Doug was recommended to me by a friend and I am so so so glad we hired him! I asked him to shoot my brother's second wedding reception the day after Thanksgiving in the Bay Area. I wanted someone to come in for two hours and capture family portraits and candids during a ceremony-lite type reception. He was such a grounding, friendly, all-around lovely human who made everyone feel at-ease. And he turned around photos in rapid time and they were all terrific! I will cherish these photos forever, what an absolute treat it was to work with him. Highly recommend!! read more

Since Doug photographed our wedding four years ago, we have become a family of three and he is now our family photographer! He photographed our son when he was a month old and also captured our 2019 holiday photos. We're planning to have our 2020 holiday photoshoot with him next month. Doug has such an artistic eye. He manages to capture the sweetest moments, and they're always beautifully composed in a way that is uniquely his. He's also incredibly personable and easy going, so it feels more a like a good friend is taking our photos. In the wake of the pandemic, he also started a new service called Family Photo Editor. Every week we send him up to twelve of our own family photos for him to edit, and when he sends them back to us it's like he photographed them himself. Of course nothing can quite replace Doug, but having him edit our family photos is the next best thing. He recently decided to put Family Photo Editor on hold through the rest of the year, but we look forward to when he starts up the service again. Doug is a talent that you don't come across very often. We feel so fortunate to have him as our family photographer, and can't recommend him highly enough. read more

Where to begin.... Doug beautifully captured the most incredible days of my life (engagement and celebration). It was like living my best imaginable dream, and I'm so grateful that he was there to capture it. We will truly cherish our photos for the rest of our lives. Doug puts his heart into his work, and he was really gracious in getting teaser photos to us quickly- we had an incredible time sharing with family and friends. Doug is so talented and beyond that, also an incredible human. read more

Hiring Doug to photograph our wedding was one of the best decisions we made during our planning. Doug is nice, chill, and easy going. He even spent time out of his day to hang out for lunch to get to know us better. The more we got to know him, the more we knew he was a perfect fit for the wedding. Doug's documentary style photography was able to capture those fleeting moments people seem to forget about. He was also very unobtrusive, most of the time I didn't know he was there taking pictures! Doug is also very flexible in what you need to be photographed. For instance we needed more traditional photographs with the family. So he was able to manage and direct groups of people together to take pictures. Having Doug be our wedding photographer just seemed right and we are glad he could be a part of our wedding, he is a way chill dude to hang out with and also very professional. Hire this guy now! We plan to again. read more

I'm so grateful for Doug's patience, artistry and expertise. It had been almost 30 years since my last professional shoot and I was nervous. Doug created a calm engaging session and produced brilliant, authentic shots for my upcoming book. Click above, you have found your photographer, no need to look elsewhere! Thanks Doug! read more

From the moment we contacted Doug, my husband and I fell in love with his warmth and easy-going nature. He was quick at responding to our request and we immediately set up a phone conversation because we were planning our wedding from a distance. The conversation was full of laughs and excitement. It was the perfect fit right from the beginning. Doug took the time to get to know us and understand our preferences for our wedding day. My husband and I are an easy going-couple, which worked well with Doug's approach. He is full of beautiful ideas, yet able to go with the flow. The week before the wedding, we asked Dough to re-arrange the timing of the day and he was incredibly flexible and generous! We absolutely LOVED working with him and found ourselves just wanting to get some time to hang out with him throughout the day. His kindness and good energy really made our wedding day special. We are in awe of our pictures. They are everything we hoped for and more! We highly, highly recommend Doug for your special event. He is the perfect addition to the day and captures the essence of the beautiful moments in his photographs. read more

Task: family portrait Family: 4 adults + 1 dog The results were absolutely amazing! My parents were absolutely stoked with how the shots came out. Now we have the daunting task of selecting 3 or 4 to print and mount. Definitely will be tough considering all the choices. Doug suggested a lovely location- the Cliff House during sunset. The backdrop could not be more perfect with Sutro Heights, beach, and the baths. He was even able to make a curious noise to get our puppy to look at the camera! Katherine was a great help getting everyone to relax and pose naturally. These photographs will be treasured for generations to come. read more

