Last fall, we got our friend's wedding announcement in the mail. A good friend would call their…read morefriend and say "congratulations!" but what did I call to say? "WHO WAS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER?" Oops! My bad. Sorry, friend -- by the way, congratulations! Enter Erin Leigh of http://www.thebowerygirl.com who I instantly booked a session with. My husband and I went mini-golfing for our photo session 'cause we're cute like that...and it was incidentally that day in San Diego that was like 107 degrees with 100% humidity. Oops! My bad. The camera has never lied so beautifully. I mean, it was 107 and we're out mini-golfing -- you can put 2+2 together and realize we looked and felt sweaty and DISGUSTING...but the photos somehow came out incredibly! We are blessed with many friends who are amazing photographers, but Erin took one of my single most favorite photos of my husband and I of all time which I will attach to this review. & shooting with her was a blast!!! Ask Erin Leigh about her super cool heirloom techniques like daguerrotype! Or just google daguerrotype and then stare slackjawed while you think to yourself: "holy shit, there's a photographer in San Diego who can do this? DO I REALLY LIVE IN A CITY THIS COOL?" The answer is: yes & yes.

Erin is a well-kept secret that shouldn't be! When I sent my recent engagement shoot to a friend,…read morethe rapid-fire reply I got was a request for her number to do their family photo shoot. She's *that* type of good. In fact, I learned about Erin from someone else's photos, too. The way she captured the light and the unique background of how they met in their engagement photos stayed with me for years. (Let's be honest, how many other people's photos do you remember? Exactly.) That was back in my jaded single days, when I didn't bother to save photographer names! Luckily, it was my turn to start The Great Wedding Photographer Hunt and someone sent me Erin's way again last week. Fate! My fiancé and I are not the posey posey traditional wedding photo types. To be honest, finding a wedding photographer was at the top of my Dreaded Wedding Tasks list. I was nervous about meeting up with Erin (and here I thought first date jitters were done!), but she was so understanding and fun in the initial emails that I started to warm up to it. Next thing I knew, we booked a Sunday shoot and ended up laughing our way across San Diego, snapping pictures in secret locations I can't believe she found. She had creative ideas and was so easy to be around that when the pictures came back, I was stunned at how much I saw ourselves in them. She hadn't just captured us looking our best, she had captured us *being* our best. Everyone who has seen the photos has been impressed at how real they seem (and yet, flattering, ha!) She is solid talent, and the fact that she's an absolute pleasure to work with is just bonus. Trust me, your search is done. This lady has a gift for photography and I can't wait to entrust her with capturing the most important day to come. I'm doubling down on Erin. I'm not sure if this is a fan letter or a Yelp review, but do with it what you will, Yelpers!

Holly and Bruce did my engagement and wedding photos. They were so fun to work with…read more My fiancé and I got a referral for them through our wedding planner. Our main concern was we needed a photography team that was just as excited about our same-sex wedding as we were. After visiting with 3 potential photography companies we knew Holly Ireland was the most fun and of course had the best style to their photography. During our engagement session I think we worked them for the entire time we were entitled to. Three different locations all over San Diego County. Never once did they complain. Finally, for our wedding, they worked their butt off and produced photos that were beautiful and Instagram worthy. Being "customers for life" Holly shot our Christmas photos as well. She was great with kids. I can't wait to work with them again.

While planning a quick family getaway to Carlsbad this summer I was lucky to discover Holly during…read moreon-line searches. I knew immediately that she was the right photographer for our group by her friendly responses and her expert shoot location recommendations. She exudes positive energy and happiness and truly made our shoot FUN! I look at our pics and think we all look relaxed and genuinely happy and a big part of that was Holly's laid back but professional demeanor in managing the process. You can't go wrong having Holly behind the lens A+++ experience!

Heather and her team at Shadowcatcher imagery are truly AMAZING! Her photos are beyond gorgeous,…read moreshe's so patient and so sweet. Would def go back here for more pics :) she's amazing.

