I just love Megan and her pictures!!! Her vision and ease to work with!! I was so impressed with…read morehow prepared she was!! She has a beautiful peak of our wedding in my email the next day!!! !! We had planned a destination wedding and I chose Megan on Yelp!! I was once a professional photographer too and I loved her pictures... called her and talked with her and as you can see ... WOW... stunning pictures!!! I would without any reservations recommend Megan!! She is so easy to work with... she even helped the best man and groom put on their boutonnières... she is fun and know her camera and how to use it!! Thank you so much Megan!!! So very much for capturing the memories of our special day!!!

Megan is amazing! This is just a review for her engagement session, but I've hired her for my…read morewedding as well and I'll post an update to talk about that. She scouted the location and brought a second shooter to handle lighting (who was also awesome). She really understands light and how to work with a frame. If you're a little camera shy, like me, she'll give you a hand with posing ideas and lots of encouragement. Our shoot started out normal enough, but I had wanted to have a paint fight with some brightly colored paints, and she was totally into it! I had so much fun and I don't think I would have been able to without their openness and professionalism. She sent me a preview of the pictures the next day, and they were absolutely fantastic! And her rate is very affordable for any budget. Highly recommended!

I'm your typical man. There's no joy for me in having my picture taken. Plus I don't need…read moredocumentary evidence of my greying, double chinned self. But my wife wanted one of those that are taken on the beach and it's been way too long since we've had an 'official' family portrait taken so we thought why not. Surprisingly to me, it was fun. David and his assistant made things comfortable and took control of the situation while keeping things relaxed. The smiles and situations in the photos were staged, of course, but the photos were natural and true to our family. There wasn't the gritted teeth and pinch grins in front of a book case backdrop that I remember from my youth. It was also a spur of the moment thing. When we decided to do it, I called several photographers and either didn't get a call back from the others or were treated rather contemptuously because of our limited time. David had to rearrange somethings but we managed to get in during our week on Hilton Head. One word of warning: because of my lack of experience in dealing with professional photographers I unaware of the cost of the final photos. A bit of a shock so get a ball park idea when you call in what the final costs will be.

I decided to read some other reviews on Hilton Head Island Portraits (HHI Portraits) before posting…read morethis. I have to say that anyone complaining about the costs are probably perfectly content letting Walmart print their point-and-shoot snapshots, completely unaware that professionally printed items are considered heirloom quality and tend to cost more. To me, my investment in professional quality was worth the price. That being said, I found David and his assistant to be charming and helpful. To the best of my knowledge, neither of them are God, so the weather was not up to them. However, we had no problems whatsoever. I've been noticing a trend in other professional photographers that have basically given up trying to sell prints and instead have opted for selling a disc full of images, then leaving it up to the buyer to try and get professional prints done. To me, any photographer, like David Gerwels, who has not abandoned that fundamental principle, has shown more dedication to the art. I received a wall grouping (stretched canvas) and they were beautiful, and ready to hang. David even gave me tips on how to hang them to achieve the professional look they deserved. All in all, my experience with HHI Portraits was a great one, and I would recommend them to anyone who is looking for quality instead of their sister-in-law who bought a Nikon at Staples and prints on her all-in-one HP.

We could not be more fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Esther for our wedding!…read moreEsther shot one of our groomsmen's weddings in Savannah in 2021 and we loved her work so much we HAD TO HAVE HER. Fast forward to 2023 and she flew out to CA (twice!) for our engagement shoot and wedding and words cannot express how amazing it was both times to work with her. Not only is Esther insanely talented, but she's also the kindest, funniest soul and served as both photographer, pseudo-bridesmaid, and therapist on and AFTER our wedding. And while we wanted our wedding to go perfectly, one of the greatest things about Esther was how flexible she was and how she moved with the punches: From our planner needing to change the schedule completely, to breaking her foot the morning of our wedding (!!), Esther never once blinked an eye and even at the literal cost of her own health and wellbeing, stayed until our wedding ended. We love you Esther and would get married all over again, just to have you there!!

This review is for Esther's "customer Service" purely. I did not work with her for the following…read morereasons: I found Esthers Griffins website and loved the photographs she displayed of her work, I reached out and gave her an detailed breakdown of what we were looking for, as well as the amount of time and locations that we wanted the photographs taken. She agreed and immediately sent me an invoice that I had to pay in order to schedule with her. I do not live in Savannah, and I have no idea what this woman is all about... So her immediate request for an upfront payment via email was a little out of the blue. I've heard a lot of horror stories with people paying upfront and losing all their money. Understandably I wanted to be careful and cautious. ( for all I know this could have been a fake website, with fake pictures and reviews .. Especially since there were no reviews on yelp). After her request I made an effort to call her over two days, I must've called a dozen times. No one answered the phone. And conveniently her voice mailbox was full. At some point my phone calls were going directly to the voice mailbox. So not only can I not leave Esther a message but I also couldn't get in touch with her to ask any questions about her work. (nor did I receive a call back)... This was a huge red flag. So I emailed - I asked Esther if we can pay partially now and when we meet her we can pay the remainder, she expressed an extreme attitude. I'm not sure where our conversation may have been unclear, but I did not say I wasn't willing to pay her in full as she requested. I was only asking if she would consider a retainer as most photographers do. I made an effort to reach out to her via phone and email to simply ask a few questions regarding her process of working with customers so I would feel more comfortable working with her and she disregarded that effort. As someone who is in the creative industry I would never treat a potential customer like this, nor would I work with someone who I have never met, let alone never been able to speak to on the phone. How could Esther expect customers to pay her in full if they can't even get in touch with her over the phone. ( or don't bothered to call you back regardless of providing your phone number in every email). Esther has made this interaction incredibly unpleasant and unprofessional and in all honestly it is very upsetting that she treats people like this. I still don't know if Esther is a real photographer with a legitimate business, I never spoke to her, and she never bothered to return my calls. The only thing she was very fast about doing is sending me an invoice. A lot of red flags popped up after that. And her response to shoo me away immediately were extremely unprofessional. Perhaps at the time she didn't care to accept another job? - but I would say if you are like me, and want to be sure that you're not sending your money to a fake account, and don't want to be scammed, I will be very careful going forward with this "photographer". These days it's very easy to fabricate an entire career on the Internet, so if you're being asked to send money and then meet them in the park and yet they never speak to you I would avoid them at all costs. And if this does happen to be a legitimate business, then I highly suggest learning how to speak with potential customers, and try to work with them especially when they are kindly asking you standard business questions in an effort to get to know you. After all - liking your personal photographer is very important, but how would you know if they don't bother to speak with you.

