Ksenia and her assistant captured the most beautiful day of my life perfectly. Her photos ranged from soft and dreamy to bright and radiant, which was great because it summed up the whole experience. One of the reasons we wanted to hire Ksenia in the first place was that her prices were almost bizarrely affordable in contrast to anyone else we looked at. Once we saw her portfolio, we were sold. She is very nice and friendly and seemed sincerely enthusiastic about the whole thing, which is nice because it helped things feel even more special. The only thing that I would say is that I wish I had been more direct with telling her what I wanted because there were a few shots I would have liked to get in and didn't ask for them because I was too overwhelmed with the day. I am sure she would have accommodated whatever I wanted. But that's more about me than anything else I LOVE my photographs and there are so many of them. When your biggest issue is which ones to pick for prints, it's definitely a good thing. read more

Nester Photography - Vickers-Webb wedding, September 8, 2012, photo by Ksenia Nester, - Event Photography Near Me - Carlsbad, California

**This is the first review I've EVER written on YELP** Where do I begin, Ksenia was GREAT! We used her for our wedding day, May 25, 2013. While researching photographers, we wanted some one reasonably priced, but quality too! We emailed back and forth through numerous messages, and then met in person to discuss the vision for the wedding day. It was obvious that Ksenia was no novice. I was slightly concerned that on her website there were no African American couples, and maybe that would prove to be an issue. But after speaking with her, seeing her albums, and get a sense of her shooting style, we decided to go for it. BOY, ARE WE GLAD WE DID!! Ksenia was a complete professional, and took AMAZING shots of our day! She captured the emotion, excitement, happiness, and fun the day incorporated... but most importantly she captured the LOVE! I can't stop looking at our pictures, and showing them to ANYONE who will look! In our package, an album is included, which we should be getting in the next couple of days. Can't WAIT! :-) We highly recommend Ksenia. read more

Nester Photography - Just one of many sunset photos... - Event Photography Near Me - Carlsbad, California

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Just to add my voice to the chorus... Ksenia is FANTASTIC! Very reasonable rates, and she goes above and beyond expectations. She was completely punctual, professional, fun and easy to work with. I told her I wanted less "traditional" posed wedding photos; that I wanted a more journalistic approach to capture and help me remember the day, and she completely got it. She gave us coverage of the whole day, from the prepping to the ceremony to the reception, capturing all of our people in perfect moments, as well as a wonderful mix of wedding party and family photos. My husband and I actually look like us, goofy faces and light sabers and all ;) AND she made us a beautiful, bound coffee-table book of the best shots from the day. AND my dad has a photographer crush on her now. She's really just wonderful. Took the stress right out of the photo aspect of the wedding. HIGHLY recommended. read more

Nester Photography - Bridal Party Awesomeness by Ksenia Nester - Event Photography Near Me - Carlsbad, California

I found Ksenia on Yelp and was impressed by the many great reviews. I was overwhelmed by the number of wonderful photographers to choose from for our wedding, but also overwhelmed by the price - Ksenia had much more reasonable rates and a portfolio that absolutely stood up to the more outrageously priced options. I am so glad that we decided to work with her! We didn't get to meet her until the day of the wedding, but she was comfortable jumping right in. Her second photographer was also very skilled and professional, and everyone who interacted with them was impressed and complimentary. When we got to see the finished photos, we were so impressed and excited - the photo book that she created for us was also exactly what we wanted! Overall a wonderful experience, and highly recommended! read more

Nester Photography - My favorite photo from the day - Event Photography Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Ksenia is amazing! She did my sons new born photo shoot and the pictures are amazing! She was very patient with us and our tiny little munchkin that kept peeing on her. I will only use Ksenia for all of my photography needs! My sons first birthday is in 2 months so hopefully she'll be available to do the cake smashing photos. Can't wait! read more

Nester Photography - Event Photography Near Me - Carlsbad, California

We found Ksenia when she first moved to the US from Russia, where previously she had already been doing wedding photography for several years. After we saw her work, we were definitely interested in meeting her for a consultation. She offered great value with her work and she herself was very amiable. It was alos definitely clear that she really takes pride in her work and enjoys what she does. Plus her packages also included a second photographer, which was a bonus. We immediately ended up booking her for our wedding over a year in advance. Prior to the wedding day, we gave her a few insights on the kinds of photos we liked (less posed, more candid, and more photos of guests). And then on the wedding day itself, she and her second photographer (who turned out to be the wedding photographer chosen for her own wedding) arrived on time, and immediately jumped into action. They were definitely very focused (no pun intended) on their work, but also conscious of staying out of people's way and generally working in the background. They were also very inconspicuous during the ceremony, making sure not to block any guests' views, but weren't afraid to get into the crowds during the reception for candids. Ksenia also has very good skills with posing people, and we loved the formals we received. We're not huge fans of the "traditional" style of posing (generally looking directly into the camera, with a very formal pose), and she knew exactly what to do for us. We were so pleased with the photos that we received that we purchased an album from her (also a great value!) and asked her to arrange it to her tastes, since we trusted that she would do a great job. We just received the album yesterday, and are just as happy with it as we are with the photos! We've received lots of compliments on the pictures from our guests, and would definitely recommend her for wedding photography. read more

