It seems a huge shame that a few reviews might scare people away from Jay's excellent work! He's absolutely a five-star wedding photographer and was wonderful to work with. I admit, I was nervous after we sent an inquiry for our wedding based on his beautiful website portfolio, and then noticed he had such mixed ratings on Yelp and The Knot. We didn't have any referrals to go off of.
Thankfully, the strength of his photos made us continue on. From looking at his website, we thought his compositions and choices were a cut above every other photographer we looked at. He had a semi-journalistic style (candidly capturing the action like you're there) that we both loved. My now-husband was set on him if at all possible. We asked him upfront about the negative reviews, and he was very calm and non-defensive about our hesitations and shared his thoughts on what may have happened.
Our impression was that there were some extenuating circumstances of the reviews (and the same handful posted on multiple sites). Also, although he didn't say this, it seems that he doesn't spend his time being a salesman, for the most part. He didn't have slick vibes and hasn't bothered to polish his Yelp/platform image or solicit reviews -- he never nudged us for one, although other wedding vendors did. His approach may be because he gets work through word of mouth in his home city of Eugene, OR and doesn't bill himself as just a wedding photographer: he also photographs maternity, portraits, and other types of photography. He clearly does a lot of work and doesn't ask for reviews or he would have a lot of positive reviews!
From our experience, Jay is authentic, highly skilled, professional, and reliable. The one thing that may bug a few people is he is not always the fastest communicator via email when he gets busy, but we thought he was speedy where it counted. His contract was reasonable and his rates were also very reasonable for a photographer of his caliber. He also put a lot of thought into building buffer in his travel, which I appreciated because there's a little more concern about flight delays when working with an out-of-town photographer.
We flew him out first for an engagement shoot with us in San Francisco and he didn't charge us anything more beyond the travel expense (it was included in the package we selected). This served as a way to get to know each other before the big day -- highly recommend an engagement shoot for any wedding photographer you choose. He made us very comfortable and gave gentle guidance about how to pose for the best effect. During COVID times, he respectfully wore a mask. He was really generous with his time and very open to the kinds of shots we were hoping for, in multiple locations. We re-shot our proposal, which was originally done when we were alone, and he really captured the emotion. Before the day, he was also very encouraging of coming as we were and taking shots that felt like us -- I went with dressy jeans and a meaningful t-shirt in some shots and a nice sweater in some others. He made an album of so many wonderful shots.
I was a little stressed out on our wedding day that I'd asked to do so many different group portrait shots, but in the end I was glad I had. Jay was detail-oriented and tracked to make sure we got every portrait and group photo on our list. He had people fix their ties, hair, and accessories before the photos, and kept people talking and laughing while he snapped. He was very flexible to what we wanted with just enough suggestions/tips for where to put one's hands, legs, etc. All the guests seemed very comfortable with him and were impressed by his affability and observational skills. He got so many shots of us and our guests having a great time that we love. He had an eye for dramatic moments and framing without us having to say anything specifically. We also generally asked him to get some pictures of the scenery, atmosphere and tables and he came through with great artistic shots that preserved some areas of the wedding we hadn't even seen.
Amazingly, he came right from another wedding the previous day, and on 3.5 hours sleep he completely killed it. He didn't even tell us, but one of my husband's groomsmen (who was operating our video camera and thus a photography insider) found out that Jay got a lens error during the ceremony kiss and immediately dropped the camera and picked up his other one and got the shot! This is the pro level you pay for.
Jay also went above and beyond, Photoshopping some pictures of our family members who had to wear masks for our event--after thoughtfully preparing substitute photos with the same lighting on the day--so they could safely have key group pictures of themselves without masks.
Got our well-curated photo set back within 4 months, which was shorter than some of my friends' experiences, and we will treasure it always. We felt super lucky to have Jay as our wedding photographer and would recommend him to anyone! read more
