Carlie exceeded our expectations and made us feel very comfortable in front of the camera. No small feat! We got married on a yacht two weeks ago and had an engagement session done about six weeks ago. I can honestly say that no one has ever shot a better photograph of me than Carlie -- and that was before they were even processed. In fact, from our engagement session there are dozens of photographs that were so good we simply could not decide which we liked best. My very unsentimental 18 year old daughter saw one of them and started crying because she said "it just looks like love". At and after the wedding, several people (guests, the wedding planner, crew and service staff) remarked about how wonderful Carlie was to work with. She and her assistant/husband were everywhere shooting everything, but were never once in the way or obtrusive. She knows her stuff and is a genuinely nice person who was a great addition to our special once-in-a-lifetime day. I would highly recommend her to anyone who wants great photographs for a wedding, special event or portrait session. Be sure to notice and click on the 5 "filtered" reviews for this business. For some reason, Yelp's new auto review filter is hiding legit reviews because they think they're not "real" for some reason. These other glowing reviews (the hidden ones) were there when we checked Carlie out and are very much worth looking at if you're deciding whether or not to hire her.