The Kama Photography

Where do I start with Ben? He was nothing but fun, energetic, incredible, etc. You can tell he belongs behind a camera and it shows. After our initial consultation I knew he was the photographer I wanted to hire. His work behind the camera and editing is nothing but beautiful. At the wedding he captured every single moment I could've asked for. All of our guests loved him and even some couples have asked us for his information! That speaks volumes! Hiring Ben for my wedding was one of the best decisions I made and I am beyond excited to relive my wedding for years to come looking through my final gallery.

Ben covers all of the checkpoints you are looking for in a photographer on your big day and beyond! Not only is he the kindest person to work with, he makes the process fun and light. He is involved in the entire day, not missing a beat! His attention to detail and is unmatched. We are so beyond happy with our sneak peeks so far and cannot wait to see the rest! You are in amazing hands with Ben!!

Ben started out as our wedding photographer but quickly became an integral part of the months leading up to the wedding and the wedding itself. He was absolutely perfect for our engagement shoot and our wedding day. Ben is detail-oriented without being overbearing, is enthusiastic about his work, and is one of the most intuitive people I've met. He doesn't just understand good photography; he fully understands how to make people feel good in front of a lens, which translates into the gorgeous photos he produces. I began to feel stressed on my wedding day due to encroaching rain and Ben made a point to make me feel at peace about getting the shots I wanted despite the weather. Friends and family can't stop complimenting me on hiring him and his work and his role for our big day. Absolutely worth the money, experience, and time. I could not recommend Ben enough.

We couldn’t recommend Ben more!! He was absolutely fantastic to work with, he went above and beyond every step of the way, and has has such amazing talent. His positive energy is contagious, and his reliability will make you feel right at ease. If changes or unexpected situations come up, he is flexible, understanding, and truly cares about his couple’s happiness. My husband and I are thrilled that he captured one of the most special days of our lives.

Ben and his team were absolutely amazing! We had several calls and meetings with him leading up to the big day, that helped put my nerves at ease. They showed up on time the day of, and were such a pleasure through the whole process. Ben knew all the little details to capture and made our day and timeline run so smoothly. All of my guests commented on how great our photographers were even the day of the wedding. With all of that being said- not only were they great to work with, the pictures are far beyond my expectations. We have so many great shots to choose from and so many wonderful pictures of our family and friends. I am so appreciative of Ben and his team, and so glad we chose them!

There are not enough words to describe how attentive, thoughtful, detailed, creative, honest, caring and talented Kama Photography, specifically Ben McLean, is. From our first emails I knew this was the photographer I wanted to capture one of the most important days of my life. He has already captured our love in our engagement pictures. My soon-to-be-husband is not a "picture person" yet Ben brought it out in him. He joked, suggested and brought us together to get the most out of our pictures. The candid moments and loving glances were all in the pictures. To keep it simple: hire The Kama Photography, you won't regret it.

We loved our experience with The Kama Photography! Ben was great to work with. He brought exactly the energy, ideas, suggestions, feedback, and professionalism that we needed. Ben also fit us in his busy schedule to do engagement pictures before our wedding day so we could meet in person and become comfortable with each other. In hind sight, we really appreciated his making that happen because it got all our modeling awkwardness out before the big day itself. The turnaround for photos is quick (a couple weeks) and they turned out better than we could have imagined. Highly recommend The Kama Photography!!

The Kama Photography - and photographer Ben McLean - provided the most incredible experience for me and my now-husband, Chris. Ben was a non-stop source of positive energy from start to finish. Our first consultation was incredibly engaging and provided an illuminating insight into his style, his approach, the the care he brings to his clients. We then enjoyed the most amazing Engagement Shoot, where Ben drove out to our childhood home to capture some wonderful memories. He didn't mind the drive and he made sure to help us feel comfortable and authentic throughout the shoot. He made the whole experience feel *fun*, especially as we were nervous and not used to being photographed. He helped Chris and I find romantic ways to engage with each other - ways that felt true and natural. And it all comes through in the photographs! They are stunning. His use of natural light photography is just what we wanted in terms of style - it feels timeless and natural and it allows the beautiful backdrop of our home to shine. He also focuses on those real, candid moments between a couple - no fakey or forced looking photographs at all. Then, of course, COVID-19 hit and our whole wedding was thrown into uncertainty. Ben was there for us throughout the entire process and was incredibly flexible and beyond happy to work with our new plans. We ended up splitting our package into an elopement and then a one-year-anniversary party. Again, his flexibility of time and resources was so generous. He came out to our new venue (my family home in the mountains of Virginia) and helped us pick a perfect spot to host the ceremony. It felt so much better going into the day knowing we had a solid plan - and Ben was very much a huge support in orchestrating it. Again, he helped everyone feel relaxed and joyful. He captured so many beautiful moments without ever feeling obtrusive. It was magical. And, of course, the results are stunning. Chris and I have savored hours and hours pouring over the hundreds of treasured photographs - each one capturing those small, intimate moments that we are grateful will last forever. We cannot thank Ben enough. Even in the editing process, he would work to make any adjustments in no time at all. His speed and positivity of communication is such a gift - he was reliable at all points in our process. I cannot recommend Ben McLean and The Kama Photography enough. He will make your wedding all the more joyful, organized, relaxed, and full of love, capturing it all with expert skill and artistic naturalism. Thank you, thank you! We are forever grateful for your support of our special day and the entire journey!

