About this vendor
First and foremost, I'm going to be myself with you. I'll make jokes and tell stories and ask questions and get excited and generally treat you like I treat my best friends. Oh and I'll make you laugh. I promise I will make you laugh.
But not just because I like to perform (though I do); it's not an act--not some ploy to make you like me (though I do want you to). It's pretty simply just how I work best. Think about how you act around your best friends. Do you say what you're thinking? Do you laugh when you're amused? Do you share your excellence AND your insecurities? YES OF COURSE YOU DO. That's the definition of being yourself!
Now, I understand I'm not among your best friends. We've likely not met. But part of my expertise comes from the ability to show up to our shoot and just be myself. To say what I'm thinking, to laugh when I'm amused, and most importantly, to share my excellence AND my insecurities. Because I believe you won't judge me. I TRUST YOU. So mayyyybe you'll see that this is a safe place: that you can say or do anything.
This is why instead of asking you to smile during our shoot, I'll set you up to laugh with your partner: because your laughing face--not your photo smile--is who you ARE. It's why I don't spend a lot of time or energy posing: because your body language toward each other is SO MUCH MORE representative of your relationship than anything I could suggest.
I'm here to help create SPACE for you and your partner to be yourselves. THIS is my skill--my expertise--the reason I'm so valuable. THIS is where the amazing pictures start. My entire philosophy and body of work relies upon the simple theory that the images you'll love the most are those where you can see yourself as your truest self.
Oh also I have a BADASS photo booth.
If this sounds good and reasonable to you, let's talk.
Details
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
Photo Shoot Types
- Engagement
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Online Proofing
- Photo
- Printed Enlargements
- Second Shooter Available
- Social Media Sharing
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Classic
- Documentary
- Dramatic
- Lifestyle
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Wedding
- After Party
Awards and Affiliations
10-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2024.2022.2019.+7 more.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Hall of Fame
Earned by winning 'Best of Weddings' four or more times.
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.0125 reviews
WOW. the only thing I can say is WOW. From consultation to post-wedding, Mike is not only an amazing photographer but a super cool, funny and personable dude. We liked him from the...
beginning because he matched our chaotic energy, but also put 110% into every single photo he has. I am very particular about how pictures are taken, perceived, and what is captured, and Mike took that and RAN with it so hard i think he fell on his ass and kept going. He knows how to make you laugh, he's chaotic, and he is just someone you'd want to play all the drinking games with. However, Mike also has a calming presence to others as well. If he saw me stressed or having some EMOTIONS, he was the first one there to talk about it to see if i needed anything. He puts his whole heart and soul into what he does, and that is exactly who we needed to capture all 11 years of my husband and I's love into one ceremony. Our engagement photos were surreal, but seeing what he did for the wedding? Astonishing. I have had many people tell me they can feel the emotions popping out of the photos. Mike was attentive, calming, and definitely knew how to get us laughing for candids. My husband and I 100% would use him again. Thanks Mike for making our wedding so fun and for giving us the memories captured so we can relive that day over and over again and i recommend anyobe use him if you want the best photos and the best photographer.Thanks for everything you did for us Mike😍
Mike was truly amazing 👏 we loved working with him and he had such a great personality! And the photos were beyond amazing will definitely have to work with him again ❤️
Thank you so much Mike! Mike was incredibly easy to work with and had great ideas for photo locations during the wedding day. We can’t wait to see the rest of our photos!
Mike not only is an amazing photographer but now an amazing friend! Someone who made us feel comfortable and at ease AND created beautiful photos was priority #1. He’s got a hell o...
f a sense of humor so the laughs in your photos will be genuine. We look forward to using Mike in the future for our family as it grows and hanging out with him regularly as we simply just enjoy this dudes company. A wedding photographer?! Who woulda thought?!! Give him a shot to take your shots! You won’t regret this amazing individuals talent, humor, kindness, or professionalism.
