Steven Branstetter Photography

Steven came to Phoenix, AZ with his assistant to photograph our wedding in November 2015. We were looking for a photographer who is engaging, open minded, and above all beautifully cinematic. The product is amazing: realistic and honest photography, perfectly capturing everyone’s diverse personalities, while somehow making us and all the wedding guests look like total rockstars on film.
As soon as we met Steven, we could tell he was extremely creative and laid back, but also very observant, immediately piecing together ideas that would complement the wedding style. My husband is a rock musician, so naturally our wedding style involved music, our interests (Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter, Adventure Time, etc.), and lots and lots of black.
His ability to understand our style and run with it was astonishing, especially considering we first met the day before at the wedding rehearsal. I would recommend Steven for anyone who is looking for extraordinary wedding photography.

We were very disappointed with the photos of our daughter’s wedding. I know there were more photos taken than were given to her as proofs, but he said he gave her all that were taken. I know that is untrue. We all remember photos for which we posed, but were not there. I would keep looking for another photographer.

We could not have had a better experience for our wedding. We can’t stop looking at our photos and remembering every special moment. Steven worked so well with both of our families to help everyone feel comfortable while being photographed. We knew that he was a good match because he took the time to meet with us and get to know us before our wedding. We knew that we would feel comfortable on our wedding day. Thank you Steven for your thoughtful and artistic hard work at our wedding. Thanks to you, we will always cherish and relive the rich moments from our wedding day.

Steven was amazing. Not only was his pictures awesome but the way he also directed people was on point. Basically, he mitigated stress from us. We leaned on the guy and we did not have to worry about our wedding day.
He was very professional but most importantly had a sense of humor. Thanks Steven for capturing our most important day of our life. We will look to you again for future work.

Steven worked hard, but ultimately wasn’t a good fit for our wedding and we weren’t happy with the final product. We loved every aspect of our wedding day, but were disappointed with the pictures we received from Steven and coordination with Steven on wedding day was also not smooth.

Just finished a fabulous photo shoot with Steven. We had a great time at SF City Hall. Steven is creative, funny, and great company. His artistic eye gave us some wonderful shots. Can’t wait to see the end results. Thanks Steven!!!

Steven photographed our wedding just 3 weeks ago. Words cannot begin to describe how incredible he is at his job. First of all, he makes you feel SO comfortable in front of the camera. Not being used to being photographed I was nervous about the engagement shoot and wedding. Steven immediately makes you feel at ease while still being completely professional.
One of the many things that set Steven apart is that he does not charge by the hour. It is a flat rate and he spends all day with you. I planned our wedding and was nervous about timing and how everything would play out. Steven immediately said he would drive up in the morning (we live about an hour north of San Francisco), to help make sure everything went smoothly. He was there until the very end. Being on a budget, it was hard to imagine hiring a photographer and not being able to «afford» having them for the whole day. He gave me some advice a few hours before our wedding to really take moments throughout the day in which you step back and relish in the fact that you’ve just married the love of your life! My make-​up artist said she has never heard a photographer give such great advice. Your wedding day will fly by and not only did I take Steven’s advice but I also have incredible pictures to reflect back on.
Another thing that really drew us to him was his style. He doesn’t just «take pictures» of your wedding. He creates a story that allows you to revisit that day time and time again. Even family members and friends that weren’t at the wedding said they could feel the energy of the day just by looking at his photographs.
His calm, cool attitude gives you immediate confidence. One of my favorite parts of Steven’s photography is how verbal and positive he is. Constantly giving you great feedback, making comments like «wow», «gorgeous» and «that’s perfect», really make a difference when you’re not a professional model :) The great part is you get the best of both worlds with Steven. You’ll have your «details» and your «family» pictures, but you’ll also have pictures that will make you feel like you need to be on the cover of Vogue. He catches moments on film that will make you tear up. I promise, you will be so happy with your decision to hire Steven to capture the most important day of your life!

