Top Shelf Photo

Shaun’s work and portfolio says it all. We found Shaun through a coworker’s recommendation and I’m glad we did. We booked the engagement and wedding day package. It was great meeting him and working with him for the engagement shoot months in advance since it dissolved any nerves on our wedding day. For the engagement shoot at Torrey Pines, we walked pretty far to a secluded area that he knew, but we’re glad we did since we didn’t have anyone in the background of our pictures. He was professional and knew exactly how to position us in front of the camera naturally. On our wedding day, Shaun came to our AirBNB to get detailed shots of us getting ready. Since we met him months prior for the engagement shoot, we were both very comfortable and it felt like we were seeing an old friend. My wife and I felt like movie stars during our wedding since we had a whole crew documenting our day. Shaun brought a second photographer, Ashleigh, who was just as amazing. With the two of them combined, they were able to document every special moment and reaction from our family and friends. They knew exactly where to stand to capture the perfect shot, yet stayed out of the way so our guests had the perfect view. Shaun’s turnaround time was impressive. He was able to edit hundreds of pictures within a week so we were able to relive our wedding day and provided them through an online album for us to download. We cannot recommend Shaun enough, and will definitely hire him for future sessions.

Shaun is an absolute rock star! He came highly recommended by a friend and we were not disappointed. For our engagement shoot, Shaun braved the 32 degree weather in Big Bear and delivered the most beautiful photos I could've ever imagined. My (now) husband and I aren't very camera friendly, and Shaun coached us and talked us through it, making what could be a potentially awkward situation into one that was so easy. He so perfectly captured who we are in our photos. On the day of our wedding, Shaun helped us stay on time (which is HUGE), and was able to manage all the chaos that comes with having a big family. He was so patient while we tried to wrangle about 30 adults into one family photo, and the results were AMAZING. Shaun is so passionate about his work, and you can see it in the end photos. Both our engagement and wedding albums were delivered so quickly and he stays in constant communication with updates and timelines. Absolutely recommend!!

We loved working with Shaun. I was so lucky to have met him at a bridal expo at my venue, Bella Collina, where he had previously worked. Not only is he an incredible photographer, but he knew our venue inside and out. Over the last year, I followed Bella Collina on instagram, and I was always able to tell when they were featuring one of Shaun's photos. He has an amazing ability to find the light, and his pictures are that much more special. He is so easy going and easy to work with, he isn't pushy at all. He just kind of lets you be with little direction, and is able to capture all of the amazing moments. He is also incredibly responsive, I barely hit send on an email or a text, and I've already heard back from him. I cannot recommend him enough!

Shaun is absolutely the BEST!! My fiancé and I are NOT comfortable in front of the camera and Shaun takes all of the stress out of it. Somehow he catches all of the magical moments in between where a couple is natural. He shot me asking josh to marry me at Balboa Park and also our engagement pictures at the beach. I’m am SO happy with all the pictures & can’t wait to see what comes for the wedding! THANK YOU SHAUN!!!

Top Shelf Photo captured our wedding at the Crowne Plaza San Diego 5 weeks ago, and we are so happy we hired Shaun! We were referred to Shaun and I went on his website and saw beautiful work. His Yelp reviews were encouraging, so we contacted him right away and met with him in San Diego. He was pleasant to chat with, and his packages were very reasonable. We went with his top package that included 2 photographers for 10 hours. Shaun showed up at our venue on time, and he was good at keeping us on schedule and he always knew what was next on the timeline. I liked the all detailed shots he took of my accessories, flowers, dress, and ceremony/reception decor. I felt he worked well alongside our videographers. He was open to all my ideas for the different locations and types of shots. I really love the getting ready photos of my bridesmaids! My groom and I had a first look session, then we took a party bus to Cabrillo Monument where we got some pretty photos with a view, despite it being so windy! We get a lot of comments for the pics overlooking the ocean! My husband appreciated that Shaun directed our family and was always in control of the photo shoot. That was exactly what we were looking for. We actually completed our family/sponsor photos 1 hour ahead of schedule, before the ceremony! That's unheard of! I had time to relax, eat a sandwich, and drink a cocktail before I walked down the aisle! It really was a perfect day! The ceremony photos turned out great and he caught some emotional shots of my guests. I got to mingle during cocktails and the reception was a just a whirlwind of fun! My favorite photos were of my first dance, father daughter, the group shot, and our money dance! I got my digital edited photos not too long after, and recently received our album, which included a lot more photos than I thought it would! We loved it so much we ordered 2 more! Top Shelf Photo was great to work with and we will recommend Shaun to all our friends!

