Hazel Photo

hoot our wedding at the Berkeley City Club in July 2023 and hiring him was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. Paul's calm and positive presence made the whole process enjoyable and the photos are absolutely amazing. I'd recommend Paul without a second thought and am happy to speak with anyone who is considering hiring him for their own wedding.

and their photos came out beautifully. But it was another level to see his work for our own event. Paul is excellent at capturing joy and movement—two key pieces of our wedding we wanted to document. We felt like so many other photographers focused on moodiness and still portraits, while Paul was really able to capture raw moments, documenting all the emotions and liveliness of the day. He also included several beautiful shots of the scenery and small details that we didn't get to fully appreciate in all the excitement of the day, which we are so grateful to have and look back on. Paul was also such a joy to get to know through our meetings leading up to our wedding. His kindness, thoughtfulness, and appreciation for fun and beauty is evident in both his communications and in his artistry. We are so appreciative of Paul and his assistant for how beautiful all the images came out. As one of our parents said while looking through Paul’s photos of our wedding: you just can’t help but look at these photos and feel happy. They transport us right back to all the joy and love we felt on our special day— what a gift!

us and our guests effectively and unobtrusively. Paul is a true professional. He's someone you can trust with the important work of documenting your wedding. We love our wedding photos and give Paul our highest recommendation.

ey are. We also did an engagement shoot with Paul and would highly recommend that as way of getting to know each other so that when the big day comes around things are way more relaxed. We were looking for someone that could capture organic/candid moments with our guests not just planned shots and Paul really delivered. The editing and colors are extremely true to how we remember it and feel timeless and not overworked. We absolutely love our shots and have already gone through them countless times. Definitely work with Paul if you can!

, he has been polite, professional, and an overall delight to work with! He answered every question, addressed every concern, that we felt comfortable with him right away. The day of, he was prompt, communicative, and he blended right into the background – and I mean that in the best way! He wove himself so seamlessly into our day and captured the most beautiful moments; of our loved ones, of environment, of our dog! Paul is incredibly talented and has an amazing eye; if you are looking for magical photos of your day, he will deliver that and more! Thank you so much Paul!

s brought back lots of great memories of the wedding. Paul has a beautiful way of capturing interactions and real moments. He was also very easy to work with. We highly recommend Paul!!

t almost feels like Paul had an auto-capture on for whenever an expression showed up on someone’s face. One thing I noticed is that he made sure to capture photos from different sides of the ceremony location. I believe these will become more important in the future when they can refresh our memories for a better reconstruction of the day. I also appreciate how he handled the difference in the skin tones between me and my partner. I am terrible at posing for photos and Paul somehow got me to look good in the photos. Paul was able to identify great spots and background elements in the garden as we walked around taking photos. Apart from the quality of his work, he was also prompt in his communication and he was pretty quick in delivering the final set of photos.

and meeting him, we knew we were going to be in the best of hands. Paul ended up being the biggest blessing of our wedding with his creation of the most beautiful and timeless photographs. I wouldn't consider myself to be photogenic, and my husband probably wouldn't either, but Paul's stunning photo-journalistic style truly captured our day through a lens we didn't realize was possible while still also representing ourselves and our day in the truest form. From the get-go, we felt at ease with Paul and his calm demeanor. He seamlessly directed our day while also still blending into the background of the wedding day craziness. He caught every single detail of our day - from the groomsmen trying to figure out tying bow ties, capturing our dogs involvement in the day, to the grandiose scale of our redwood grove ceremony. Every picture reflects the emotions of the day including the intimate details of post-ceremony family hugs all the way through to the joy and energy on the dance floor. He even made the staged family group photos seem quick and so easy! Now almost two years out from our wedding, my husband and I find ourselves looking through our printed albums (SO worth the splurge!) and digital gallery all the time. We would absolutely recommend Paul to our family, friends, or anyone passing on the street! I find myself looking forward to my family's next excuse to book a professional photographer in hopes of working with Paul again. Thank you Paul for your kindness and talent! We adore our photos and are so grateful to be able to cherish such stunning images for the rest of time!

nce of a special moment so brilliantly. Initially, we reached out to Paul to be our wedding photographer. Due to changing our wedding date - thanks to the pandemic- we were not able to work with Paul on our wedding day. However, we did work with Paul who shot our engagement shots and we had the best day ever! Truly, it was so much fun gallivanting through Russian Hill on a perfect summer day. We felt comfortable, happy and so relaxed with Paul and this really did shine through in our photos. We can’t recommend Paul enough as a person and as a photographer!!

r venue had tricky color balance - frescoed walls, stained glass windows, lots of gold - I had seen many previous professionals try to photograph in that space and have everything come out with a yellow cast, however Paul got the color balance just right, in addition to producing superb black and whites. Group shots can look dull, or campy, but Paul has a knack for arranging groups in such a way that the resulting photos look like an Annie Leibovitz spread in Vanity Fair. To top it off, Paul was a consummate professional and understanding person. I was teaching online during the pandemic at the same time I was wedding planning and so I wasn't always able to respond quickly. Instead of thinking I was an overwhelmed bride having meltdown (which some photographers we interviewed assumed) Paul understood I was juggling multiple responsibilities and treated me like a full (yet busy) human being.