Hiring the right photographer was incredibly important to me and my husband. Mike exceeded every expectation we had. First, we knew vibes would be important because neither of us l...
ove being photographed. We immediately clicked with Mike during our first meeting, and he made everyone super comfortable on our wedding day. Many of the photos show us laughing, and he's a big reason for that. And the photos...wow. Mike captured our wedding day in a way that's authentically us -- not fake, not staged, not generic. He took suggestions and ran with them, but also identified all the right moments and the best way to capture them. So grateful for him, and I have no doubt you'll feel the same way if he shoots your wedding!
Mike was our photographer for our non-traditional ceremony and I cannot recommend him enough. Not only are our photos stunning but it feels like every part of the day was captured ...
without us having to pose everything. He is great at portraits and at organic photos as well. He was a pleasure to work with and we cannot recommend him enough.
What can I possibly say about Mike that I wouldn't say about a new, trusted, dear friend! My wife and I had a small and generally low-budget wedding, but as soon as we saw his port...
folio of work, we were absolutely struck by the quality and artistry of his captures. We agreed immediately that we'd spend what we needed to have Mike capture our wedding.
He immediately demonstrated a unique friendliness that I knew I would click with right away. He instantly became more like a best friend (we still chat to this day). He brought charisma and happiness to every virtual session we hopped on, and to our wedding day. As could be expected, our wedding did not go exactly to plan and we had to get really creative in a big way - it relied on Mike's understanding and help and enthusiasm.
The wedding was a total success at the end of the day, with big thanks to Mike. He took the most beautiful photos, and brought energy that transformed it from a day of potential stress and headache to one that we truly enjoyed. He stayed tight through the process, and knew just what to do and say to get us and our guests to loosen up and enjoy ourselves. He guided us through the entire process and my wedding would NOT have been the same without him!
~Tyler T.
My wife and I have not stopped receiving compliments about Mike and our wedding photos since we got married 6 months ago. Not only did the pictures turn out great, but his personal...
ity and exchanges with all of our guests left a phenomenal impression.
My wife and I tend to get photo fatigue after some time and were particularly focused on getting photos that felt candid, honest, and represent the emotions of our wedding day without feeling forced. Mike definitely delivered. Not only the photos of us, but photos of our venue, the decor, the guests, the laughs, dances, even drone photography of our dance floor, all combined for a comprehensive album that make us remember every part of our wedding day.
His communication was clear, direct and professional. We were out of state, but talking over FaceTime, reviewing precedent photos and discussing the flow of our event was very easy. Hiring a photographer is expensive, but after a few short conversations with Mike it was clear that he was well worth his fee.
When he delivered the photos to us, he even sent a care package with some snacks for my wife and I to enjoy while we were looking through our photos together for the first time.
I hope I have the excuse to hire Mike again in the future for another event. If you’re reading this, thank you very much Mike!
Mike is AWESOME! Our wedding pictures turned out amazing. Mike is so funny, we felt like we had known him forever. We were worried that we would look nervous and unnatural in fr...
ont of the camera, but he made us comfortable in front of the camera. I am so happy we found him, if I could do it all again I would absolutely hire Mike.
If you're looking for an excellent photographer and an all-around good guy, look no further. Mike has the artistic eye that separates people with a camera from a professional photo...
grapher - and it shows in his pictures. He captures moments that are alive with energy and joy. I would be amiss not to mention his awesome photo booth that we had at our wedding. Most times I think of photo booths, I think of a iPad in a little closet - this could not be further from the reality of Mike's booth. With an open concept, we could fit entire families into frame. The camera had a lot of fun different modes too - black and white, color, short video, and visual effects that you could apply. Guests got photos printed out in real-time to take home with them and, perhaps best of all, we got the entire gallery from the photo booth the day after the wedding. Working with Mike was easy. For everything he provides and the quality of his photos, he is an absolute bargain When people ask about wedding vendors, Mike is the first person I mention.
Mike did a great job through and through. We hired him for engagement photos and wedding photos and he blew my expectations out of the park. He brings a fun and lively spirit to th...
e events and has a natural way of making everyone smile. Bonus points, his pictures are STUNNING! he did a phenomenal job capturing our day to the point that I had multiple friends and family ask for his contact info for future jobs. The photobooth is a must! You choose your quantity you want printed and you get a digital copy of every photobooth picture which I've never seen before. 1000/10, would recommend!
Would highly recommend!