We did our children's Christmas pictures with this studio and were so pleased. They were patient…read morewith our children and understadning of special needs. We will use them in the future for sure!

Kevin our lead was amazing. He had so many great ideas and followed every inspiration picture we…read morewanted. Lilly our second photogtapher had high energy and patience making sure we got the perfect shot. Finally, Mark our videographer was getting so many amazing shots. We are so excited to see the final results. They are the best!

I selected True Photography to shoot my engagement photos and wedding day. We had Pauleen as our…read moremain photographer for the wedding, with Myro as the second photographer. Both Pauleen and Myro are incredibly talented and professional photographers. Pauleen helped make us feel entirely at ease in front of the camera with her directions and constantly hyping us up. On our wedding day, she knew all the best photo spots at our venue and was able to get us a wide variety of photos for our couple's portraits. Myro did a fantastic job getting photos of all our guests during the cocktail hour. We had several guests compliment how friendly he was and how many people he captured. In the background leading up to our wedding day, the True Photography team helped put a photography timeline that aligned with our wedding coordinator's timeline. This helped ensure we got all the photos needed included first looks, couple's portraits, family portraits, etc. No special moment was missed by the team throughout the wedding. From first looks to dancing at the end of the night, we the full story of our wedding day captured!

Thank you Summer Rae The family photo event was so very…read morespecial for all of us. You have been our go to gal for exceptional photography for many years and always come through with the just right photos weather a wedding, first born or the more recent family photo session. I recommend Summer Rae to all who are looking for the dream photos for you or your family. And a good time as well.

This was our second time having Summer Rae Photography capture our family photos, and once again…read moreshe exceeded our expectations. Summer is an outstanding photographer with an incredible eye for detail, and she has a special talent for working with little ones. She made the entire session relaxed and fun, and somehow managed to get beautiful, natural shots of our family--even with two energetic littles in tow. We're so grateful for her patience, creativity, and kindness. We absolutely love our photos and highly recommend her!

Ryan is basically a magician!!! Our photos came out not only beautiful but also full of life and…read morejoy. Going through all the photos made me teary-eyed, laugh, and immediately wonder if it'd be weird to use our wedding photos as bedroom wallpaper (my s/o convinced me this was a no-go, haha!). Ryan is not only obviously an incredible photographer, but he's ridiculously fun to work with. Hours before our ceremony, we needed to change venues which I worried would ruin the day. Despite the haze of anxiety and panic, Ryan had us all laughing and feeling present and excited! He's fun and knows exactly what he's doing, which made everyone feel at ease. I'm notoriously awkward in photos, but with Ryan, I just felt comfortable and ridiculously stoked! Okay, one last thing about why you definitely need to book Ryan is he's extremely fast! We weren't expecting our photos until at least a month after the ceremony, but somehow two nights later I got a very happy surprise that they were done (like I said, he's a magician)! I feel so grateful that we had such an amazing photographer capture our special day and will forever use Ryan for any other special events!

OH MY GOD. STOP READING THESE REVIEWS. Your search is over and just book Ryan already!…read more I was initially drawn to his style because he can capture "in the moment" shots. The small looks and giggles between the staged shots. He was able to capture all of that. One of my favorite things about my photos was that he was able to capture my guests' genuine reactions during the wedding. He truly can rock the momemt. So talented! He knows how to pose people in small, medium, and large groups. He'll remind guests if they need to button any jackets to get that great shot. He knows how to incorporate the background so he isn't just taking pictures of people but really the entire environment. There is great balance in the photos. He was extremely flexible the day of. We had minor schedule changes and he just went with the flow. I am SOOOO grateful he was able to photograph our big day. THANK YOU RYAN!!

We've had so many amazing family photos over the years. Cindy does a great job making her clients…read morefeel comfortable, and the end result are the most magical of photos! I've used other photographers and have maybe 3 photos that I love, but I have dozens from the sets she produces.

