Michael earned every single one of these 5 starts. Seriously.
Michael was an absolute delight. Not only was he a pleasure to work with personally, but his work is amazing.
A few highlights:
(1) My husband and I don't live in NOLA, so we flew... in to do our engagement photos and, of course, it rained the day of our shoot. Michael was very helpful in trying to find creative indoor alternatives and spent a full hour (or two?) shooting with us, but he knew that I was disappointed to miss out on some classic French Quarter shots in natural lighting. With incredible kindness and generosity, Michael offered us a second engagement shoot a couple days later before we left town at no additional fee. And, of course, the photos were so great that we used them as decor throughout the wedding reception venue.
(2) He is the nicest, easiest to work with guy. Never obnoxiously pushes his own artistic agenda like others do, and he somehow manages to make you forget he's there while simultaneously managing to be everywhere and capture everything. After seeing the behavior of many photographers across many weddings, many of my family and wedding party commented on how wonderful our photographer was to work with.
(3) He is a flexible and thoughtful photographer who actually listens. He fulfilled every specific photo request we had, rolled with our many changes to timelines and photo orders etc., and was able to think on his feet when encountering a few hijinks (such as our rained out engagement shoot or the unexpected concert/party in the exact spot in Audubon Park where we planned to do all of our family / wedding party pictures).
(4) He captures emotion, not staged shots or objects. Looking through our pictures, I can actually FEEL the love, the joy, the excitement, and the laughter that permeated the entire weekend. Thank you thank you Michael for allowing us to relive these moments for the rest of our lives.
(5) Finally, don't let his casual and friendly demeanor deceive you - this guy is an artist. We just received our wedding pictures a few days ago and it's going to take me forever to narrow down to a selection for our book -- there are just too many incredible shots!
If you're considering hiring Michael, I sincerely hope you do. My husband and I will spend the rest of our lives treasuring his work.