Luke Snyder Studio

Luke is great and a brilliant photographer! My husband and I narrowed our wedding photographer search down to a select few and we were just so drawn in and moved by Luke’s photos. There was just something about the way he «gets» light in photographs, and movement, and certain special little moments. I encourage you to check out his site as that is where we were sure we wanted him to do our photos. And he is just super nice, fun, and energetic. And very quick with his camera. We were beyond happy when we got our sneak peaks the next day and knew that the rest of the photos would be just as amazing. We had a lot of little details too that I thought maybe I hadn’t even mentioned to him, and emailed him about in a slight panic after the fact, and he got EVERY detail. It was amazing. And everyone looked great in the photos: me, groom, family, bridal party, guests. Thank you Luke!

Luke is a brilliant photographer. He made me forget there was a camera on me all day while somehow managing to capture so many moments that I didn’t think anyone even noticed. He memorialized our wedding in a way that was so personal and so beautiful. You can FEEL the moment when looking at his pictures. I can’t say enough about how kind, passionate, professional, funny, calm and experienced he is.
I knew I was in good hands with Luke before I met him because my brother had recommended him to me. (My brother is a wedding videographer so he’s worked with Luke several times) but when we had our first phone call with him, I instantly recognized that Luke was really into making lasting memories for us. He took the time to figure out with us what we wanted out of the photos. He listened when we explained we wanted some obligatory portraits but mostly we were looking for candids of the special day. So, that’s what he gave us. But not just regular pictures; he was in trees, on the ground, in the air, all OVER the place (I never noticed, of course) In the end, we have powerful, emotional, funny, sweet, perfect images of a perfect day that I will have forever.
I know there are a lot of wedding photographers to choose from but I can’t imagine anyone else having photographed my wedding the way Luke did. I would trust him 100% with your event (He shoots more than just weddings)
Btw, I normally hate myself in photos so I love him even more for getting me at all the right angles!!!

We just got our photos from our wedding, and all we can say is «WOW!!!» Luke really is the real deal! He was fabulous from the start — engaging, personable, a great listener and really interested in capturing our story the way we wanted. He has such a warm and engaging personality, he was so easy to work with. And the photos… he has such an amazing eye for detail and capturing not only beautiful pictures but people’s personalities. He captured little moments (like my husband joking around with his sons, or my daughter photo-​bombing her new big brother with her bouquet) that we’ll always treasure.
Luke was also incredibly professional, delivering the photos and video exactly when he promised them. The morning after our wedding, we woke up to a handful of sample photos to get a taste of what was to come. We just couldn’t be happier! Book him — you’ll end up with artistic, gorgeous photos that capture everyone’s personalities, and you’ll be in great hands!

Above and beyond! The best vendor we used for our wedding, hands down.
My husband and I had Luke Snyder photograph our New Year’s Eve wedding in northern California. From our very first call with him through the wedding, he was amazing. Upbeat, professional, thoughtful, warm, and paid great attention to detail.
The first thing Luke did was ask my husband and I how we met, about our wedding, what we wanted the day to be, the kinds of photos we wanted. He was communicative throughout, right up to the wedding.
We had him photograph our welcome reception as well as the day of our event. He and his brother got hundreds and hundreds of amazing shots. He put so much time and care into getting original and beautiful photographs. He never stopped working throughout the reception. He kept finding amazing places for us to pose, lit incredible shots of the venue, and was omnipresent.
Not only is he a spectacularly talented photographer, but he is a joy to work with and have at your wedding. Several guests asked us where we found him.
We have already framed and hung so many of Luke’s photos and they are works of art. He has a brilliant eye and a deft touch. He is always there, snapping away without ever being invasive.
He’s a great guy and an amazing photographer. I can’t imagine having the wedding without Luke there to capture it. Book him. Book him now. You won’t regret it.