Doug and Katherine at Helios Images were exactly what we were looking for our wedding. Their pictures capture the ENERGY of the moment completely. I wanted to avoid only having "posey" pictures because I wanted our photos to show what we were truly feeling on the day. I honestly can't say enough of how perfectly this came through in Doug and Katherine's photos. It's as if you feel you're actually at our wedding just by glancing at one of their photos. The first image they sent us from our wedding I exclaimed, "That is EXACTLY why I wanted these guys to be our photographers!!" The shots go even beyond my expectations with the beautiful lighting and clarity in each photo. Doug and Katherine were extremely professional from square one, yet wonderfully kind and easy going. Every email was promptly responded back, every phone call was answered or returned super quick. Their professionalism continued during our entire experience with them at the wedding and post-wedding with their sweet email a week later with our first photo. I would 150% recommend them to anyone looking for amazing photographers. I TRULY can't say enough of HOW HAPPY we are with our wedding being so beautifully documented. I LOVE THESE GUYS!! You would be ridiculous not to choose them...seriously. read more

Doug was our wedding photographer and easily the best decision we made for our big day. Along with providing us with beautiful photos, we have such fond memories of working with him! He is so kind, down-to-earth (so important on those hectic days!), and made us feel at ease in front of the camera. Wish we lived closer so we could hire him for all our family milestones! read more

I am an artist and I have been so fortunate to have Doug and Katherine photograph my paintings. If it was possible to give more than 5 stars, I would give them galaxies! The process of applying to galleries(the competition is fierce) requires documentation of one's work, and acceptance greatly depends on the photographer's expertise in capturing the essence of the paintings. Doug and Katherine's representation of my work is nothing less than breathtaking, and has resulted in my acceptance as a solo artist in many galleries. My paintings are highly textured and varnished with high gloss-a challenge for a photographer to capture. Doug is a master at conveying the texture and depths of color in my work-his artist sensibilities and instinctive and intelligent approach can only result in excellence. Doug and Katherine are also a delight to work with. I had a double bonus of being the recipient of masterful work, and making a connection with two wonderful human beings. read more

Needed photos for: engagement photo shoot, head shot for work website, and wedding photos. Result: pure amazingness. I cannot say enough good things about Doug and Helios Images. We first hired Doug to take engagement photographs in Berkeley - he made my (now) husband and I feel completely at ease, which was challenging because neither of us are naturally photogenic or comfortable being photographed, so we were really intimidated by the idea of doing an engagement photo shoot. We left the shoot with full confidence in the quality of Doug's photos, and knowing we were going to hire him for our wedding even before we saw the final results. Needless to say, those photographs turned out to be beautiful, as expected. Doug and Katherine just photographed our wedding. While we haven't seen all of those photos yet, we have all the confidence in the world that they will be wonderful, and we were so impressed with how Doug and Katherine really integrated themselves in to the wedding, and made everyone feel comfortable. They weren't obtrusive, yet they made sure they got great shots; they weren't rude to guests, but they kindly and politely asked guests to refrain from taking photos as they were trying to photograph us - it really was the perfect balance between friendliness and professionalism. Every single relative and friend who has talked to us about the wedding has also raved about Doug and Katherine and how fun yet professional they both were. We had a minor power outage at the wedding, rendering our photobooth inoperable for a few minutes, so Doug valiantly (without me even asking) stepped inside the booth and started taking photos of guests for us! I have absolutely no hesitation about recommending Helios images to anyone for any occasion! read more