Shaun was wonderful to work with. Not only is he professional he is calming which was helpful for me as the bride on our day. Shaun sent me sneak peek photos and I was blown away with how beautiful, artistic and unique they were. I highly recommend Shaun for his skill, kind personality and creative mind. Thanks again Shaun and we look forward to seeing the rest of the gorgeous photos!

We loved working with Shaun! He had great ideas, was so nice to us, and really captured the feeling of the day. So happy that we went with him!

Working with Shaun for our wedding was beyond ideal. Memories last a lifetime, but having incredible photos to accompany those memories makes all the difference. While researching photographers, my husband and I were looking for beautiful images, creating unique yet traditional shots and we found all of that and more with Shaun. We knew that in order to capture great pictures, we would also need to feel comfortable & confident with whoever we worked with; Shaun is personable with a calm and gracious demeanor and when it comes time to take photos he is quick, precise and truly talented! The day of our wedding all of the photos just came naturally. Shaun captured the images and moments we wanted without taking away the magic of our day. We received our wedding photos in less than two weeks after our wedding date, which was an impressive surprise! My husband and I truly enjoyed working with Shaun and we would absolutely collaborate with him again many times in the future! It's more than a name, we highly recommend Top Shelf Photo.

"Good photographs put you in a particular moment in time, they tell a story, or they speak to your emotions. The most important element of a great photograph is that it does all of the above. " Shaun did that for us from the time he shot our Engagement & Wedding. Shaun's shooting styles and skills made our wedding photos so captivating and made us wanting to see more. We got so many compliments from families & friends on our pictures. Shaun, we wanted to Thank you for the way you captured every important moments of our wedding in such a beautiful way. Looking through our pictures, it made us feel like we are re-living our wedding day all over again . Our pictures are amazing and beautifully captured. We couldn't have asked for anything more, and couldn't be more happier. For any couples out there looking for a professional photographer, Shaun would be the guy for you. Just look through his profile with his works , it will speak for itself! Shaun , you were an awesome, funny, easy-going, and flexible to work with. Shaun responded to our emails/texts/calls very quickly and promptly. We also didn't have to wait long on receiving our wedding photos either. We were very surprised on getting our pictures shortly after our wedding =D Thank you soo much , Shaun ! You are WONDERFUL & AMAZING at what you do.

Shaun was absolutely great to work with! He was the first vendor we booked and we are definitely glad we had him as our photographer. He shot our wedding last month and the pictures are phenomenal. He shoots quickly, just taking a few seconds to review the shots, before moving to the next setup. This was great, since we didn't spend too much time on our wedding day posing and not being able to spend time with our guests. He brought a second photographer to capture the ceremony and get some shots of venue and decor. Shaun definitely captured all the best moments (toasts, dance floor, candid moments) but never seemed too obvious or in the way. He was also very aware of and skilled at lighting, and provided us with tons of shots with gorgeous sunset and skyline at night backgrounds. He has a very relaxed demeanor and was great at listening to us and taking direction, but also suggested plenty of fun poses for the wedding party. He sent us a few proofs less than 24 hours after the wedding and we received all the photos about 3 weeks after the wedding. There are so many amazing photos that we can't even pick a favorite. I would definitely work with Shaun again and would recommend him to anyone getting married!

Working with Shaun was such a great experience, not only for me and my husband, but for my family as well. My husband and I met and married within 6 months and used Shaun for three different shoots: engagement, wedding and late reception. All three sessions were in entirely different locations: Balboa Park, Point Loma and Lakeside and every single picture taken was beautiful. Despite being extremely self-conscious, Shaun was able to guide us without making us feel uncomfortable and the results were amazing. Our wedding was extremely last minute and during our search for a great photographer, we encountered a lot of misleading and arrogant people. So finding Shaun was such a relief. Not only was he lovely but his pictures were too. Looking forward to using him in the future!

My husband and I really loved Shaun! He is such a friendly, laid back yet incredibly hardworking and talented individual. Finding a wedding photographer for my wedding was challenging as it can be very expensive. At first I did not like any of the photographers I saw in my price range until I found Shaun. His work is incredible and his pricing is very reasonable. Our wedding was fairly large at almost 200 attendees and he did so well taking initiative and making sure we got all the photos we wanted without falling behind on time. He was very creative and came up with great ideas to incorporate our dog as well - he is family and it meant a lot to have him in our pics. I honestly could go on and on about his talent and work ethic and I can guarantee you will be so happy with him as your photographer!