Cindy is a 10 star photographer! The moment I saw her work I knew I wanted to book with her. I LOVE…read moreher artistic vision. Her use of light is unparalleled as is her use of nature as the background. Her photographs are majestic, expansive, soft, golden, magical and real. She captures great candids. We have 2 kids and that is always hard but she had several tricks up her sleeve to get the kids to look and she got some amazing shots of the whole family. I just want to frame all the photos she took and cover my house wall to wall =) She's also patient, easy-going and just a overall pleasure to work with. I never share photos of my family on yelp. But I'll break my own rule so you can see how amazing she is.

First off, Heidi is the "BOMB" of a photographer and person! She is great at what she does and…read moreprofessional. She provides great photos and excellent customer service. We hired her for our wedding 8-30-2013 and engagement photos. Everything came out great and her pricing is very affordable. She's just wonderful! We now have amazing photos and a photographer for life. We received our wedding pictures a week after our wedding which is super fast. Thanks Heidi for being awesome all around! Your new customers and friends, The Morenos!

Heidi is awesome!! So positive and extremely professional. The things she does to get the best shot…read moreare mind blowing and she is really quite interesting to watch when she works. Her photographic vision on what fits the theme and how to capture the best attributes is second to none. She is nothing short of absolutely amazing to work with and is very conscious of time. She did my Daughter's senior pictures in 2019 and she did such a great job we used her again in 2022 for my son's senior pictures. Very fair on price and excellent quality. I recommend her hands down!

I hired Shaun at the very last minute after my original photographer canceled, and looking back, I…read morewish I had booked him from the start. From the moment I reached out, he was responsive. After a quick phone call to go over the details, he immediately jumped into action and made the entire process stress free. Shaun captured our proposal perfectly and delivered absolutely stunning photos that exceeded every expectation. On top of that, he sent us sneak peeks the very next day, which made us even more excited to see the full gallery. Throughout the experience, Shaun was professional, patient, experienced, and attentive to what we wanted. He made us feel comfortable in front of the camera and captured every special moment beautifully. If you're looking for someone who is passionate about their work, I can't recommend Shaun enough. I would absolutely hire him again!!

I've hired shaun to do family photos, and graduation photos. He does an excellent job. Has…read morewonderful ideas. Turn around time has been the fastest I have ever seen. Reasonable prices! 6/5 would recommend.

Well where do I start, Leo is an Old School type of Guy that likes to take his sweet time on…read moreeverything. He's not on your time, he's on Leo's time and he's team is also so unprofessional. Team will find themselves sitting down, relaxing while they should be working ( as what you pay them for ) also on their phones with feet up during the Venue. Leo will charge you for every little thing for example, you want Leo to go to a location for before photos pass 10 miles from his studio, he'll try to convince you to do somewhere near by or else it's a fee for every mile after 10. He's also going to take FOREVER on getting you the photos and video and than putting a time frame to choose what you want or else it's a FEE, if you don't choose in he's time frame ( 30 days, with photos having his logo on it to so you won't be able to see the photo clearly ).. FEE, FEE, FEE That's all you'll hear from Leo. For the amount of money you're paying you would expect to get everything you want. If you feel like your getting a Deal do your research a little more and ask questions and say what your looking for or else you'll get hit with Extra unexpected Fees.. Customers should be Happy for the full experience, thanks for not doing that LEO. Look at the amount REVIEWS LEO has, Two.. myself and another that got posted OVER 3 years ago. If this doesn't say anything then I don't know what else to say..... 09/02/2024

Very professional and amazing photos! My daughter celebrated her Sweet 16 and we really enjoyed…read morehaving Leo Photo Studio photograph our event. His undivided attention and beautiful photos brought everything together for us. Our guests enjoyed the photo booth he provided also! I highly recommend Leo Photo Studio!