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!

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!

Holly was the first vendor I hired - over a year and a half out from our wedding, before we even…read morehad a date set! We were initially planning a March 2018 wedding, before finally settling on September 2018. Holly was great and very flexible with us changing dates around. I met Holly and her husband Bruce before hiring them - they left a great first impression, they are full of energy, professional & great people. Holly photographed our engagement photos in an unconventional way. My now husband was coming home from a 6 month deployment on a submarine & I wanted to have a photographer there and have those as our engagement pictures since we had gotten engaged right before he left on deployment. He came home from his last deployment in May 2017. Holly was very accommodating with our situation and not knowing a lot of details ahead of time due to operational security. The photos turned out beautiful, and we even got shots with my husbands family that was visiting from out of town. Holly made everyone feel comfortable and got through the pictures in a timely manner! Fast forward to our September 2018 wedding, I had sent Holly inspirational pictures that I wanted re-created on our wedding day & she made sure that we got them all! Holly and I had a phone call about a week before the wedding to discuss family shots and not to miss pictures, she provided lots of great suggestions along with taking my ideas into account as well. Holly was prompt on our wedding day meeting the ladies at the hotel and got to shooting straight away. I knew that Holly would blend in just fine with the moms and girls, she's professional yet personable. Bruce usually shoots with Holly on wedding days but he had a family accident and was unable to attend. Holly provided a wonderful substitute photographer - Derek of Derek Chad Photography. He was a wonderful addition and blended right in. You could tell that they had a great connection as photographers and worked well together! Holly and Derek were both extremely accommodating on our wedding day - they were available to us when there were group shots we wanted to get, yet they made sure not to miss all the details. The turnaround time for our pictures was phenomenal, I was in awe of how fast Holly returned the photos to us, she had the photos to us NINE DAYS after the wedding! I've heard of some people having to wait months, I'm very impressed with the turnaround time and the quality of Holly's photography! Holly was familiar with our venue and our getting ready location, the Coronado Community Center and the Glorietta Bay Inn. We were running a bit behind on the wedding day - Holly ensured that we were still able to get in all of the pictures and navigated Coronado like a pro! We are so pleased with the final product & the delivery of the product! I can't wait to display the photography around our future house and share with our families for the holidays. I hope to work with Holly in the future for all of our photography needs! Holly is professional, attentive to detail, and always energetic - you can't go wrong with booking Holly for any photography needs!

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!

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!

Customer service 10/10! True Photography & Video did a fantastic job capturing our wedding day!…read moreDuring our meetings and email exchanges, we felt supported and valued! True team helped us create a thorough timeline while offering suggestions/clarification so we knew what to expect and see the vision! Alex, Sheryl, and Dillan were assigned as our wedding day True team! Alex kept us on track with getting important photos and staying within the timeline. Alex was clear on posing directions and had such a calm demeanor/communication style that helped me feel reassured. Sheryl was our second photographer who captured the best candids and fun moments (e.g. one of the groomsmen had his shirt off and I didn't know until we saw the photos! HAHA). Dillan was here, there, and everywhere to get the best angles for our first dance, games, and guest reactions. Looking at our photos, I'm floored with how beautiful they turned out! The wedding day came and went like a flash, but now we have sooo many photos to remind us of the happy and heartwarming moments from that day. Excited to see how the videos turn out! Highly recommend considering True Photography & Video!

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!

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!!

This review is a long time coming, it's been 4 years too late :) Sorry Ryan, we have just been too…read morebusy. If you have read any of the positive reviews and still in doubt, trust us they are all true. We had an intimate wedding in Disneyland and wanted only one photographer as it was quite a small gathering. From the get go, Ryan was terrific. Excellent and quick communication, very reasonable price and great personality. Got along with all our guests, videographer, wedding staff and yeah, the photos were great too. It is rare to find such great work ethic, personality and quality work in one person at such reasonable prices. Also, he wrote us a very lovely blog post with photos that we shared with all our friends and family. Definitely recommend Ryan for all your wedding needs. He is a rockstar!

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!!

Top Shelf was truly top shelf. We used them two separate years for family photos. Loved it.read more

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!