I hired Shaun for my wedding back in May. He was very accommodating and met with us several times over meals and also at the location itself to make sure he captured what we wanted. My wife and I had no prior wedding experience so he walked us through some options on the order of the wedding and also what time was best to take all the normal photos. Everyone said he was courteous and efficient on the job! He snapped a few thousand photos and helped to narrow down the best ones, and he also is very good with Photoshop and made the pictures look fantastic! I recommend Shaun every time I hear of a friend's upcoming wedding.

We couldn't have asked for a better photographer for our wedding. We contacted Shaun through a recommendation from our wedding venue. We were so glad that he was available considering how soon we needed him! (We planned our entire wedding in less than 6 weeks.) We quickly booked him to have both our engagement shoot and wedding day photographed. At first I felt a bit awkward being all lovey-dovey in front of the camera, but Shaun's easygoing attitude made it much easier as we got more into it. He captured BEAUTIFUL photos that I've gotten so many compliments for, and I owe it all to him!!! We are definitely keeping him in mind for our upcoming events and you should too! AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER!

Shaun was such a great photographer and so awesome to work with. We met with him prior to our wedding in July 2015 just to get a feel for his style. We instantly liked him and his work. We kept in contact some prior to the wedding and I gave him a few ideas of what I was looking for. I love his style because it is kind of like a 'photojournalist' feel, looking at my pictures you can really feel like you were there and get all the emotion of the day. My husband was really not excited about getting his picture taken however Shaun was awesome because you almost didn't even notice he was there! We have such amazing pictures of the entire day and everyone who has seen the pictures loves them! I also thought it was a great value; I would recommend him to anyone. Thanks Shaun!

4 years ago and a day Shaun shot my wedding. I LOVE the results to this day! We had both indoor and outdoor setting for our special day and the wedding was late afternoon into evening. He captured all the moments requested and more. I barely remember seeing him do his work! He is highly professional. I have recommended him to others getting married since my wedding and experience working with him.

I was referred to Shaun when a co-worker got married and I loved her photos. My husband and I met with him and right away decided to book him for our engagement photos and wedding. The photos came out amazing and he really listened to the kind of look I wanted! What I love is that he didn't pose us too much and really let us be ourselves and let our personalities shine through in the photos. He did an excellent job capturing moments and boy does he take some amazing shots!! He really has an eye for beautiful lighting and eye catching photos. We are so pleased with how our photos came out and would recommend Shaun to anyone in a heartbeat!! Also, he gets the photos to you so quickly!! Definitely super happy he was available for our wedding :)

Not sure where to start. Shaun is the best. Captures moments, light, emotion and everything in between. I live in Ohio so only get to utilize his talents sparingly, but I choose to wait until I see him to do all of my family photos. He's just the best!

Shaun Hagen was our photographer for our May 17, 2014 wedding in Redondo Beach, and we could not have been more pleased. Shaun is an outstanding wedding photographer. Our pictures were perfect, each one with high resolution, perfect lighting, etc. But you will get that from lots of photographers. What impressed us about Shaun was his artistic vision - his ability to see a perfect shot and position us in a way that created a lifelong memory. There are simply too many of our over 600 pictures that we want to frame, they are that good. Shaun worked extremely well with our videographer, and helped us to pace the photo process to keep us in track. He was extremely easy to communicate with over email, and was extremely flexible when it came to our individual photo plans. Your wedding is an event for which you need to have confidence in your vendors, especially your photographer. Book Shaun Hagen with 100% confidence. The guy is a pro, he's a cool person to work with, and his rates are extremely appropriate.

I live in Virginia, but was planning a destination wedding in San Diego. In researching photographers out there, I found quite a few, but most of them were way above our budget and their photos were just not inspiring. Someone recommended that I check out Top Shelf Photo and not 30 seconds after I clicked on the website, I was on the phone with Shaun hoping and praying that he was available on our wedding day. Thankfully he was and I couldn't be happier with the results. His prices are super reasonable and not only did he come early, he stayed late to get some amazing night shots. He was easy to work with; he had his own artistic visions and suggestions for photos, but was also totally open to special requests from us and our families. He even got his fancy shoes all sandy and wet to get some amazing beach shots! We got our photos back super fast (less than 3 weeks!) and can't wait to get many enlarged and printed. Working with Shaun was a great experience and I would highly recommend him to anyone in need of some really stellar photos!!

I'm so happy that Top Shelf Photo did my wedding photos. They are professional, fun and so nice. They also have a amazing eye. I highly highly recommend them!!!

