This is a longer review, so TLDR: Joshua Rainey Photography is great, and you should hire him for your event or wedding!
After scouring the internet for portfolios and searching far and wide for a wedding photographer, I eventually stumbled upon Joshua Rainey's website. I was extremely pleased with the clarity and detail of the photos, which maintain a realistic yet refined image without appearing over-processed in post. Upon contacting Joshua, my wife and I were met with prompt and courteous communication, which was maintained up to and through receiving our gorgeous finalized wedding photos.
Joshua lives in Oregon, but was able to travel to the Bay Area on two separate occasions for two full day photo shoots - one for an engagement shoot (which we partially decided to do to get to know him before the big day) and again a few months later with a second shooter for our wedding. You would think that this would be quite expensive, but we found that even with the travel and engagement shoot the final cost was actually less than what we were being quoted for by local bay area photographers to do the same thing.
At our first meeting in San Francisco, Joshua proved knowledgeable about the local area, provided good insight on what to bring and where would be good locations for the shoot. He also kept it not super formal or posed, which allowed us to feel more at ease and unstaged, leading to more natural photos. He is funny, kind, and compassionate, while still being professional. Once the finalized and edited photos were returned to us, we knew that we had definitely made the right decision.
Our second meeting during the "big day" he arrived early and ready to go, along with the second photographer he brought, and was able to capture great getting ready shots. He was able to direct the groups of people quickly and efficiently to get the photographs that we requested, along with many more that we wouldn't have thought about. At the same time, he did not over-run or try to take control of the entire day, which is something that some other photographers are not quite as good at.
All in all, Joshua was a great photographer at a more than reasonable price, and a wonderful human. If either of us had to get married again (which hopefully we won't), we would both make the same decision to hire him again, and you should too. read more