Mike is not only a very talented photographer who captured us and our wedding so beautifully, but he is also just really fun and easy to work with. His sil...
ly, raunchy personality put my husband and I and all our guests at ease. He is really good at capturing all those lovely candid moments, with one of my guests saying “he was everywhere, capturing everything”. He also went above and beyond for us when he created a 90s throwback masterpiece by photoshopping our cats and laser beams into a photo. We will definitely be using Mike again for any of our photo needs.
Mike was SO fun to work with! He captured our day perfectly. He was on time and worked hard all day, and got all the pictures we wanted even though he was all by himself. We would...
recommend him to anyone!
Mike was an absolute joy to work with - his ability to make everyone feel at ease in front of the camera provided an opportunity for everyone's beauty and personalities to shine t...
hrough. He's able to capture big feelings and tiny moments with equal skill.
Mike always does great work! Our family loved working with him on our wedding day and that definitely comes through in the final photos!
Mike Stempler at Shutterhead Studios went above and beyond to make every moment of our big day so special and memorable. He was very personable, and had us laughing the entire day ...
and night. All of my guests and wedding party loved him as well, because he extended his professionalism and kind, silly personality to everyone he interacted with. He captured so many amazing and beautiful photos of not just myself and the groom, but of all of our guests. There are so many candid moments he captured that my husband and I will look at for years to come with a smile. The photos taken of our wedding day and night perfectly captured the essence and the story of our ceremony/reception and all of the in between. He’s extremely easy to work with and communicate with, very kind, and has the best humor for making people laugh and somehow flawlessly captures every moment, big and small. I would recommend him to anyone and everyone. We can’t thank him enough for the amazing work he did and for how fun he was to work with. He started as our photographer and quickly became a friend. If you’re looking for the perfect photographer to capture all of the perfect photos, Mike Stempler is your guy!
Choosing Mike as our wedding photographer was one of the best decisions we made for our special day. Not only did he capture every moment beautifully, but his kindness and helpfuln...
ess made us feel at ease throughout the entire process. His sense of humor added an extra layer of joy to the day, making every shot feel natural and genuine. We couldn't have asked for a better experience.
We looked at several photographers but knew once we met with Mike that he was our choice. He was really communicative (we were planning our Ohio wedding from another state), helped...
us sort ideas when we had no clue what we were doing, made us laugh (a lot), and, pretty importantly, he takes really wonderful pictures. We’ll actually miss him now that the wedding is over. I don’t think we could imagine having chosen a different photographer. We would highly recommend.
Of all the decisions we had to make for our wedding, hiring Mike as our photographer was one of the best we made. He took the time to get to know us as a couple even before our eng...
agement photo shoot. Mike did everything he could to make us as comfortable as possible while giving us the space to be ourselves. We were so impressed with the artistry and quality of his photos and the attention to detail he had while taking them. On wedding day, he even served as an extra bridesmaid/groomsmen, as he came with a steamer for us to use, along with other last minute necessities. He took the time to get to know our guests and felt like a friend we've had for years. We cannot recommend him highly enough!
Mike did an absolutely amazing job with the photos for my wedding and engagement session. He really went above and beyond to capture the most beautiful moments of my family and fri...
ends. I am so pleased with the way all of the pictures turned out! I appreciate that Mike traveled to where we were (Charleston, SC) and incorporated the local scenery in a way that really captured the feel of our event. He made everyone feel comfortable which enabled him to get some great candid pictures. I could not recommend Mike more highly to anyone who is planning an event- you will not be disappointed!
Mike at Shutterhead Studios was fantastic. He is professional, affordable, hilarious, and a joy to work with. My family loved him, my husband and I had the best time taking photos ...
(important: my husband hates having his photo taken and he said he really enjoyed himself with Mike and that's because Mike is AWESOME). We received our photos back in a timely manner, and they were BEAUTIFUL. Mike's expertise and talent lent themselves to taking some most stunning wedding photography I have seen of family, children, friends, action shots, and the couple!). Check "photographer" off your wedding to-do list and hire Mike.