I had a wonderful experience with Doug and Katherine! They were warm, professional, creative, and helped me feel very comfortable during my photo shoot. The pictures were beautiful and they spent a lot of time with me during the shoot, finding the right spots for lighting, scenery, colors, etc. and with a relaxed, warm vibe. Thank you for the wonderful experience...I never thought having my picture taken could be a fun, relaxing time, but it was. I recommend Helios Images and Doug and Katherine highly and look forward to my next opportunity to work with them! read more

wow!!! I LOVE the pics!!! So happy we found you. You were so much fun to work with and really made us feel comfortable being in front of a camera all day. Next time we are in Cali we will have to meet up with you and your girlfriend! We will use you in the future for sure, once we figure out the family wedding we will let you know. If you are ever in Florida, you and your girlfriend are always welcome to stay with us. read more

We booked Doug again this past winter for a family photo shoot and convinced my sister's family to also book a session back to back. It was MAGICAL! Doug is so easy to work with and he is a master at capturing those sweet, intimate moments of a family. My favorite images were the ones he caught of my children just quietly cuddling their stuffed animals. This has become our family tradition, and the photos that Doug takes are some of our most treasured. My sister felt exactly the same and now we're already discussing next year's photo sessions! I honestly can't recommend him enough--thank you, Doug!! read more

Where to start...*deep breath* I'm nervous that i won't be able to describe in words the AMAZING experience I had with the photographers of Helios Images- Doug+Katherine. But here I go.... A little background info, it's a couple run operation. If you like more info, definately check out their website/blog because they are far better at introducing themselves than me. :) Ok, so I reached out to the couple because I needed headshots for a job resume. And, they went beyond expectations. We went on a drive northbound from central California to San Fran along the Big Sur. I felt like a model/movie star on my own photo shoot!!! Of course I am not used to taking pictures and kind of camera shy sooo...they just talked to me in a normal manner...just normal conversation...and Doug would be taking pictures then Katherine...tag team. They utilized the natural lighting, perfectly and syncing the times of the positions of the sun, where the shadows were, etc. (I'm not sure of the technical terminology, hehe) They had it down to a T! The photos came out great! I felt great! And, I looked great! In just a professional headshot for my resume, they captured not just a ordinary photo of myself but it portrayed-essence of me, confident me. It was for a job abroad so it really helped to show the most of me before interviewing face to face. Pros: *exellent quality photos *professional *makes you feel comfortable *super nice duo *make you beautiful using your real face instead of photoshop like whoa and people ask "is that really you" *communicates/coordinates well with you to get the exact photo(s) you want *loves what they do/passionate *makes you smile+laugh *captures the best of you *answered ALL of my questions Cons: None- seriously. THANK YOU HELIOS IMAGES/DOUG+KATHERINE!!! read more

Doug was absolutely wonderful!! We really couldn't have asked for a better wedding photographer. The wedding day is such a stressful day, and Doug kept both my husband and I calm and relaxed (which is quite a task, haha). He made everything so easy and laid back, and kept our guests happy, engaged, and having fun. Doug's photography is spectacular, but his personality and positive energy is truly noteworthy. We feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to work with him and for him to be a part of our big day! read more

Helios Images is fantastic! Doug and Katherine created professional work headshots that I love and had my boss & HR complementing as well - always good start/sign for a new job!! I look professional, fresh, and relaxed - due in no small part to Doug and Katherine's efforts to put me at ease, on-point advice on how to prep for the shoot, and phenomenal photographic skills. I cannot say enough good things and whole-heartedly recommend Helios Images - so much so, my sister hired them for her East coast wedding! read more

Doug was our wedding photographer, and if his style of photography speaks to you as it did to us, then look no further for an excellent, caring and professional person to capture the heart and soul of your moments, whatever they may be. I truly think his portfolio speaks for itself, he captures real moments and real feelings in a way that is stunning and seems so modern and yet so from another time. We have also purchased his fine art, which is stunning and beautifully printed. We had high hopes for the images of our wedding that Doug would capture, and he far exceeded them. Beyond beautiful images, Doug is also fun to work with and still completely professional, which is a hard balance for some small businesspeople. He kept in touch, kept us updated with the status of our online gallery, and happily handled numerous "oh wait, what about" type emails from us. We'd hire him again in a second, and hope to have him capture more moments in our lives. read more