Ben and Karolina were absolutely INCREDIBLE. I hired them for my October wedding and could not be happier. Included in our package was an engagement shoot, however planning a wedding in Virginia and living in Alaska we weren't sure we'd be able to do it before the wedding - rather than just not doing a shoot Ben flew all the way to Alaska to shoot us in Denali State Park! His photos are absolutely gorgeous and being someone who has never been comfortable in front of the camera (my husband would say the same) we were kindof dreading it...we were so wrong. Ben made us feel SO comfortable and we had the best time. He is such a calming presence and truly wants to do whatever it is to make you comfortable, he guides you in the direction he sees and makes you feel so natural. For the wedding, Ben brought Karolina to help shoot and together they are an incredible team. They are so kind and you can tell they are doing what they love. The photos from the engagement shoot are stunning and the sneak peak pictures we got back from the wedding are gorgeous. They have such a beautiful vision and are willing to go above and beyond what is asked of them to make sure that you have the best experience possible and they deliver the best photos they can. I could not speak more highly of them or recommend them enough!

Words cannot express the love we have for The Kama Photography. Ben not only is awesome at what he does, but he is an incredible human. He truly does go the extra mile for you. During our engagement session he not only was he carrying 3 cameras with him, but a Bluetooth speaker playing our favorite songs as he followed us around. How sweet is that! Ben captures 100% raw, organic love. No staged photos, no awkwardness - just love. My fiancé was not a fan of getting his picture taken until he met Ben, and that's when I knew we hit the jackpot. His style is crisp, clean, bright and beautiful. I will definitely be keeping Ben around even after our wedding to capture the sweet moments of our family growing. Simply put, he exceeded our expectations and I cannot wait to continue our journey with him. THANK YOU!!

We couldn’t have asked for a better photographer for our wedding. Ben was extremely helpful from beginning to end and great to work with. We do not live in VA so we were able to Skype with Ben to talk through everything and his style clicked with what we were looking for. He was super responsive and helpful finalizing the timeline and answering questions. The day of the wedding he arrived early and gave such good recommendations and picked perfect spots for pictures. He blended in with our family and friends and effortlessly captured every moment for us. We couldn’t be happier with our pictures. They are simply amazing and will be cherished forever! Thank you Ben for helping us tell the story of our big day by capturing all of the special moments and details with authentic emotions in your artistic style.

We cannot say enough amazing things about Ben and Kama Photography. Not only was Ben incredibly easy to work with but he was so knowledgeable and had great advice/tips to make the day and photos go smoothly. On the day of, Ben made us, our families and friends all feel so comfortable in front of the camera. He strikes the perfect balance of being there for everything but also allowing you to enjoy the festivities and forget he is even there. I have not even gotten to his photography skills - the actual photographs themselves are amazing. When we look through them it is like we are reliving the entire day. Every person who has seen our wedding photographs has raved about our incredible photographer and I agree!!

Ben was truly the best photographer we could have asked for! From the initial meeting with him to discuss our vision, he was professional, full of energy, and made me even more excited for our upcoming wedding. Ben is immensely creative and talented, particularly in outdoor lighting (our wedding was outside) and at candid shots. He captured so many un-posed moments from the day that were so special and we will treasure forever. Our wedding was actually quite rainy, so I was a little worried about how the photos would turn out, but Ben swooped in, found the perfect natural light and the pictures came out beautifully. The photos we have from our wedding are one of my most prized possessions and I couldn't be happier with them. If you want a photographer who is excellent at his craft, makes you feel comfortable and happy (even during potentially stressful wedding moments!), and is easy to work with - you need Ben!

We loved working with the Kama Photography and Ben for our engagement photos and wedding! We highly recommend him. All the photos were beautifully and he was able to capture all the special moments of the day. From playing music at the engagement sessions to capturing pictures of people dancing at the reception, Ben was energetic and fun to work with.