We hired Luke for our wedding based on the great reviews and the fact that his sample work on his website was the best around. We were not disappointed! Not only does he have an amazing eye for «lines» and «energy» — he could seriously work for a major magazine — and most importantly, he was a pleasure to work with.
Thanks Luke!

Hiring Luke to photograph our wedding was the best decision we made in planning out wedding. He has amazing talent and really cares about making sure you are comfortable and you get the best photos. Since we live in Southern California we were not able to meet Luke until the day of our wedding, but we had quite a few Skype meetings and he was able to understand our goals for the day. Our friends and families loved him as well and he seemed genuine in his attempt to make everyone happy and comfortable. We got married a couple months ago and we are still getting compliments from our guests regarding Luke. And now that we have received all our files we are elated! They are all beautiful and really capture all events of the day. If you have an opportunity to hire Luke, don’t hesitate. Book him! He goes above and beyond!

Fast forward through my original 6000 word review, which I already trimmed down and a few months to the night before our wedding, Luke was to make the drive to Carmel, CA and meet us in our wedding cottage in which we offered him a room. (PLEASE look for my *full* review here:
) I’m impressed with my ability to control my enthusiasm even down to 6000 words. Unilocal won’t allow me that much space, but it’s worth the read, especially if you’re reading these trying to decide if he’s «the one.» HE IS.) The second he showed up I knew in my heart our meeting was meant to be. He was every single one of my gut feelings I had about him and more. He showed up at our door with so much sincere passion to be there. He had an amazing attitude and an amazing smile to show it– the kind that lights up the room. He sat down with me and my husband and listened to us. He listened to us beam about our magical trip so far, he listened to our excitement over the coming wedding and he listened to every single detail we pointed out about our cottage and how «meant to be» it all was… all while taking candid shots we would eventually be surprised to find. I don’t know of a single photographer that would take this much time and careful thoughtfulness. Those are now some of my favorite wedding photos as they would come to be our last photos of being engaged. We hadn’t even thought of it. We would come to know how much he listened and how much he retained when we eventually went through our wedding photos. He somehow captured every detail from the glass doorknobs to the dutch doors… Luke listens. This, we believe, is one of the most important qualities you can find in a photographer. If you look at his work on his website it’s easy to see that he does; no two weddings are alike. They each look so characteristic of his subject’s unique story.
To say a few things more about his character, we had only one guest at our wedding and my two sisters who were our ministers. The energy, authenticity and personality of the photographer was very important to us. We chose every single detail with such meaning and symbolism– even the photographer. I still cannot believe we found this in him. It’s SO MUCH to look for and he provided all. He was the PERFECT ENERGY to add to our special day and there is not a single person that could have taken his place. He was even there for my pre-​wedding makeup when I freaked out having not been used to wearing so much. He was the calm energy there to validate that me washing all of my friend’s great work off was OK. It sounds small typing it, but it was huge. I just appreciate Luke so much… which I’m fairly certain is obvious. I almost forgot to mention that Luke showed up with a bottle of wine for us and a «moon» of honey– because did I mention he is a bee-​keeper? Yes, not only is he an amazing human being, he’s also a gifted photographer and beekeeper. The honey was one of my favorite wedding presents EVER and delicious, too. I love remembering it!
Now that I have gushed over my sentimentality for Luke, let me move on to my wedding photos. I’ll probably cry through this part. They’re beautiful. They’re stunning. They’re magical. They’re authentic. They’re creative. They’re moving. They’re REAL. They’re artistic. They’re enchanting. They’re one hundred million of the most incredible adjectives you can think of. We are IN LOVE with them… every one of them… even the ones where my hair is windblown and my makeup was wiped off from nuzzling into my husband. Luke drove us to a beautiful spot I hadn’t been to in years to take more photos. We didn’t take posey, creating a moment photos– he took photos of us IN the moment, enjoying one another. This is why I say they are real. He even surprised us with a bottle of champagne. He blew us away with his angles. I am sincerely telling you that we are still puzzled by how he captured photos from the angles he did. We didn’t even notice him snapping away. He’s so talented!
I simply cannot say it enough. He was the best photographer we could have found and our pictures prove it. You really will get what you pay for when it comes to wedding photography. I’d have paid Luke double for what we received from him. It was worth every penny and more. If you’re looking for the total package in a photographer trust my review and the reviews of many others. He is your answer. Thank you again Luke! You have touched our lives and enriched our special day. We will always be grateful to you! Thank you for giving us TRUST in our photographer– it’s one of the BEST parts of working with you!