Steven is great! He photographed both my wedding and the engagement shoot, and both produced pictures that were exactly what I wanted. We got the standard shots, but we also got so many candid photos that show the love and joy my husband and I were feeling during both occasions.
He has a great eye for moments or scenes that translate beautifully to a picture, and his turnaround is amazing. I only got married 3 weeks ago, and he already has my pictures on his website! (BTW, they’re awesome) He also offers a flash drive with digital copies of all the pictures, so you don’t have to buy them from him.
We also purchased a coffee table book with our pictures laid out based on his design. He showed me another such book he designed, and I knew I had to have one. These are the memories I’ll cherish forever, and I’m so glad that I chose Steven to capture them.

We cannot say enough amazing things about Steven!!! He photographed our wedding as well as our engagement session. He truly took the time to get to know us as a couple & individually. Steven was beyond professional & such a pleasure to work with! He created a beautiful album of our engagement pictures that we were able to use as our wedding guest book & made a spectacular album from our wedding pictures. The moments he captured on our wedding day & during our engagement photo shoot will be treasured forever. I would highly recommend Steven to anyone!

Thank you Steven for all of the wonderful pictures from our wedding, you took the right pictures at the right moments for us.
We loved the setting that you placed us…
Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures again…
Anthony

Steven was the photographer at our October wedding of 150 people in Napa Valley.
New to San Francisco we were introduced to Steven through a mutual acquaintance. When we looked at his blog we knew we just had to meet! Meeting in personal only solidified our love for Steven and his work. Before the big day, he wanted to hear about our love story so that he could have background when capturing the most special day of our lives. He listened to the conflicting preferences of us and our parents. He ventured out to the venue with us and our families to discuss where photos should be taken and memories captured.
But his stellar customer service prior to the wedding was nothing compared to the joy he brought on our wedding day! During getting ready photos he made all EIGHT bridesmaids and mothers feel special and comfortable. He captured the memory of my first looks with my father and husband but didn’t make himself known. He managed the formal shots of large Jewish and Italian East Coast families with ease and pose. After the ceremony he brought us wine and kept us grounded in the moment until we hit the dance floor. Simply put, our wedding day would not have been the same without him!
Steven’s photos truly captured the spirit of our special day. Viewing them is like going back to our wedding day and reliving the memories. I would highly recommend him to anyone!

Exceptional composition and emotion — Unique perspectives and contexts in our daughter’s beach wedding shots–

Steven photographed our wedding and engagement photos. He is amazing!
We already recommended him to my cousin who saw our engagement photos on Facebook and wanted to get family photos done.
We combed through more than 200 portfolios and Steven was one of our three finalists. When you look at that many portfolios, you’ll find that most look the same after a while — with all the same semi-​posed photos. However, Steven’s really stood out for the emotions captured and the variety of angles and poses. He has a really great eye.
We chose Steven because he’s so fun and approachable and makes you comfortable in front of the camera. On the day of, he was making my parents laugh and feel at ease, which was super awesome. The level of service he provides is also top notch — he came to our rehearsal to scout out the lighting and location of the shoot and made recommendations to us about how to capture the perfect ceremony photos. He also got us our high resolution photos within 3 weeks of our wedding!
I posted a good number of our photos on Facebook, and everyone keeps telling me how amazing the photos turned out, and how happy we all looked — and it’s true. We were happy that day (and happy still of course!), and Steven really captured those natural moments just as we were. We are so incredibly happy with our photos. Other reviewers said it well when they said you probably won’t remember half of your wedding. If you get Steven, you’ll have the photos to remind you — and everyone will look amazing!
By the way — the engagement session was also awesome, and we got a TON of compliments for it. Unlike other photographers who do one location for the engagement shot, and maybe spend 2 hrs with you, Steven spent half a day with us, and walked all over the city with us because I had all these ideas for different backdrops! He would have gone longer, but we were tired!