My husband and I cannot rave enough about Ksenia Nesterova's Photography! A few months before our wedding we thought we had a different photographer lined up then out of nowhere, they lost contact with us. Frantically I started looking for another photographer. All of the quality photographers in our area wanted to charge us between $3,000-5,000 for a simple beach ceremony. Finally we found Ksenia and her package fit exactly what we needed for a little under $1,000. Ksenia was extremely professional, helpful, and instantly put us at ease in the planning process. The day of the wedding went just as smooth and all of the photos turned out breath-taking! read more

Ksenia is absolutely amazing when it comes to wedding and engagement photography. She did our engagement and wedding photos and they came out breathtakingly beautiful! I can't wait to work with her again. She is professional, very pleasant, and most importantly CREATIVE. We experienced bad weather on both our wedding day and engagement pictures day. We ended up taking engagement pictures in Sausalito where it was very foggy, yet Ksenia managed to find those right moments and even captured the clouds in the most awesome way! It was raining on our wedding day and we ended up shortening our shooting time to only one hour at Fort Point. You would never guess the weather sucked and the pictures again turned out wonderful. It is very rare when you find that photographer who is able to work in any situation and through any last minute mishaps, but Ksenia handles it! read more

Nester Photography - You can't tell by the picture, but the weather was awful on this day! It came out absolutely beautiful in the pictures! - Event Photography Near Me - Carlsbad, California

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I don't know what else I can say that hasn't been said already by all the other Ksenia fans here other than, BOOK HER NOW. Given the wedding photos are one of the most important elements of a wedding, I spent several months looking for a high quality, professional photographer at an affordable price. That is when I finally found Ksenia. From the moment I first contacted her, I thought she really went out of her way to treat us with the best quality service and utmost respect. She was very responsive throughout the whole process and even came out to do a site visit with me to check out the property in advance of the wedding. Most importantly, I was really impressed with her portfolio -- I loved that you could really feel the essence of the day and each photo had just a enough of an artistic element. Needless to say, she worked extremely hard to capture each and every special moment of our day and I never felt like I was kept from enjoying my own party. In the end, we LOVED our photos... she really caught some of the most precious moments of the day... We are so full of gratitude and without a doubt, will cherish the amazing photos, captured emotions and memories, thanks to Ksenia and her team! read more

Ksenia is truly amazing and she is very talented. I am so in love with my wedding photos. There's so many good ones that I can't pick just one to blow up and frame. I already got so many compliments from friends and family. The outdoor shots are gorgeous and are my favorite. My parents were also amazed at how she was able to capture some of the candid moments in such a beautiful way. Ksenia is a pleasure to work with. She is very responsive. She makes you feel so comfortable in front of the camera and she gives you guidance and direction to fulfill the shots. I will recommend Ksenia to all my friends and I highly recommend Ksenia to anybody looking for a wedding photographer! read more

Ksenia did an amazing job shooting our wedding! I wasn't sure what to expect and honestly on the day of the wedding, I had no idea how the pictures were going to turn out. But when we received our photos I was blown away. I used to have a room mate who was a wedding photographer who charged $5,000 a wedding. And his friend was one of the top wedding photographers in the world and he charges $10,000 a wedding. I can honestly say that Knenia's work was on par with both of them. Seriously. read more

Short Story: My husband and I got married in July in Brazil Room at Berkeley's Tilden Park. We are so lucky to have found Ksenia! She's an unbelievably talented photographer with amazing personality and very reasonable rates. She's good at portray, posing pictures, as well as photo journalism style. She's very creative with choosing the settings. She is also a good director! We love our wedding pictures and truly recommend her. Long Story : Finding a wedding photographer was the most time consuming task of all the wedding planning for me. I must have looked at at least 20-30 photographer websites through friend's, caterer's recommendations and contacted at least a dozen. I didn't like most photographers as they were too cliche, or too ordinary. The few that I like were way beyond our budget and by that I mean that a basic start-up package (2-3 hours) was more than $4000. I was lucky to find Ksenia through google search and google ads! I instantly loved some of the albums like the one on Monterrey beach. After I met her the first time in San Francisco, any doubts about not knowing the photographer went away. Ksenia has an amazing personality. She's very friendly, casual, and makes you comfortable right away. I felt like she's not just a photographer but a good friend! On the day of our wedding, we went for an hour and half photo shoot at UC Berkeley botanical garden before our ceremony. My husband wasn't too keen on the photo shoot before we got there. But as soon as the photo shoot started, he started getting more relaxed and he loved the photo shoot as much as I did. We both had a great time. Ksenia made us feel so relaxed and she made us laugh a lot with her funny comments. Ksenia is not only a talented photographer in the sense of angles, composition, etc. but she's also a great director. She would chose perfect settings for pictures, with excellent suggestions for posing. We are very impressed by our photos in the redwoods and the botanical garden. Then we went back to the ceremony and reception place. Ksenia once again chose a beautiful spot for us to take pictures with friends and family and little kids. She also took beautiful pictures of ceremony and reception. What we really love and appreciate are also pictures of our guests in more of a photo-journalism fashion where they didn't know they were captured on camera. Ksenia captured so many beautiful moments. We had so much fun on our wedding day and we are so happy that Ksenia captured them. We want to keep looking at the pictures!! Lastly, we had planned for a photo shoot after the wedding! We didn't want to stress ourselves out on the wedding day and decided to postpone some beach photos for after wedding. One nice thing was that I didn't care about the dress or anything so we could take some casual fun pictures! The first time we wanted to go, Ksenia called us and told us the weather was very foggy and cold at Point Reyes where we were planning to go. That was so nice and thoughtful of her to check and I'm so glad we didn't go because I would have froze and not enjoy the photo shoot. We rescheduled for a future date and the weather turned out perfect!!! Nice temperature without too much sun! We had so much fun at one of our favourite beaches in Point Reyes where we have so many memories. Ksenia also brought us a bottle of champagne which was a great idea for pictures! I cannot even describe how excited and happy I was to see the photos!! I was almost ecstatic! Ksenia took so many gorgeous artistic photos! I still cannot stop looking at them. My husband and I both love Point Reyes and we are so happy and grateful to Ksenia for so many beautiful photos. Our families also love all the photos and are very thankful to you Ksenia. Once again, thank you so much Ksenia for all your effort, talent and kindness! Farzaneh and Sobhan read more