Luke is amazing! He did an outstanding job on our engagement and wedding photos! My husband who does not love taking photos felt completely relaxed with Luke. He captured every moment of our day so that we can relive the special day over and over! We will use him for every major event in our lives! He is so enjoyable to work with and has a great eye for photography! Truly a very talented artist!

All great art has a wonderful inevitability about it, as though it could not be imagined another way. This is Luke’s work; masterful, elegant, thoughtful, and as though it could be no other way as it is essentially perfect.
My wife and I had our wedding celebration in Napa in July. We wanted to capture time, place, and celebration with someone who wasn’t just local, but had a sense for Yountville in his or her bones. Terroir matters for wine, it matters for food, and it also matters for the captured image.
Luke’s portfolio is amazing but what won me over was his insistence on meeting with us a week before our celebration — to see who we are, watch how we interact, and to understand what it was that we wanted to capture. This delighted me, and it showed in the results from the next week when we had our party at Ad Hoc.
Working style: Direct but also sensitive. Direct is good; direct is a pro at work. I liked being told what to do to make the best shots. So, too, is sensitive. Sensitive to color and light and textures, sensitive to our interactions and those of our friends.
Images: lush without being overwrought, and close-​up without seeming staged. The feel of the time, place, emotion of the event are all captured thoughtfully and in detail.
His work is really lovely, and it’s really lovely to work with him. Cannot recommend Luke highly enough.

Oh wow! Words can’t fully express how very pleased we are with Luke’s work. After blowing us away with how our engagement pictures turned out, we couldn’t have imagined hiring a better photographer for our wedding. Luke’s vision for photography is truly amazing. He’s also very enjoyable to work with & has great ideas. The way he’s able to capture those special moments is definitely priceless. We can’t wait to work with him more in the future for family portraits & occasions.

I haven’t started writing my review but I apologize in advance for how long I know it’s going to be.
When planning our wedding, the first thing we nailed down was the venue and the immediate second thing was photographer. To me, this choice was quite possibly the most important part of the wedding. Now that you understand how important photography was to me, hopefully you won’t think I’m crazy when I explain the incredible process we went through.
4 months. 50 photographers. Luke Snyder.
We started with 50 photographers online. From there, narrowed it down from online portfolios to 15 to meet in person. Narrowed it down again to 5 close choices taking into consideration: photography style, personality, and cost. At this point, the choice was becoming very hard and overwhelming. We made a spreadsheet. We assigned categories and rankings. We weighted scores and gave each photographer an overall score. But no, this was not enough. I wanted to make sure we got the BEST photographer for us.
Then we had a cool idea. Blind photo test. My fiancé took different photos from our favorite photographers and mixed all of them up. I ranked my favorites, gave it to our family to also look through to get another opinion. People seemed to enjoy the game we came up with. Or thought we were crazy. Forget those people. Anyway, Luke and one other photographer ended up being finalist. Luke was slightly cheaper but what really pushed it over the edge was Luke’s personality and style.
He is so easy to work with and so responsive to communication. (Note: We were still worried about cost and were able to negotiate with Luke a little bit but I got the impression he doesn’t like that part of the process.) After our initial meeting, we knew we would pick Luke. After the engagement session, we were SURE we made the right decision.
August 2011. Auberge Du Soleil.
Luke is one of the best vendor choices I made for the wedding. His photos were beautiful and I couldn’t be happier. His style is friendly, non obtrusive yet leading. Many MANY of our guests and other vendors commented on his professionalism. I wanted someone who would take the lead without bossing us around and making us feel uncomfortable. When I look back on some of the photos, I don’t know how he got the shots he did. Most of the time, I didn’t even notice he was there!
I think his photos speak for themselves. We are definitely more into modern, artistic, photo journalistic style photos. I could always write more but I think it’s really up to the couple to find the right photographer that fits their style and personality. Luke was absolutely the best choice for us and I hope you can find that too!

