Michael is an amazing photographer! He takes the time and has the patients for any desirable photo shoot. Very good with kids and pets! Very creative poses and all photos come out amazing! read more

Great photographer. He is able to see the beauty in everything and capture it on camera. He is also very good with animals and takes amazing pictures of them. read more

I was looking for a professional photographer which I needed for some photos of myself for my comp card which is basically an entertainment business card with photos of the client. A friend of mine heard about MIKE MESSNER who lives in Kitchener, Ontario,& he told my friend that the photo shoot would be $150.00 which is a good price, considering that most professional photographers charge about $300.00 & up. My friend told the photographer that I don't have a lot of money to spend ,and Mike said that he would do us a "favour" and the whole thing would be $150.00. That sounded like a great price. My friend did not know the photographer well but Mike was raving about all the business he was getting from high end companies. When we arrived at their townhouse, the kitchen was messy- clutter everywhere & his wife, Mary & Mike were very friendly. The photo shoot was in the basement & it was pathetic-some narrow stairs that led to a very small basement with dirty concrete floor. At one end of the basement there was dusty dirty equipment & tools. There was no change room for me downstairs so Mike told me that I could walk upstairs & use the bathroom to change. I was not going to walk upstairs to change with high heels so I decided to change in the back of the tiny basement. I used his dirty weight machine equipment to hang my clothes on since there wasn't anywhere else to hang my clothes. Mike did have back drops of various colors & my friend was the one who directed me since Mike had no idea except when it came to doing sexy sultry photos. When Mike was doing my photo shoot, he told my friend that he wanted to add some red light to the background which gives a very sensual sexy look which is not what I nor my friend wanted. Mike had to be told more than once that we did not want sexy sultry photos of me. My friend was the one who had to direct me and help me with my poses. I wanted some photos enlarged & touched up & I needed a comp card done. I told them the specifications of the comp card that is required in the entertainment business & they would not listen-went ahead-created their own without my approval. I told them more than once that is not what I requested & I did not pay for that. Mike & Mary tried to get more money out of me. Every time I would say, how much is this going to cost me, Mike would say, "Don't worry about it. We will work it out." I ended up paying over $300.00. Mike & Mary continued to try to get more money out of me after that. I was getting really frustrated with both of them & I said I was not going to give them one more cent. They tried to charge me for the printed 8X10 photos that they did not print off. Mary his wife has a mean streak in her & was yelling at me at one point. Her husband yelled at her & said, "Mary, shut up. Just give her the files, CD, & photos. Give her everything. I don't want anything to do with this anymore."At one point Mike puts out his shaking hand &says, "See what this has done to me" --as if trying to get me to feel sorry for him. Mike put my photos on 3 different files--Raw, j peg, Tiff. When I asked him why he did not put them on j peg files, he said, "They are yours now, & you can figure it out." I had Mike open up the CD files that he gave me because I did not trust him-- it took awhile for him to open them. At first I thought that perhaps it was his laptop that was slow. This went on for about 30 min. Not once did Mike offer a chair for my husband & I to sit on but he was sitting on a chair at the table with his laptop, checking my photos. Meanwhile his wife, Mary was standing in the kitchen while we were there with both arms crossed with a stern look on her face. I ended up getting my CD files but when I got home I found out one CD had nothing on it. I ended up spending HOURS downloading all my photos, but first I had to go on line and download sites on how to convert tiff and raw to j peg. All the raw photos that Mike took were pathetic and I take better RAW photos. All of the photos that Mike took showed the concrete floor and equipment that was in the area of the back drop and I had to crop practically every single photo. Plus all the so called touched up photos of me that Mary did made me look like I LIVE in Cuba. My face was so tanned-that is not a good look for an entertainment business card. Plus, I am naturally fair skinned so the photos were not a good representation of what I look like. All the other photos had terrible lighting & my face looked really pale or blotchy red at times. My skin is not like that and I have no blemishes. Mike even had some of my photos with the back drop colors showing on my shoulder area. I had to edit, crop and redo ALL of my photos myself. That took many many hours since I am not techy. Please do NOT waste your time nor money on MIKE MESSNER. Both of them have no sense of professionalism and they should not be in business. They are NOT for the client but are for THEMSELVES!!! read more

Mike has always taken great pictures of me and my pets. He also does my buisness cards which are always exactly how I want them and done beautifully. read more