Mike Burley Photography

Wedding Photojournalism ~ documentary photography

Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Travels up to 250 miles See details

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Mike Burley

OWNER

Typically responds within 24h

Mike Burley Photography is a wedding photography company operating out of Dubuque, IA. Owner and operator Mike Burley has a rich experience in photography and shares his passion for storytelling with couples looking for exceptional service. Dedicated to telling couples’ own personal love stories, Mike truly gets to know his clients to best depict their personalities through his work. Mike has spent over 20 years as a photographer and photojournalist. His work has appeared in publications such as The LA Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. He takes a photojournalistic approach to document the sincere love and joy felt by couples as the events of their wedding day unfold. Mike is dedicated to allowing his clients to immerse themselves in the experience and remains unobtrusive while capturing the fleeting moments the day brings. Mike Burley Photography offers a range of services to ensure that your event can be documented just as you had envisioned. Your photographer will be on-hand throughout your wedding day with additional coverage available. The services of a second photographer are offered to ensure that both the pivotal moments and intimate details of your day are highlighted.

Veteran-owned Business

24+ years in business

Speaks English, Spanish

2 team members

Details

Destination Weddings

Destination Wedding Packages

Photo Shoot Types

Boudoir

Bridal Portraits

Engagement

Photo & Video

Digital Files

Film Photography

Photo

Printed Enlargements

Printed Proofs

Second Shooter Available

Social Media Sharing

Wedding Albums

Photo & Video Styles

Artistic

Documentary

Dramatic

Lifestyle

Modern

Vintage

Wedding Activities

Rehearsals & Parties

After Party

Wedding

After Party

Any questions?

Meet the team

Mike Burley

Owner

Capturing the daily life of my community has been my passion for 18 years, through working as a photojournalist and wedding photographer. Learning to become intimately close to my subjects in a short period of time as a photojournalist, I quickly earn the trust of those who've allowed me into their lives doing long term photo stories for publication as well as on a couple's most important day. I work in a world where there are no second chances and preparation is of the utmost importance. I strive to get personal, intimate images while being as unobtrusive as possible.

5.0

out of 5.0

9 reviews

Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.

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Kelan E

Highlighted review.

11/16/2025

Mike crushed it and truly captured the magic moments from our wedding day. We didn’t want a lot of posed pictures and when we learned about his extensive background in photo journa...

lism we knew he was our guy. He’s trained to capture those fleeting, once-in-a-lifetime moments and he told us he’s going to capture the story of the day. And that’s exactly what he did. Mike masterfully blended into the event and captured so many authentic moments without taking away from our wedding party’s experience. And when it was time for formal family photos, he knew how to set everyone at ease, adjust on the fly and make it go smoothly. He captured so many raw-and-real moments from our special day that an average photographer would have easily missed. If you want a true professional to capture the magic of your special day, Mike is your guy.

Caleb S

2/25/2026

We LOVE Mike!!!! If you’re wondering if you should go with Mike, if the documentary-style photography is really worth it, the answer is YES and DEFINITELY. He was super flexible a...

nd traveled a while out of his way (and out of cell phone service) to do our engagement shoot, and those photos turned out great; the photos from the wedding are out of this world, though! Posed photos are good – he does a good job with them, you won’t be disappointed – but the candids and sort of impromptu photo moments he manages to capture are the absolute best. And, by focusing on capturing the event itself (not capturing photos AT the event, as many photographers do), we got to focus on having fun and actually experiencing our wedding. He’s fast and really does blend into the background – we didn’t feel surveilled all night, but he got amazing pictures for the entire 8 hours he was here.

Any questions?

Katie R

9/22/2024

Mike was absolutely amazing to work with. He made everything so easy and did a phenomenal job. We are so appreciative of him and the amazing work he did with our pictures. We would...

highly recommend Mike to anyone!

Callie A

5/22/2024

Mike did a great job photographing our wedding! He was easy to work with and captured so many candid moments on our special day.

Emily B

8/21/2022

Mike was a wonderful photographer for our engagement and wedding photos! We loved his documentary style, as we're finding moments and emotions in our wedding day that we didn't kno...

w existed! He is detail-oriented and was extremely communicative and flexible throughout the experience!

Abby C

5/31/2022

Absolutely wonderful to work with! He understood what we wanted and how we were camera shy. Had the best attitude all day, took control over some of the wedding party photos and ha...

d the best creativity!! Would recommend to anyone!! If we lived closer we would book again for other events!

Alison A

1/07/2022

Mike's performance as our candid photographer was beyond our expectations. We have never been the type for cheesy posed photographs and my husband rarely lets ME take a photo of hi...

m. Mike delivered. He is really easy to get along with and knows exactly how to direct things as needed. The whole wedding party and family on both sides were impressed by how many subtle moments were captured. Additionally, we were married outside at 2 pm on a humid August day. There is not a single photo taken where we thought, "shoot, it's too bad the sun was right overhead." Every photo is gorgeous. I've been in a few weddings where photographers were intense (to the point of being rude to anyone who wasn't the bride and groom) or even went as far as moving my limbs (grabbing me without warning?) for the "perfect" photograph. Forget that. Keep it simple, natural, and candid. I'm being long winded, but seriously, we could not have asked for a better experience. Mike, thank you SO much.

Olivia R

1/09/2021

Mike was great to work with and made the day fun.

Response from Mike Burley Photography on 01/13/2021

Thanks Olivia, your group was really outgoing which made for some memorable photos!

John H

12/09/2019

We decided to have Mike shoot our wedding after seeing his work from my wife's cousin's wedding. Mike was great to work with and was able to capture some great candid shots. He is ...

very dedicated to his job. He had twisted his ankle that morning and rather than cancelling to nurse his ankle up he still came out and got all the photos for us. We would highly recommend him!

Response from Mike Burley Photography on 01/13/2021

Thanks for the kind words, I've healed up since. Hopefully I'll never have to shoot a wedd...

ing on crutches again :)

Service area & Contact info

Travels up to 250 miles

Additional charges may apply

(805) 901-0206

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Mike Burley Photography

Mike Burley

Owner

Typically responds within 24h

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