I wish to bring an evaluation from the photographers perspective as I am also a wedding photographer in San Francisco and have assisted Luke with three weddings.
so…
1. Luke is professional. Besides challenging me to appropriately dress for a wedding, Luke also showed a business side of wedding photography that I had not yet seen. He is serious in what he does, knows what needs to be done in order for the day to happen, and does not throw a fit when something goes wrong. He can flow. That is something I see above most things.
2. Luke is fun. From the beginning, luke was always trying to make the people he was working with have fun in what they were doing as well as connect with them. He also did an incredible job at making the bride and groom both feel comfortable with each other as well as having a camera in their face (which from my experience is not always easy).
3. Luke is great at what he does. After having conversations with him in regards to where this industry is heading and where he fits in that, I can only assume that his passion and zeal for photography is what drives him to capture what he is able to capture, and if he fits what you are looking for, then stop looking for other photographers because he is the right one.
I HIGHLY recommend Luke as a photographer.

Luke was an pleasure to work with from the moment we met him. He is very flexible and I even think he stayed longer at our wedding then contracted. When I was getting ready, the day of the wedding, it was chaos and Luke was a delight to have there, not to mention very helpful. We loved our photos and so did our entire family. I would recommend him to anyone.
Thank you Luke!

I should preface this by stating my review is based on our interactions with Luke Snyder in trying to interview and find a wedding photographer. We did not use Luke in the end, but would consider this an endorsement for his work.
As my wife was quite busy in planning for our wedding, I felt one of my big contributions would be to do extensive research and comparisons to find the ideal photographer for us. I spent at least a few weeks poring over pictures, spreadsheets, web pages, galleries, etc. and we interviewed a number of photographers throughout California as well.
Luke’s pictures caught my eye early on and after an initial interview with him, we liked him even more. He certainly has a photo journalistic background which blends well with his passion for wedding and engagement photography. You could tell he had an artistic energy and thoughtfulness about him. His pictures have power, emotion, and depth to them which is complemented by his post-​processing as well. Pictures did not have a cheesiness to them that plagued many other photographers’ works I’d reviewed (however, some couples may prefer this depending on their tastes). Additionally, I enjoyed the fact that he was quite conscious about use of lighting in his pictures, esp with either natural or offset lighting which makes his pictures stand out. He seemed very easy going and easy to work with as well.
After our interview, we had several exchanges during which he offered us additional galleries and samples in order to help us decide on our best match for a photographer. We had many questions about style preferences and other details that I suspect many couples may not even think of, however he was quite responsive and willing to try and accommodate.
His pricing seemed comparable to the mid-​range of wedding photographers serving the Napa valley region. This was in consideration that he’d been doing wedding photography for only a few years, but brought extensive experience and knowledge from his prior work in photography.
Unfortunately, after multiple exchanges in trying to nail down many details between my wife and Luke, we were told that he felt he would not be the best fit for us and he declined to be our photographer.
It’s been months since our wedding and we were quite happy with the photographer that we eventually used. I have no hard feelings for Luke and am not surprised that he has many great reviews on Unilocal given his quality of work. I think he will continue to impress as he gets even more wedding photography experience. Best of luck, Luke!