The remarkable way Paul captured our wedding day's true essence, those special looks among family, and the emotion we all felt is a gift. His calm yet fun energy was a bonus, and highlight! We recommend Paul to our closest friends and loved ones and assure you that you will be so happy you chose Paul. Thanks, Paul. :) -Amy DeSamsonow & Mateo Peña Doll

the best. He really got to know both of us, has a great eye for the moment, and was a pleasure to be around. The photos were incredible and he did such a great job of putting us both at ease and truly capturing us and all our friends and family celebrating. We've been thinking what future events we could throw just to have an excuse to work with Paul again – he's the best.

leading up to the wedding. On the day he managed to blend into the background during intimate moments, take charge when it came time to wrangle friends and family, and then feel just like another friend hanging out in the in between. If I had to do the wedding all again, the only thing I know I absolutely couldn’t do without is Paul. And my husband, I suppose.

at job at making everyone feel comfortable. The photos turned out AMAZING - he even sent us a sneak peek a couple days after the wedding so we could share with friends and family, and we absolutely loved the full set. Highly recommend!

captured so we hung it up in our home. We then moved across the country, got engaged, and were in need of a photographer for our own wedding. We looked Paul up and it just so happened that he had also moved across the country and was shooting weddings in the Bay Area. Paul was a joy to work with. We met with him virtually before the wedding to go over the schedule for the day and he asked about what photos we were most excited for. The day of he worked tirelessly from the getting ready photos, to family photos, the ceremony, dinner, and dancing. He was flexible when we got off schedule and funny enough to keep our smiles genuine through hours of photos. We have only seen the preview photos (which Paul turned around incredibly quickly), but they are breathtaking. Every single one of them captures a moment of joy and pure emotion like the photo he took of us years ago. Our wedding was two weeks ago and we have looked through the photos every day since then because they capture the joy and the energy of the day so well. There is a bittersweet feeling when your wedding dat ends because such a special day is done forever, but with Paul’s beautiful photos the moments that made the day so special will be with us forever. Thank you Paul.

dynamic on the wedding day. His photos are incredible--they really feel interesting, alive and true to the day. I'd recommend Paul to anyone in a heartbeat.

ocumentary style stood out from all the other "cookie cutter" wedding photography we found out there in contrast. His warmth and genuine interest in capturing the most precious, organically heartfelt moments came through immediately in our initial consultation with him. At the wedding itself, he was so unobtrusive, yet somehow was in all the right places at the right times. We couldn't be more pleased with the beautiful shots and moments he skillfully captured. Please do yourself a favor and make the choice to go with Paul. He is a huge love with unparalleled talent.

h anyone else after that. After almost two years (due to COVID-19) we finally got to meet Paul for our "engagement" photo shoot (we had already gotten married during COVID) and finally got to work with him. He is just spectacular at using the natural light. Additionally, he really tries to not "pose" couples too much to really capture their energy. It was just so easy being around Paul and having him capture our "engagement" photos and our wedding day. We are BLOWN away at just the sneak peeks! Hop on to my FB profile if you want to see them as they are public -- https://www.facebook.com/iamlisahong I cannot wait to see the rest of the pictures! I am SOOOOOOO happy I found Paul and will recommend him for couples who love those candid shots that document the REAL you and your loved ones! I cannot wait to work with Paul again...hopefully when we grow our family and add a couple of little ones Thank you so much Paul! You and your work will help us remember our wedding beautifully forever and ever!

ow comfortable he made us feel. For the portraits - he noticed everything - from the way a shirt was tucked in to the placement of our hands. But throughout the event, we never noticed that he was there (as he put it: "a fly on the wall"), except for when he whisked us away for some photos at sunset: they are incredible! We we floored by how gorgeous the photos are, and we are so thrilled. Hazel Photo captured so many beautiful, emotional candid moments of us and our loved ones. We truly can relive our wedding again and again through the amazing photos.

we didn't even know happened. Really glad we got to work with him!