Ksenia is a great photographer! She is professional, easy to work with, accommodating and does a great job with pictures. I hired her for my husband's birthday for a few hours and I am so glad I did. The pictures really captured the memories and all the fun we had at the party. She took some great action shots and made sure capture everyone there. My guests really enjoyed all the pictures as well! Thanks to Ksenia and her team for a job well done. read more

I stumbled upon Ksenia's website after weeks, and many grueling hours of trying to find the perfect wedding photographer without paying an arm and a leg. Then I found Ksenia :) and her prices are so affordable for what you get! She has great packages. Another thing that I loved was that she was so kind and friendly, it really made the whole experience easy and enjoyable. Any questions I had were answered within hours of asking them( even when she was busy traveling). She is so talented and creative! If you are looking for an amazing photographer look no further! I would use her again in a heartbeat for another occasion. read more

Nester photography is a really good value and Ksenia is really pleasant to work with. Neither my fiance nor I had done a photo shoot before and she made us feel really comfortable and so we were able to have fun with it. She captured some some really great shots for our engagement photos - some romantic, some sweet and intimate, some cute and whimsical, and some candid, and some casual strolls. She knows all the great spots in SF and won't hesitate to hop a fence to get the perfect angle. We will certainly be considering her for our wedding!! read more

Nester Photography - Event Photography Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Ksenia and her team truly captured my Yosemite fall wedding. My husband and I love the outdoors and she was able incorporate our adventurous personalities in our wedding photography...capturing many hard to get / key moments that we will cherish forever. This includes our morning tea ceremony, afternoon lawn ceremony, first 'rock climb', evening dinner reception, and dancing. The next day, she took the time to join us around Yosemite National Park for some playful action shots. She handles all kinds of lighting and location changes gracefully. Great personality, full of smiles, and overall a pleasure to work with. In summary, a passionate and truly talented photographer who has the natural ability to help make your special day picture-perfect. She makes it look easy too. Thanks so much, Ksenia! read more

My fiance and I had an excellent experience with Ksenia! She is professional, provided us with many different options, and delivered to us a great set of engagement photos. We are definitely pleased with our photos! read more

Ksenia is an amazing photographer. She made my bday pics look great! I am very happy with her work, would definately hire her again, and I strongly recommend that you hire her. 5 stars! read more

We hired Ksenia to take newborn pictures of our two week old daughter. She was extremely professional, and took some really amazing photos of the family. Our daughter was in a bad mood and not very cooperative, but Ksenia was able to calm her down, and work around the crying to make her look like a little angel. A fantastic experience, and pictures that we'll love forever. read more

Ksenia was amazing through and through - from the quality of her work and creativity during the photo shoots to her dedication of time to us and quick turnaround. All in all the price was very reasonable. The photo shoots and her style are very modern and natural, without a ton of over-processing to overshadow the photos. The photos are simply amazing and are of extremely high quality. Highly recommend Nester!!! read more

We are very happy that Ksenia photographed our engagement and wedding! She is truly talented and accountable. Since the first time we saw her portfolio we knew we loved her art, it is out of a fairy tale story, so beautiful and romantic!!! It is hard to find photographers with her style around, we looked everywhere until we found Ksenia. She has an eye for great light and expressions that give a natural photo yet so full of romance. My husband and I know a little about photography and know that her photo compositions are really impressive. During the sessions she will have you pose or hold each other but will also improvise for the place you are shooting at. She and her team make you feel at home just like if you were shooting with friends! All of our pictures came out amazing and wow'ed everybody in my facebook. Last but not least, she has great prices too and will work with your needs and budget. Thank you Ksenia and team! read more