When it comes to your wedding, the MOST IMPORTANT vendor is your photographer, HANDS DOWN. You won’t remember every detail of that day, but you can look at your photos for years and years. The reason my husband and I chose Steven is because of a number of things:
1. We got along REALLY well with him. He radiated passion… for what he does, for his family, for the people he works with. We knew we would be spending a lot of time with him, in very intimate moments, and wanted to trust the person who would be capturing these moments.
2. His book of business is diverse. He’s not JUST a wedding photographer who does those cutesy posed shots everyone seems to be doing now. He is dramatic, editorial, cautious, crafty, engaging…
3. The wedding album he worked tirelessly on for us is of superior quality. The pages are linen, the cover is satin… it doesn’t look like your average wedding album. It is more of a coffee table book, or editorial book. The pages don’t yellow and Steven customizes it to your (and his) liking. He’ll send it back to the manufacturer until all is perfect (as he did with ours).
4. The quality of his work is worth every penny. We have zero regrets in choosing Steven and will definitely be using him for future photog needs.
***If you’re lucky, you’ll get a chance to meet his wonderful wife, Becky, who is a doll, and their daughter, Ainsley Rae, who is, not joking, the cutest child alive right now.***
If you have a couple of photographers in mind, at least meet with Steven, chat with him, and look at his work in person. You won’t regret it. :)

Steven is incredible. He shot our wedding this weekend, and having him around added to the fun. He came to the rehearsal, spent all day with us as we got ready, and was there throughout the entire ceremony and reception. All our guests kept asking where we found the amazing photographer, and want to book him for weddings that are not even in sight yet. :) He really added to the ambiance of our wedding, and we felt incredibly lucky to have him. He was patient, hilarious, and held our vision with him as the day progressed, while adding his own insightful touches and suggestions. We highly recommend him for any event – he is truly fantastic.

When looking for a wedding photograpger my wife and I were a little dismayed at first. We didn’t want the heavily produced images that seem to be everywhere. No we didn’t want a photoshop artist — we wanted a photographer — one that could capture our wedding in a timeless fashion and one that knew how to capture the beautiful moments that no posed photo could compete with. We loved our wedding, we loved having steven there with us and we cherish the photographs he created of that special day.

We can’t thank Steven enough for capturing our special day with photographs that not only told the story of our love, but also our family. From taking pictures of the preparation time to the wedding ceremony and celebration, Steven was professional and responsive. His artistic eye, attention to detail, and creativity was evident in the end products and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect experience with a photographer. We have a collection of memories that will last a lifetime.

We found Steven through a well-​known wedding website and had our engagement photo section with him on a Saturday. Everything turned out great. During the photo shoots, he was very patient with us and made a lot of great suggestions. We never had professional photo taken before, but Steven made us feel comfortable and fun in front of the camera because of his down-​to-​earth and charming personality. We can see that he is not there just to finish his job, but to take great photos of us. We only hired him for one hour, but he went far beyond the time limit to make sure we got to the places we wanted. He captured some very nice moments of us and the photo turned out to be very lovely. There is nothing more we can asked for from a professional photographer. We highly recommend him to our friends and family.

Steven did an amazing job capturing all the special moments of our daughter’s first birthday. It’s clear he’s passionate about his work and he cares about his clients; it shows in his photographs. They’re beautiful! We wanted a natural, photojournalistic style, which he delivered, but he also provided some wonderful, artistic images. We appreciated his creative vision and attention to detail.
As for our experience working with him, it was a pleasure. He’s warm and very professional, too. He put us at ease. Also, he arrived early and stayed late and was willing to go the extra mile for us. We’ll be hiring Steven for all our family’s important events.

Steven was the photographer for our wedding this past July. He came highly recommended from a friend of mine and now I see why! We really hit it off from the start. Steven is really personable, he wanted to get to know us as a couple before our wedding day. He even met us at the wedding location to observe the lighting and shadows — now that’s going the extra mile! The engagement and wedding pictures turned out amazing — his journalistic style really shows in his work. I cannot recommend a better wedding photographer! Thanks Steven!