Where do we start with how much we loved Ben and The Kama Photography?! Not only is Ben a complete professional and amazing at what he does but he is also a ray of sunshine. To start, Ben completely exceeded our expectations with our engagement photos, our wedding photos, and just generally with how he communicated with us the entire year leading up to the wedding. He always makes himself available to answer questions, to plan, and every interaction we had with him just brought a smile to our faces. We are so glad we had the opportunity to work with him and to just meet him! We got our wedding photos in a couple of weeks ago and they are already so special to us. Ben really listened to and understood what was important to us to capture and he and his second photographer did an amazing job doing just that (which I know wasn't easy at a 190 person wedding!). We can't say enough good things! We will certainly be reaching out to him when we need professional photos taken again. Thank you, Ben! We will cherish these photos forever :)

Hiring the Kama photography and working with Ben was an amazing experience! We could not have been happier. Before the wedding, Ben was extremely helpful in going over our wedding timeline with us and making sure he knew what group photos we wanted to take and things we wanted to capture. He also had great ideas for us, like sneaking out of the end of dinner for a few moments with just my husband to get some golden hour portraits. Those ended up being my favorite pictures, and the alone time with my husband right after the wedding is what I remember most! We decided to do a first look, which ended up being the perfect choice for us. Ben is so discreet in taking pictures that it really just felt like a private moment between my soon-to-be husband and me. And the pictures ended up incredible! The group pictures after the ceremony were a breeze and super quick thanks to the Kama team directions. We received so many compliments from our guests about how kind and professional our photographers were! We were SO THRILLED about getting our pictures back. They were incredible and couldn't have been better. Ben captured everything we wanted him to and in such a beautiful way. Overall, hiring the Kama photography was the best decision we made in our wedding planning process! We can't recommend them enough.

I am honestly blown away by the experience and final product from The Kama. Working with them was so easy - Ben has a major zest for life and just wants to enjoy the time as much as you do. We just got back our photos for the wedding and they are unbelievable! They really capture moments and they transported us right back to that day. I cannot speak highly enough of The Kama!

The Kama is without a doubt the best decision we made for our wedding (besides deciding to marry each other). Ben and Karolina are exceptionally kind, make you feel really comfortable, and take the most amazing photos I've ever seen. They are never intrusive, so sometimes we forgot they were even there. Our guests noticed how great they were, too; we received many compliments on how professional and accommodating they were. We were blown away by them and really can't say enough about how incredible they are. If you want to have great pictures of your wedding, you need to go with the Kama.

There aren't enough words to describe how amazing Ben and his team are. He made our engagement pictures so easy and us so comfortable! and our wedding was incredible. He is so genuine, so kind, so friendly, and just makes you feel awesome! Everyone has been in total awe over our engagement pictures and we are so excited to see our wedding pictures! I highly recommend Ben for any photography needs you may have!

My fiancé and I had a wonderful time shooting with Ben. We had our engagement shoot at the beautiful Manassas National Battlefield Park, located in Virginia. This was the first time my fiancé and I have done a professional photo shoot and Ben was able to make us so comfortable. We were able to be ourselves and express our intimacy in a comfortable manner. I could not be more thrilled with the work that Ben has done and definitely will be working with him again in the near future.

We just received our engagement photos from The Kama Photography and we cannot contain the excitement and appreciation for the beautiful photos Benjamin took for us. We are just IN LOVE! The entire gallery is fantastic. It was such a fun time and the best valentine's day date. He made us feel comfortable and special the entire session. We will always remember the "stay connected" lesson and apply it to our lives even when we are not in front of the camera. We will use one of these photos in our "Save The Date" card, proudly hang many of them in our future home, and dearly treasure all of them forever.

Karolina and Ben are exceptional professionals! They captured our wedding perfectly and were delightful to work with! I have been to many weddings where the photographers are "in the way" to get the perfect shot, but Ben and Karolina captured our day all the while being discreet. They went above and beyond what they promised in our package and were happy to take an hour's worth of pictures in 100 degree weather with smiles on their faces throughout. We are so grateful that we found Ben and Karolina to capture our wedding memories!