We've absolutely loved working with Mike! He's extremely down-to-earth, professional, and knows how to immediately make you feel comfortable and at ease from our first reach-out a...
nd onward. From the get-go, he made it feel like we'd known each other forever and are best friends making magic together. The humor he brought to our engagement shoot allowed us to relax and be comfortable in front of the camera, and Mike was able to capture stunning photos of us! We're excited to have him capture our wedding day, and know the results will be fantastic! Highly recommended!
Loved working with Mike. Great personality and fantastic photographer!
Mike was great to work with and finished product was perfect!
When we were looking for wedding photographers we wanted someone who was not only skilled and reliable, but that felt like they should be a member of our wedding party. Mike was al...
l that and more. Not only did he give us some amazing photo memories but he helped us think through what we wanted our day to be and how to make it happen during early days of a pandemic when things were changing by the minute. His easy going style and sense of humor instantly put everyone at ease and allowed him to get amazing photos without anyone feeling posed or fake. He's quickly become an adopted part of our family and someone that we'll keep working with for a long time
There are photographers and then there are photographers. Mike is the latter. Mike captured moments during our day that still immediately take me back. With all the blur and excite...
ment of the day, Mike's pictures have allowed me to relive and enjoy that day over and over. He has an amazing vision, was fun, professional, and thoughtful, and his presence made the day even better. He's a great guy and an even photographer.
Mike was great to work with and the pictures turned out beautiful. We planned a COVID wedding in only a few weeks and he was very flexible and accommodating. We would definitely re...
commend!
Shutterhead studios did an AMAZING job with our engagement and wedding photos. Their main photographer, Mike, not only produces quality photos, but he makes the entire experience f...
un and relaxing. Look no further than here!
Mike was a blast to work with? From our first meeting to our wedding day, he made the process easy. He was quick to respond, willing to meet our requests and exceeded our expecta...
tions. Whether he was up close and personal with a camera, or hidden in the crowd, Mike had us smiling and laughing. Everything seemed to come naturally. Our pictures are stunning! Mike captured some amazing moments and left us with memories we'll never forget! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
At our first meeting together I knew Mike was our guy! From the start, he was flexible with photo package options, allowing us to get exactly what we wanted while remaining within ...
our budget. We met several times over coffee etc. to discuss our vision and expectation for our wedding photos, ensuring that he could capture our day how we wanted him to. This also allowed me to get to know better the one person not in the bridal party that is with you all day! Additionally, our personalities and communication styles were one in the same, making the planning process fun and helping to keep me distracted from any wedding jitters I had the day of! I would absolutely reccomend him!
Mike's photos were beautiful and the experience was easy, fun, and stress free. He fit in with our friends and family like he has always known us. Mike made the process simple and...
handled all the behind-the-scenes details. We really enjoyed having Mike with us on our big day, he was a comic relief and a confident partner to our vendors. I would recommend Mike to anyone!
Mike did an exceptional job as our wedding photographer, I would highly recommend his expertise to anyone considering wedding photographers. The hundreds of photographs he took wer...
e both unique and artistic, and we were extremely pleased with the final product. He was professional, punctual, and has a good sense of humor to inject some levity into stressful situations (we had to move our wedding from outside to inside within 30 minutes of the ceremony). He was also able to corral family, friends, and all parties for photos after the ceremony and prior to the reception efficiently and effectively. I would highly recommend Mike Stempler and we would certainly be willing to use his services again the future for various life events.
My wife needed some convincing after seeing some of Mike from Shutterhead Studio's work online. During our initial meeting we both took to his straight forward attitude about busin...
ess, and the clear sense of direction we were going to get on our wedding day. The schedule, plan, and payment were quickly agreed upon and after that there were no surprises.
Mike excelled at expectation management during the planning process which us a lot. His web portal is very easy to use for communication, payment, and retrieving the digital media.
On the day of the shoot Mike has a gift of commanding a crowd while keeping the atmosphere light and organic. Our favorite results have been the candid shots, he just nails them.
Professional, enjoyable to work with, reliable, and gifted. I cannot recommend Shutterhead Studios enough.