We had the pleasure of having Top Shelf photograph our wedding in February of 2016. The entire process, from first inquiry about services to the receipt of our photographs and album, was seamless, timely, and professional. Most importantly, out photographs are impeccable and captured the day in the most perfect way. My favorite thing about working with Top Shelf was Shaun's vision and creativity (not my sting suit). He had amazing ideas for shots and really aligned with our personalities- he challenged us to take a few risks (which we loved) and those pictures were THE BEST of a phenomenal bunch. Many thanks and we highly recommend!

Shaun photographed my May 2012 wedding. From the initial agreement signing to the speed in which I received the final products, I could not have been happier with his knowledge and professionalism! Everything was well researched, communicated in a timely manner, and above my expectations. Shaun made sure that all of the important pictures were done Exactly how I wanted, took time to get a sense of our personal style, and came through with a final product that captured more than our wedding but really who we are! During such a hectic and stressful time, not once did I have to worry about the wedding photographer before, during, or after the event; which was SUCH a relief. Anyone can snap a picture but Shaun not only understands photography, he knows how personalize a shoot to suit his client's needs. His work is amazing. Thank you for the hard work and dedication! You managed to capture all of the special moments on the day I'll cherish forever.

A rare combination of professional and fun. Good vibes, like a fly on the wall, but caught all the magic. INSANE VALUE. His rates will go up shortly, I'm sure. Thank you for being a part of our magic!

Stop reading this review and just book Shaun now. I'll wait. If there's one thing you need to know about Shaun it's this: when I got all my wedding photos back I texted him: "You need to charge more." And I meant it. We searched for weeks for a photographer that we felt matched our wedding personalities. We didn't want to look too posed or fake, and we wanted someone with an eye for light, because our wedding was to start around sunset. Through another wedding photographer, we found Shaun. My husband and I truly enjoyed working with him every step of the way. He's an all-around great guy. Upon watching our home video of the wedding, we were shocked to see how much he moved around and worked to get the shots, while staying out of our moments. I shared a few of our shots on Facebook, and my family began commenting how they looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale. One of my family members used the photo as her cover photo and she's not even in it! Some are just surreal and I'm just so impressed at the way he captured the light. Others are more candid...if you're looking at my profile pic on Yelp and it's a Stormtrooper ....Shaun took that. If you want or need someone to pose you, Shaun may not be your guy. But if you want someone that will keep an eye out for beautiful moments and do his best to capture them, I would encourage you to use Top Shelf. He went above and beyond for us and I'm looking forward to using him for family photos and have already recommended him to family and friends.

Look no further, because I honestly can't thank my mother in law enough for finding Shaun. He is AMAZING. We met with him at a local coffee shop and showed us his work; totally loved his photography and most importantly his vibe. Immediately we knew that we wanted him to shoot our engagement and wedding photos. Shaun made us feel super comfortable during it all, he had us laughing the entire time which made it way more fun! My wedding party was a rowdy bunch and he did a killer job at keeping everyone in check. I didn't have to worry about if we had enough time, because he was on top of it. He has such a great eye for detail- his photos of the decorations, guests, us, etc were all on point. His turn around time to get the pictures back to us was as quick as lightning- no joke not even a week for the engagement photos and three weeks for the wedding photos- this is UNHEARD of. Like I told him after the wedding Top Shelf Photo is the best in the game, we loved working with him and I'll be recommending him to all my friends forever and ever.

Shaun is so incredibly talented and simply amazing. From the moment that we first communicated, Shaun responds so quickly and answers every single question so thoroughly. Our engagement shoot was simply breathtaking. Our photos were a dream. Shaun was patient and really helped my fiancee loosen up to be able to have some fun in front of the camera! Shaun has such an eye and really captured the photos that we are going to cherish forever. After we received our engagement photos, I knew that we were in the best hands and we had nothing to worry about at our wedding. One the day of the wedding, Shaun was early and ready to go! He was so accommodating and came to a different location to capture the girls before the wedding. Shaun knew which photos meant the most to me and really concentrated on them. During our bridal party photos, Shaun was so patient with a very excited group of people and really ensured that we got the photos that we wanted. Shaun ended up stayed 30 minutes later to ensure that he captured everything including our grand exit, which was SO appreciated. Shaun sent us 5 preview photos THE DAY AFTER WE GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!! I was absolutely blown away and could not believe how fast we got our photos! I've had friends that had to wait months to get their photos and could not believe how fast, and how beautiful these photos were. We got the rest of our photos after just 5 days. My family was still in town and we were able to look over them together. The amount of photos that we received was amazing. They are all so beautiful and Shaun is so incredibly talented. If I could give Shaun more stars, I would. He captured the best day of our lives and went above and beyond to ensure that we had the photos that captured the love, laughter and enjoyment that everyone there felt.