I can not express enough how highly I recommend The Kama Photography for your wedding (or any photography needs). You get so much bang for your buck with two photographers! Karolina and Ben met with us to discuss our style and preferences. They had great recommendations and advice while listening to our personalized needs! Karolina has such a sharp eye and Ben helps melt away any anxiety that comes with "posing" for pictures and always finds a way to capture a creative angles! I swear they are the Chip & Joanna of photography :) They went above and beyond to make our day special. I loved how they could sort of divide and conquer. Karolina stayed with me and the bridesmaids while Ben spent some time with the groom and groomsmen. I appreciated this because I got to see the details of the day and everything that was happening with my husband and his experience (which I feel sometimes gets missed due to other photographers only focusing on the bride). They didn't miss a single detail of our wedding day. They took pictures of all the iconic and small details that I worked so hard on and really made my day memorable. They were efficient and kept to a schedule but never made us feel rushed. I loved how they were always so quick to respond to all of our correspondences. An added bonus is that I have a (at the time) 3 year old daughter who was incorporated to a lot of our pictures as well as 3 year old twin nephews. The fact that they have experience working with families and children were a major plus. Overall I don't have 1 negative thing to say about my experience! The Kama Photography had everything I needed for my wedding and they were affordable! I knew of their reputation in the DC area and when they moved to Charlottesville I knew I had to snag them up! Above & Beyond Experience! I wish I could give 10 stars!

Karolina and Ben are simply the most wonderful, down to earth, genuine and talented photographers to work with! From the moment we first met them over coffee we knew they were the perfect photographers to capture our wedding. They fit in seamlessly the day of our ceremony and even our guests commented on how wonderful and fun they were. They knew exactly what to do and say to make our guests laugh and feel at ease in order to capture them at their best in every picture and they knew exactly when to fade into the background when appropriate as well. We wouldn't have such special memories of that day without the incredible images they captured.

They are both so easy to work with, can't imagine having used anyone else. They captured our special day and made us a beautiful photo book to cherish. Hope to use them once we start our family!

Amazing people, amazing photography. Carolina and Ben care about making your memories as real as possible. We recommend them for all your photography wants and unknown needs. They are just fabulous.

We had a NYE wedding and Ben and Karolina were great! They showed up an hour before the ceremony and we were able to capture the entire day in pictures. It had to have been the coldest day in DC, but they encouraged us to take pictures outside and those are our favorites. They also captured a ton of reception/dancing pictures and it seems like all of our guests were in multiple shots. It's important to have a good photographer, but it's equally important to have photographers that are easy to be around. If that's important to you, reach out to the Kama for your wedding! You will be really happy with the results.

Karolina and Ben are more than you could ever ask for in a photography team on your BIG day! They were a perfect fit for us and our 125 person wedding in Lambertville NJ. Their style of photography is bar none which is why I sought them out and requested they travel to shoot our wedding on the PA/NJ border. They worked with us to get EXACTLY what we wanted out of our pictures, even doing a sparkler long exposure shot that took some pre-practice ahead of time. The photography book I created with the pictures sits in our living room and I cannot tell you how many times I've gone over to open it as a wonderful reminder of an amazing day. The Kama Photography will not disappoint! WE LOVE THEM! Anddddd Karoline does amazing infant sessions too... for the next phase of your lives!

We absolutely loved working with Karolina and Ben of the Kama Photography! Our engagement and wedding photos are beautiful, and Karolina and Ben made it fun and easy to get wonderful memories during our special day. It was really like working with friends. In fact, we loved working with them and loved the finished product so much that we went on to hire the Kama Photography to do newborn shoots for both of our babies and to do a cake smash and family photos for our baby's first birthday.

Karolina and Benjamin were absolutely superb during our engagement shoot. They were communicative and flexible leading up to the shoot - they came all the way from DC to NY for it. They were more than willing to help us scout out locations during their free time in the city or to let us choose - so wonderful and flexible. They were extremely prompt, arriving to the location 15 minutes early to ensure we weren't there before them waiting around. They even bought us a drink before the shoot so we could chat and get to know each other. During the shoot they were so easy to work with. They are both so easygoing and down to earth and they made us feel so comfortable. We were both feeling shy but they knew just want to say to get us feeling happy and at ease. They had such great ideas with how to use the location we chose for romantic and fun photographs. They were constantly coming up with new and great ideas but were also totally willing to let us propose ideas. They took a perfect blend of candids and posed and they really made the most of the time we had with them. Their energy and enthusiasm was infectious. At the end of the session they even came down into the subway with us (out of their way!) so that they could take one last shot of us kissing on our train - they were so dedicated to getting artistic and special shots. The photographs came out beautifully. They have such an artistic touch and vision and it really showed in the photos which were absolutely perfect. They were better than we ever could have imagined and really captured the essence of our relationship and personalities. We are just so excited that we found them and feel so fortunate. We cannot WAIT to work with them on our wedding day!