My wife and I wanted the best-of-the-best when it came to our wedding photograph and immediately though of Mike based on some of his work we had seen years earlier. He was profess...
ional and communicated well throughout the process. Our wedding picture ideas were a bit non-traditional, but, without missing a beat, Mike asked the questions he needed to understand our vision. Best of all, he executed them better than we could have hoped. He has a great eye and is a pleasure to work with. Thanks again for everything, Mike! Hope to work with you again soon.
We loved working with Mike! For us, the best part about Mike was how easy he was to work with, and how comfortable we felt around him. We really appreciated his laid-back, easygoin...
g nature.
Also, Mike was extremely flexible and responsive to our particular requests and scenarios. We had a somewhat-unusual ask of him— to try to get photos of as many couples and families as possible at our wedding, so we could provide those photos later to them—and he did a great job! Mike is excellent at listening and understanding what you are looking for, and delivering on that. And of course he is professional, timely, and reliable.
We are looking forward to hopefully working with Mike again in the future! We highly recommend him!
Amazing in every way. So easy to work with and made us so natural and comfortable. He is so fun and successfully captured the joy from our wedding. We are so in love with our weddi...
ng photos!
Mike was so awesome to work with. He was high energy and kept our huge (24 people in total) bridal party in check. He kept everyone at ease and made us all feel very comfortable, a...
ll while staying on top of the schedule. He got us everywhere we needed to be and took a ton of great photos along the way. I would highly recommend Shutterhead Studios to anyone looking for a photographer!
Mike is amazing! He photographed our engagement photos and wedding pictures, all of which turned out beautifully! We had a traditional Indian wedding ceremony which means Mike show...
ed up to take pictures at 8am and didn’t finish until our reception ended at midnight. It was a LONG day and Mike captured every detail and significant moment of the day. He is so easy to get along with and really finds a way to bring out your most natural self in photos. Weeks after our wedding we even had family and wedding guests talking about how fun our photographer was and how he made sure to get photos of all of our guests having a great time. At the end of the day, we not only ended up with some really beautiful “staged” shots but also with some really wonderful candid photos. If you are looking for a photographer that is extremely talented, professional yet easy going and reasonably priced, I would highly recommend Mike and Shutterhead Studios!
Working with Mike was an absolute blast! We immediately threw him a curveball and decided that instead of engagement photos, we wanted to do a photo shoot in our wedding attire and...
have life size cardboard cutouts of ourselves made for the photobooth. He was fully behind it and brought out the our best as we jumped around and danced to the point of embarrassment. It was super fun and the results were amazing. He also has a knack for making his photos feel natural as opposed to staged and stiff. The photos are great, the experience was fun, Mike’s a great guy and we couldn’t have been happier.
Mike was an incredible pleasure to work with. From the very beginning of the process to the end, he made the photography element of our wedding entirely stress-free and exactly wha...
t we hoped for. He was the perfect balance of easygoing and flexible when it came to working around the ideas we had, as well as providing excellent creativity and input of his own. We cannot recommend him highly enough.
Mike is great at matching the energy level of his clients. He was fantastic at making us feel comfortable right off the bat, and he was so flexible with our slightly non-traditiona...
l plans. He was AMAZING with our children, and the of course the pictures were phenomenal.
Mike's photos are vibrant and fun. He's also got a laid-back personality that can take the stress out of what can be a stressful time; at the same, he knows how to keep you on trac...
k to get the job done (with the right photos) and ensures you have fun in the process. Our entire wedding party loved spending time with him and everyone loves our photos.
One of the best decisions we made.
This guy, though.
I'm almost 30 and I still don't actively think of myself as a fully functioning adult, so planning a wedding was a bit daunting to me. I reached out to Mike a lit...
tle late in the game but he had my date open and seemed like the kind of funky/spunky/capture-the-moment type of photographer I was looking for. I am SO HAPPY I found him because he has been a blast to work with throughout the whole process, and my photos are exactly what I was hoping for. Mike is flexible, fun to work with, down to earth, extremely talented, and really helped me keep my sh*! together on wedding day. You will not be disappointed with Shutterhead Studios!
We had a great time with Mike and loved his photos. He kept the group loose and went above and beyond the day of the wedding. We would definitely recommend Shutterhead Studios.
