Everybody has their thing at weddings, cake, location, live music, centerpieces, etc. For us it…read morewas pictures and Coba Images turned out to be everything we could have hoped for in our wedding photographer.
For others that like to research, and are concerned about navigating the field of photographers, I'll write a longer than normal review.
Initial Interview - We met with Cody at his San Francisco office on our third interview of the day. He gave great answers to what makes a good portrait (use of light) and how he uses depth of field. I'm not a photographer, but I do appreciate it, and it was apparent to me from his background, style, and portfolio he would be a great match for us.
About Coba - Cody works out of SF, Baldemar out of the OC and Sean out of LA. Despite the different home bases, they work together, we had all three shooting at our wedding.
Budget - We, like everyone, were on a budget. Cody worked with us to tailor a package that would deliver the things that were most important to us at a cost that worked for us.
Communication - Cody was always quick to respond and easy to get hold of. We never had to worry about anything.
Timely - Cody was prompt with quotes, at meetings, on wedding day and in delivering the final pictures.
Shooting the Day - Even before people saw the pictures we got many comments and inquiries about Cody, Baldemar and Sean. They were efficient, set up great shots, and present for the moments without being in the way. Their judgment about where to take shots, backgrounds and angles was superb. If you find yourself in a position where Cody says, hey let's stop here for a picture, take him up on it, you won't regret it.
Friendly - Cody and Baldemar have a great ability to direct a shot, but let it develop it's own character at the same time. They put us at ease throughout, connecting with our guests, and seemed more like friends celebrating with us.
The Pictures - Amazing, beautiful, fantastic are what our friends and family say about them; we love them, but we are biased. As part of our package, we paid for the originals and put together photo books in iPhoto as gifts for our parents and siblings. We had plenty of pictures to customize for each of them and they were thrilled.
Hopefully you can see that we were extremely happy with our experience, but I think it's important to have balance in a review too. It took me a bit to think of something, but here are two small points:
Pictage Gallery - We went with the online gallery pictage. It looks great, but requires people to set up a log in, and I think prints from the site were too expensive. $15 for a single 4x6 vs. about $0.25 at Costco. Granted there's a quality difference in the prints, which we would pay for. But we liked the idea for aunt's, uncle's, friends etc. that just want a print or two for their collection, at that price it's too high. It's not an issue with Coba, just a buyer beware.
More Pictures of People at the Reception - Cody and Baldemar have a great journalistic style. Their images bring to life the story that unfolds throughout the day and beautifully captures great moments and memories. My only minor regret is that we don't have more pictures of the wider wedding group at dinner and the reception. They did a great job focusing on the key players, speeches, dances and got several shots of guests around as well. I wish I had asked them to spend a bit more time getting a shot or two of each table at dinner, but I never communicated that was important to me.
Artistic - Above all the rest, the use of light, attention to color was unmatched in their portfolio and delivered in our wedding pictures.
Cody, Baldemar and Sean are talented, good people and deliver a fabulous result. We highly recommend them as well.