We couldn't be happier with choosing Ben and Karolina to be the photography team for our wedding -- they were outstanding!! We are obviously extremely pleased with how the photos turned out (spectacularly; artistic, but candid and natural), but we're most impressed that B + K worked so hard to capture every single important moment and spread out their man-power to not just capture ours, but those of our special guests, and discreetly, so as not to make us feel awkward, ever! They were always extremely responsive in communications, and Karolina was absolutely essential not just as a photographer, but in helping me throughout the day :) We HIGHLY recommend Kama Photography for your wedding day.

My husband and I whole-heartedly recommend Ben and Karolina. First of all, they were flexible and tailored a custom package for our small wedding. We did a few things differently than the norm, and it was so great to have photographers that not only just "rolled with it" but were supportive. Secondly, we are both a little camera -shy and were apprehensive about the actual photography sessions, and Ben and Karolina effortlessly put us at ease and guided the sessions. We ended up having a great time and actually look back fondly on our sessions. Finally, I think its obvious that the quality of their photography speaks for itself, but I think it is worth adding that (i) Ben and Karolina are able to find and create beautiful pictures in whatever setting they're put in (we had some less than photogenic spots that just worked for our day, and the photos that came out of it are still beautiful) and (ii) they are extremely talented at capturing emotions "in the moment." Whenever I look at our engagement and wedding photos, I feel the emotions of that moment all over again, and I think that's what is so special about Ben and Karolina's work.

Wedding size: intimate (total 12 guests) Setting: Charlottesville # photographers: 1 (Ben McLean) Written by a long-winded, detail-oriented. Groom is in full agreement with this review :) We thoroughly every minute of working with Ben. He came highly recommended and was amazing. Pre-wedding: When we first contacted Ben, he insisted on meeting to get to know us first before proceeding (in our case, was only able to meet w/ bride since groom not living in area). He did this in order to get to know who he was photographing and for the 'subject' of the photographs to be comfortable around him. He felt strongly that who is he photographing needs to be fully comfortable being themselves around him, so that photographs can truly capture the moments of joy and love, rather than producing photos that feel artificially posed. Day of wedding: As soon as Ben showed up, you could tell he was constantly assessing people and different settings and lighting. Pretty much each and every photo received full artistic attention and made the very best that it could be. He was firing on all cylinders the entire day, literally putting in 100% into every moment. Don’t know how he did it, because it seems quite impossible to do, but indeed, he did just that. To provide background: when I first met him, I asked if I could have the "reject" photos, just to make sure nothing about the big day was missed. He said no, because he felt strongly that each and every photo that he provides needs to be the best that he can deliver. I was worried about not having enough photos if that was the case. My concern turned out to be unnecessary – I had plenty of photos. Each and every one, no matter the subject (e.g., my beloved stuffed animals were featured in some photos), was shot to perfection. Engagement session: Our engagement was 8 months long but wedding was planned in VERY short order (5 weeks). It was very clear that we would not be able to fit in an engagement session before the wedding. I desperately wanted to simplify things and tack on a few extra hours on the wedding day instead of doing a separate engagement session. Even though that could have been more convenient for us and Ben, he felt that doing that would not result in the best photos for us due to suboptimal lighting in that time of day. So, after the wedding, we did an “engagement” session at the time of day that he recommended (near dusk). Every nook and cranny had been investigated by Ben to make sure every setting was perfect (pretty sure he even climbed through a massive patch of thorny bushes to find a “field-like setting”). Nothing was unplanned (even brought organic bug spray for us to use)! Of course, the photos were incredible. I’m very happy I listened to his advice to only do the session if it gave us great photos. Post-wedding: Some photography companies hand off all processing and editing to people who are NOT the ones who snapped the photos. When I asked Ben what Kama Photography’s practice was, he told me they personally edit/ process their own photos. While this is time-intensive, he felt personally polishing photos if he was there yielded the best results in "capturing the moment." He was right. You should get the point that we loved working with Ben and highly recommend him/ his company to those out there planning for any special occasion. Professional, extremely dedicated, detail-oriented, deliberate. Delivered amazing photos. L.o.v.e.d him.

Karolina and Ben were AMAZING to work with. My husband and I were nervous to do engagement photos and later wedding photos, but it was like we were spending time with old friends and having our photos taken at the same time! They are naturals and their work is incredible! Many, many compliments have been received on our photos. I would highly recommend them for any photos needed and we can't wait to work with them again!

Karolina and Ben are just amazing! They are truly the nicest people and great photographers. Our experience with them was excellent (and I am picky with photography as it is one of my personal hobbies). They are very efficient in answering questions/responding emails; were very kind to accommodate our requests and dreams, and did a great job during our not-so-traditional wedding ceremony and reception. In addition, the final product was of great quality and was delivered very quickly! Recommended 100%!