I knew planning an engagement session in Columbus and a full wedding weekend in Cambridge/Boston, Massachusetts would be hectic but put finding multiple photographers somewhat low...
on my list. Last fall, I simply needed fabulous engagement photos. Admittedly, I have strong opinions and speak them (as diplomatically as possible), and I started to feel like I was never going to find a photographer in the Midwest about whom I truly felt great. When I stumbled across Mike’s website and portfolio, I realized I had found the right match. As a disclaimer, I abhor the standard engagement shoots with unrealistic poses and misattributed quotations; I also have a husband who hates to be photographed. We were setting the bar pretty high.
Enter Mike Stempler. We received so many compliments on our engagement photos, and so many questions of sheer wonder about how we were able to get such fantastic shots (I keep hearing, “It looks straight out of a magazine or ad campaign!”), that I finally started telling people, “Oh Mike’s phenomenal! We picked a few locations nearby that are meaningful to us, and he more or less just followed us around with his camera for a few hours.”
While this is true, it fails to include how talented Mike really is, not just as a photographer but at making even the most introverted subjects forget the camera is even there. We loved the photos, and Mike’s style, so much, that we actually flew him out to Cambridge for our wedding weekend. A little crazy? Slightly extravagant? Yes to the first; not really to the second. Mike's prices are reasonable, and we will cherish these photos forever. Having him in Boston, especially knowing we had done a shoot with him before, made the photos that much more natural and fun. Our semi-impromptu bridal portrait session and first look in Boston’s Public Garden and Common went much like the engagement shoot, and I have no doubt that our wedding photos will be phenomenal as well. Do yourself a favor and stop looking for the perfect photographer. Unless you want highly traditional, stiff photos that do not really capture you and your personality, e-mail Mike begging for an appointment immediately. That’s what I did last October and we couldn’t be happier to have worked with him over the past year.
From start to finish, working with Mike was an incredible experience that added a whole new level to our wedding day. He has a way of making you feel at ease on what is arguably on...
e of the most stressful days of your life. Along with the amazing quality of his work, he knows exactly when to capture that perfect moment. He honestly felt like a close friend the whole time he was there. The phrase "you get what you pay for" couldn't be more true in this instance. The day of our wedding was indeed a special day, but Mike captured it to be special forever. We are truly grateful for the chance to have him be a part of our wedding.
Shutterhead studios is absolutely outstanding to work with for your engagement and wedding photography needs. So much so that I’m taking time out of our honeymoon in paradise to wr...
ite this review...that’s how great Mike is! He is cool, relaxed, and will make you feel comfortable while getting stunning photos to capture the Best Day Ever! He is enjoyable to work with and respectful of the couples vision. Would definitely choose him again and again, and you should too!
When we first met Mike, we instantly knew he would be our photographer for the wedding. Mike is fun, easy to communicate with, and most importantly really really really good at h...
is job. After having done our engagement photos with him (also fantastic), we knew he was going to fit right in with the wedding. It was a long day, but Mike’s personality, candor and humor made it fly by (in a good way). The attention to detail in his photographs, the moments and emotions he was able to capture—they made the day that much more memorable and enduring. Also, his dance floor shots are incredible. INCREDIBLE.
We are so so thrilled we chose Shutterhead Studios. Mike, thank you so much for making our day even that much more special.
Thank you! Mike & Carmen are great!
Mike was the photographer for our May wedding near Springfield, OH. I can't rave about him enough! Not only was he professional, charming and unflappable through all the crazines...
s, his artistry and attention to detail simply shines through in the amazing photographs. He was so helpful to us, from the very beginning. With so much wedding experience , Mike always had excellent ideas and suggestions for every detail when we asked for his input. We were able to rely on him for working with the venue staff and DJ to make sure our day flowed smoothly. It gave us a lot of reassurance (and calmed my mom down considerably) to know we were in such good hands. We really were able to relax and enjoy every minute of our day, and that was due in large part to Mike's constant presence. Our guests especially loved the photo booth and we have the most wonderful pictures as a result. Mike is creative, fun and clearly passionate about his art, and that is reflected in the fantastic pictures we now have to remind us of that wonderful day. Mike's the best. Hands down.
Contact
Greater Columbus
Shutterhead Studios