This review is for engagement pictures Luke took for my fiancé and I in November, 2010.
Simply put, Luke is awesome. I imagined that taking engagement pictures would be really awkward and too staged, but Luke was great about making it a natural and enjoyable experience.
He was very easy to work with, went out of his way to shoot at a couple different locations, and got us some amazingly well-​done pictures very quickly. My fiancé was thrilled with the quality and we have received countless compliments on the pictures from our friends and families.
In addition to providing outstanding service for the engagement pics, I was most impressed with Luke’s thoughtfulness. We brought our English bulldog with us to make a cameo in some of our pictures and it turned out amazingly well. Unfortunately, our old dog ended up dying 3 weeks later. All it took was one email to Luke to see if he happened to have any extra pictures of our dog from his rolls and within an hour I had a response with some extra pictures to help us remember our pet.
If you want a high-​quality, personable and caring photographer, Luke is definitely the guy to see in the Bay Area. Thanks, Luke!

Wow. Where to begin. Luke amazed my (now) husband and I right from the get-​go when we went on his site and saw how his pictures just seemed to stand out from others we looked at. The moments he captured were so much more. We really wanted someone with more of a photojournalistic point of view as opposed to «okay, now everyone stand in a group and smile» for our intimate wedding.
We had an engagement shoot and I think we both felt a little awkward with the idea of being photographed, but Luke made it very easy. I left thinking that he probably got some decent shots. When we got the pictures, I was shocked! All of our friends and family mentioned how these pictures were «so us» and they absolutely were perfect. I’m still floored at how he was able to grab hold of these stunning photos in what seemed to be a totally normal effort on our part.
We had Luke and Sky come for our wedding recently and those men worked their butts off! They weren’t afraid to get dirty in order to get those awesome shots. All of the guests felt very comfortable with them and even were talking about their ninja moves in order to get those candid pics.
I cannot recommend Luke enough. He loves what he does and it absolutely shows in his work. It’s like when you see a musician and you think, wow — he gets to do what he loves and get paid for it! That’s what I think of Luke — he seems like he is just so happy to be making a living off of doing something that is so natural to him and that he enjoys so much.

Luke was our photographer for our wedding at V. Sattui. From the moment we met him and saw his work we knew we wanted to work with him.
Luke arrived right on time and was very professional throughout our wedding day. He was there to take photos every step of the way but was never intrusive. It was as if we didn’t even know he was there and we really appreciated his style.
Luke was prompt in sending us a few «sneak» photos just a few days after the wedding and we spent hours drooling over them. We were thrilled to see more proofs a few weeks later on his website and were elated to receive the final product of 500+ photos.
We still can’t believe how beautiful the photos are! Luke captured the beauty and magic of the day and gave us everything we were looking for in our photos. He is extremely artistic and creative and we are thrilled to have been able to work with him.
We highly recommend Luke! If you are considering Luke as your photographer, the best decision you can make is to work with him.

This is definitely «as good as it gets.» Luke and his brother Sky recently photographed my friend’s wedding this labor day weekend and their work was beyond what I expected.
Helping plan the wedding from Chicago I found Luke on Unilocal.I sent his website link to my friend and they absolutely loved him!!!
Luke and Sky have a great eye that catches the most unnoticed moments of the day. Creating a «delicious» vantage point that is captured in their pictures.
Beyond their photographs, Luke and Sky are thoughful, kind, and passionate about their work.
I highly recommend them!

just recieved my DVD’s from the wedding…1300 shots of bliss. Incredible. Plus his «best of» slide show hosted on his website is tasteful and again brought out some ‘moisture’ near my eyes… it was just so beautiful.
Thank you Luke.
Just incredible shots and everyone else who has seen his work of our family and friends all agree that it’s as good or better than they have ever seen– I wholeheartedly agree.
Can’t wait until we get our albums too…

I hired Luke to shoot my wedding and included in the package was an engagement shoot. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, especially since my man is camera weary. So we all went out to the A’s Coliseum, where said man works, and had a great time. Luke kept us upbeat and having fun without being intrusive.
You can see the results for yourself here,
Can’t wait for the wedding!