Derek Lapsley

My now husband and I were very particular when choosing our wedding vendors. We wanted to connect with them on a personal level. We met with a total of three local photographers in the Fresno/​Clovis area and Derek was the last of the three. My husband was unable to make the meeting due to work constraints. I immediately loved Derek and all of his incredible photos. I was ready to book him right then and there, but Derek thought it best for my husband to meet him and make his own decision as well. We met at a local pub for a drink a couple of weeks after. My husband agreed: Derek and his work — superb. But, who does that? Derek wanted to make sure my husband was comfortable with working with him too. That is awesome! My husband was impressed by that, and so was I.
The big day rolled around: Derek was right on time. I never felt his presence when we were all just hanging out or getting ready. We ended up with some amazing candid shots. When it came down to Derek directing us on poses — it was effortless! We loved it when he would snap a photo and get super excited as he looked at his own work. You can tell he truly loves what he does. He had so many creative ideas. We ended up with some dark and romantic shots as well as the bright, formal shots. His versatility is what you need in a wedding photographer. We could not be more excited with the photos from our wedding. We are so thankful for the memories we are walking away with, both of Derek and of the wedding. And we have it all on film. Priceless.

Derek and Andrew did very well on our wedding. Highly recommended!

If you have never had to pick out vendors for a wedding, then you may not be familiar with the fact that there are a LOT of choices out there! When my wife and I were looking for photographers we were almost overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices there seemed to be, and picking a photographer is arguably one of the biggest decisions you can make when picking a vendor for your wedding. You might pick a venue that is not the greatest (Our venue the lake dried up and didn’t have the scenic backdrop we had hoped), but with the aid of a good photographer this issue is not nearly as bad as it could be. Inversely if you select poorly when picking a photographer, then that same issue could be catastrophic for your wedding photos.
Luckily for us, we chose wisely! Derek knows his way around a camera, and that dry lake bed that we were worried would look terrible ended up looking great based solely on his skill as a photographer. We even ended up walking down in to the lake bed to take some groomsmen pictures and they ended up being some of my favorite groomsmen pictures!
There is a lot of stuff that goes on when you are doing pictures for your wedding, the pictures don’t start and stop on your wedding day, and it starts well before the day of. When we came across Derek’s website we immediately knew we had found our photographer! Some of the things he had written had us laughing, so we knew that his since of humor matched ours, which is something you may not think is important, but you would be surprised how much it actually DOES matter. Of course let us not forget that the quality of his pictures were also very influential in our decision to have him do our photos, his sense of style and the way he frames shots are perfect.
From our engagement pictures where he made a dried up field in the foothills look amazing to our wedding with a dry lake bed, which he also made look amazing, working with Derek was a pleasure. Not only does he know how to take awesome pictures, he is a genuinely friendly and nice dude. Having someone that you feel at ease with is important when you are getting pictures taken. You don’t realize it until you are there in person taking the pictures, but capturing an intimate moment on film could be pretty difficult if you don’t feel comfortable with the person behind the camera.
If you have not yet surmised by the above paragraphs, I without a doubt recommend that anyone looking for a photographer hire Derek immediately. I would also caution you, and I am speaking from personal experience here, do not skimp when you are hiring a photographer for your wedding. I will confess that I can at times, be a major cheapskate, spending large sums of money makes me nervous! And while I was initially hesitant to spend several thousands of dollars, I am glad we did.
Think about it like this; you might save some money skimping out and hiring someone who has limited skills, but these are pictures that you are going to want to look at (presumably) forever! Take that couple hundred of bucks and stretch it out across the several decades of your marriage, doesn’t sound too expensive anymore does it?

It was pretty difficult finding a local (ish) photographer to do our tiny Yosemite wedding. We planned a small dinner after the ceremony at The Ahwahnee Hotel, and they provided a long list of photographers they have worked with over the years… After looking up everyone on the list, I was pretty underwhelmed. I gave up looking for a while and I finally found Derek on The Knot’s app. I reached out to see if he might be free to shoot my destination wedding that was on a random Tuesday and he was very flexible, positive and enthusiastic every time we communicated. We spoke a few times over email and I let him know that I wanted some shots throughout the park after the ceremony, and he was all for it. Derek was on time the day of, was very prepared and made me feel super comfortable. I am not really used to being in front of a camera like that and he totally made me feel at ease and actually have fun. He drove my husband and I around to a spot we wanted to take photos and he had ideas of his own that were gorgeous. It seemed like he was inspired by our surroundings and didn’t have a specific set of poses/​locations in mind. He worked quickly and was great at improvising. Derek captured all of the little details that will help us to remember our day, and got some incredible photos of us in Yosemite. I had so much fun with him and his team all day that I was actually sad when they had to leave us! All of our friends and family who were there had nothing but positive things to say about them. We got all of our photos back from Derek on the day we were back from our honeymoon and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Thank you for capturing the moments of our day, Derek!

Derek has an incredible eye for the interesting, dramatic shot. Is work never ceases to amaze me! He is also as comfortable shooting professional portraits and other classic shots. I have a amazing photo hanging in my office that I get compliments on frequently.

If you have the privilege of having your photo taken by Derek, prepare to have your socks blown off!
We had Derek shoot our engagement photos. He is an extremely professional businessman who knows 1. How to have fun and 2. How to compose a damn good picture. The experience with Derek in booking the session, during the session, as well as the services and products he offers after the session are all flawless. Do not hesitate to call this man and make an appointment.