the day, Paul was also an absolutely pleasure to work with at ever step of the way. I agree whole heatedly with all the other glowing reviews - hire Paul! Our wedding was in San Francisco this past August and had approximately 65 people in attendance. To say that we had high expectations for our wedding photographer was an understatement: we wanted someone who would be able to capture the dynamic energy and emotion of our big day in a natural, joyful way. I am happy to say that Paul exceeded all of our expectations and then some. We initially reached out to Paul in February through his website and we scheduled an introductory phone call. At that time I was chatting with a few different photographers in the Bay Area but was impressed at Paul's thoughtful questions regarding our vision of big day as well as the logistical considerations (venue locations, lighting , size, etc). From our first meeting at his lovely home, Paul was kind, thoughtful, considerate which made us feel like we were in good hands and helped put us at ease during the craziness of the planning. He asked us to consider which moments would be most important to our wedding and helped us think through the logistics of the day. Paul was also helpful in planning some of the big day itself: we had scheduled a city tour with our guests to occur between the ceremony and reception but were unsure where to go in the city. In addition to the city tour, the day itself had a lot of moving parts which could have been really challenging to photograph (indoor ceremony in City Hall, outdoor brass band parade and cable car city tour in full sunlight, indoor reception with low lighting in small antique store). Paul and his second shooter were well prepared and able to shot gorgeous photos in every location. Paul was also very mindful of which moments would be most meaningful to us. For example, we had mentioned that we specifically wanted lots of dancing photos from the reception and so Paul made sure a remote flash lighting system was set up in the reception venue which made for some fantastic dance floor shots. We had also said that we wanted to make sure we had a lot of candid photos of our friends of family and so Paul made sure to mingle among our guests, putting them at ease and getting natural, candid photos of our loved ones. We had so many great photos of our guests that we printed the photos and included them with our thank you cards! After the wedding, Paul was able to send us our sneak peaks only after 24 hours (!) and the full gallery a short time after that. At this point, I was already very impressed but what happened after that really blew me away: Paul emailed me a few weeks after the wedding to me to ask if he could photograph some details from the wedding that he wasn't able to get on the big day (handkerchiefs from the brass band parade, wedding invitations, etc). He told me that he felt that those details were important in telling the story of our wedding and he wanted to make sure they were captured. I realize that it would've been easy for Paul to simply send the photos he already had but the fact that he found it was important to capture all the small details really speaks to his thoughtfulness, professionalism and excellence. We can't thank you enough, Paul!

g for a true professional artist. He had a unique vision and even traveled to a few different spots for wonderful photos. He was always looking for the perfect light, composition and background for the photos, captured meaningful details on the and got so many wonderful dancing photos! He even had great advice for us in enjoying and relaxing on the day. He was easy and timely to work with and did not distract from any of the experiences on the wedding day. Don't hesitate to book him if you want a true and unique way to capture your very special day!

our photos came out beautifully! It was important to my husband that we have a documentary-style photographer, and he totally nailed it. I would absolutely hire Paul again, and you should do the same!

hrilled to have Paul photograph our big day. We had 175 people in attendance, and Paul and his second shooter did an amazing job capturing just about everyone. Nothing about Paul's style is cookie cutter or posed; aside from a few typical family portraits, his photographs are all about capturing genuine, candid moments with all the movement and warmth and love that come with them. Take for instance our bridal party portraits. We did a few where all our groomsmen/bridesmaids stood in a line and smiled (very standard). But then Paul had the idea of incorporating a few chairs and mixing people up in seated/standing positions, which allowed our friends to relax and be their true selves. These photos ended up being my absolute favorite, because they really captured the happiness and ease of our friendships. Paul also captured all the little details of the day in the most beautiful way -- my sister and husband holding my veil; my husband and me holding hands in the car; my reflection off of a picture frame in my grandparents' front hallway. These little details help transport us back to the magical day itself. Beyond being a phenomenal photographer, Paul is also just a great all around presence to have on your wedding day. He deftly navigated family dynamics (divorced parents, language barriers, and loved ones with dementia, to name a few) and never made portraits feel like a chore. I also loved that he would constantly give us moments to breathe and remember what this big day is about. For our first look, there was no posing; he just told me to do what feels right. Before walking into our ceremony, he suggested I take a moment at the entry way to look around at my friends and family and savor the moment. Part way through our couples portraits, he had us stop to breathe for a few minutes and talk about what we were most excited for the day. He also bopped along on the dance floor while taking photos and just made everyone feel at ease. Hire him! Seriously! Thanks again, Paul, for being part of a day we will never forget.

ing the most joyful, natural, spontaneous moments and framing everything all so beautifully and uniquely with his genius eye. The photos he took of our wedding far surpassed our very high expectations. We are constantly getting compliments from our friends that they are the most beautiful wedding photos they have seen. But Paul is not just an amazing photographer; he is also on awesome person. He's laid-back, fun(ny), and such a good soul. He's exactly the type of person you want around at a wedding (even a tiny intimate wedding, such as ours). Paul manages to defy Heisenberg's uncertainty principle– he doesn’t change or ruin a moment by capturing it, he heightens the moment! He’s super stealthy and knows how to be invisible (even if you secretly want him to be your guest, because he’s so lovely!). I was so pleasantly surprised when I saw how many beautiful moments he had caught without our being aware. His magical attitude and personal experience with weddings is infectious—during our initial consultation with him, amidst the craziness of planning and details, he really fostered a feeling of anticipatory excitement for that day to come (he also gave us excellent DIY ceremony tips!). Last but not least, he is fantastic writer-- the cherry on the top of it all was when he wrote about us on his blog with such moving words! It’s rare to find someone so stellar in two different mediums of expression, but Paul truly is a maestro!.

istant Yuri, worked to capture every little moment. Essentially a perfect stranger that felt like a close friend at the end of the day, Paul and Yuri added to the fun & excitement of our wedding. Professional, artistic, and all around lovely, we are so thankful we chose Hazel Photo Photography. Thank you! Erin & Craig