We booked Joyce and her team to take photos of my terminally ill sister, younger sister, mother and…read moremyself. They were professional, caring, gracious, and took great care of my mom and sister including pushing my sister in a sand wheelchair which is a beast to push! The shoot was fun and we happened to be booked at sunset and were treated to the full moon rising! Joyce was able to capture shots of us with the moon in the background! We were extremely happy with her work and cannot wait to see the finished images. We already have a preview on FB! They used a squeaky toy to get my sister to laugh and of course we all giggled. After the shoot one of the team members gave my sister the squeaky toy frog. She has that frog with her 24/7 since the shoot. Priceless!

Good pictures, well run, you will not have to spend a lot of time grueling through different shots…read moreon the beach as they know exactly what to tell you to do....and will also give you the chance to do whatever you want. Here's the deal...unless you are willing to spend at minimum $500 on just a COUPLE photos don't pay the sitting fee. We were very shocked to see the prices of the photos and although they are professionally done the price is pretty outstanding. The only way to get rights to a CD with printing privileges is to pay for their $1,050 package, or upgrade your current package for an additional $200 (the cheapest package is $375 and includes 11x14, 2 8x10s, and 2 5x7s). The biggest photo you can get with their packages is also a 20x24. To upgrade to 24x30 it is going to be an additional $200 and to upgrade to 30x40 an additional $300. Again, good photographers, be prepared to spend an arm and a leg...and another arm.

We had a horrible experience. We are a family of 10 who only really required one good photo for our…read more40 th anniversary. For $600, we could get 5 edited shots. The photographer met us at the beach with zero personality. We waited weeks for the photos. Not one was good. They wanted us to pay more to properly edit them. Run from this company. When explaining our sadness, they were rude. Find another company. Do not use them. They were horrible from start to finish.

I highly recommend seaside beach Photography! The entire process was seamless. They were flexible…read moreabout the time as we had two infants in our group. They understood that we couldn't take 7:00 photos with such small children. I had to also change the date a few times, and the company did do without any penalty. I emailed several times asking questions, and always received an immediate response. They are very professional. The photographer was absolutely amazing. He was awesome with our large group. He didn't waste any time as we were working on "borrowed time" with two infants. He also made sure that we were happy with our pictures. I have an almost 6m old that can barely sit up, and he worked with me to get a great individual shot of him sitting up. The price was also amazing compared to other photography companies. I highly recommend you using this company if you are wanting stellar beach pictures!

Iryna took just fabulous candid and posed photos for us on the beach during our family vacation!…read moreShe was available on fairly short notice and didn't cost us thousands of dollars. We gave her a basic list and a dream list and she blew through the basic list in a matter of moments. I love the pictures and we were blessed with such an abundance of them! She gave us the digital files too, which is so helpful! She put her watermark on the photos, which might bother some people, but I like it and hardly notice it! Iryna was so good with the kids and placing us so that we were all seen well. I'm so very grateful for her help getting photos of all 16 of us!! She traveled to me from Hilton Head and it was just the best gift of good service I could have asked for!!

We had a fantastic experience with sweet Bonnie. She was personable and put us right at ease. I…read morefelt like I'd known her for years after the first 10 minutes. I now have a gorgeous photo of us in our favorite place - Savannah. It hangs on the wall as a reminder of a beautiful time in our lives. Thanks, Bonnie!

Bonnie took care of my personal branding photoshoot session for my new virtual business. She went…read moreabove and beyond my expectations during the entire process from scheduling and end of service when I received my pictures. I was especially eager to capture my personality through my branding pictures and Bonnie over-delivered with her research and skillset in ensuring I had the best possible outcomes with the time we had together. Not only am I super impressed with her skills, but she was also my number 1 cheerleader during the photoshoot which helped to calm my nerves. I especially appreciated her attention to detail and ensuring every hair was in place ;-) Thank you Bonnie! 10/10 recommend.

Gabby is truly an amazing artist with an uncanny ability to make you feel relaxed and comfortable…read moreduring your session. I've always felt a little awkward taking pictures, especially with my husband, and Gabby kept us laughing and smiling the whole time. Our pictures turned out beautifully in a way that doesn't look forced or too posed. I'm a big believer that photography is one of the best ways to preserve and revisit your best memories and I find myself looking through our session with Gabby often. I really cherish our pictures and the love that was captured in them. I printed several and hung them along the banister in our house, used my favorite shot for our annual Christmas card, and of course I posted nearly all of them on social media, haha. If you're looking for a photographer in HHI, I highly recommend Gabby. She's communicative, detailed, and I think her work speaks for itself!