Luis & Elise - Husband and Wife Duo | Wedding & Lifestyle Photographers | San Francisco | Sacramento | Modesto
We are Artists with Cameras…
Why “Artists with Cameras”? As husband and wife, we began as graphic designers who launched a print/web design business, but our old love and appreciation for photography expanded as our family grew. Surrounded by beautiful children and equipment, it was inevitable for our design business to slowly unfold into a lifestyle photography brand.
That brings us to now, a decade later, as photographers. We express our talents through wedding and environmental portraits, family photography, and wedding book design.
We photograph in San Joaquin County, covering the San Francisco, Sacramento, and Modesto areas.
Our artsy philosophy on photography...
Imagine catching a firefly in your hands and letting others admire it for a moment...and after you set it free, you still have that moment–it belongs to you. That's how we would describe our experience with photography–it's part creation, chance, and preparation. It's capturing light, saving moments in time, and doing it from where you are standing in the world at that instant. Like any craft, it takes patience, experience, appreciation, and love.
Our Photographic Style has a Journalistic-Feel
Our style features beautiful environmental portraiture and "journalistic-feel" weddings with light posing. Our process is low-key to capture more organic moments. We start by building a relationship–We want to know more about you and what makes up your world...The best images we capture are the unaware moments of you just enjoying life. Learning more about you allows us to weave in subtle creativity inspired by your uniqueness. Looking through our images, others may only see a beautiful picture, but you will know "that detail" that makes it meaningful, and in the end, we get to share that bond with you. It is the best reward for working in this field.
As mentioned above, we have a more hands-off style when posing. However, we gauge your personality and energy and run with it...So if you are "over-the-top," be yourself! We want you unrestrained! If you are more toned-down but are looking to be more fun or showy, we can egg you on if you'd like, but ultimately we want you to be comfortable being you--that always looks best. More critical than strict and rigid posing is building enough time for custom shots into your session or the timeline for your event. This will allow for things to flow naturally–Nothing kills the authenticity of a moment like having to rush.
Our Aesthetic Styles
Timeless Style
Our Classic/Timeless Style produces a light and airy aesthetic by emulating professional film stocks such as Fujifilm Pro 400H and Kodak Portra. This dreamy style aesthetic exudes peachy skin tones, romance, elegance, and enchantment, emphasizing softness and rich, muted tones. Our approach to achieving this look is to edit with subtlety, focusing on enhancing the natural beauty of the images without overpowering them with excessive filters or effects. This ensures that our photographs remain relevant and captivating for years to come. Recommended for weddings and works well with pastel color palettes.
Bohemian Tone
Our Bohemian Tone style is characterized by vibrant colors and rich textures that enhance warm skin tones while evoking a cozy, vintage-inspired ambiance. This style blends seamlessly with natural landscapes, creating a moody atmosphere. It also embraces the rustic, organic, and nostalgic aesthetic that celebrates the beauty of imperfections and a carefree spirit—recommended for portrait sessions with long, flowy dresses and earthy-colored wardrobes.
Client Testimonials!
“Luis and Elise are such an amazing duo!!! They photographed our proposal luncheon and did such a beautiful job. We immediately booked them for our engagement photos as well as our wedding!!! This amazing Duo captures every perfect moment...I am so happy the memories they have captured thus far will forever be mine to share with our loved ones!!! Definitely deserving of a 5-star rating!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!”
“Luis and Elise were amazing to work with for our wedding—personable, friendly, flexible, creative, fun, and that perfect, collaborative mix of being open to ideas and suggestions while also coming equipped with their own. I’ve worked with other photographers who had their own setlist of shots/poses and were resistant to deviating from it, and I’ve also worked with photographers who took no initiative and needed to take all their direction from other people. By contrast, Luis and Elise really listened—not just to what we said, but to the sentiments underneath our words, and then came up with the ways of how to tell that story. They did a stellar job capturing the feel of the day while remaining unobtrusive. Perhaps the highest proof of praise I can give? We think they’re rather seriously undercharging for their work. =)”
This is Us
We have been designing and doing photography together since 2007, when we were happily married. We thank God for bringing us together and for every opportunity and blessing that continues to follow. Our personalities are professional yet fun-loving and relatable, and we work well with all ages and personalities. In "our world," we have five children; Gabriel, 1; Asher, 5; Lily, 11; David, 14; and Nathan, 26. Elise and the little ones enjoy drawing, hula dancing/Hawaiian culture, and being creative. Meanwhile, Luis and David carry on the tradition of sharing funny YouTube finds and Tekken matches (now that Nathan is out of the nest). As a family, we are home-bodies but enjoy any little adventures out of the house to hunt for treasure at a favorite second-hand store, the occasional trip to the farmer's market, and serving at our home church.
We must not forget that Luis is an excellent cook, a connoisseur of coffee, and a lover of learning and sharing the technical art of photography! Naturally, Elise loves eating the masterpiece dishes and barista-inspired beverages that Luis whips together just as much as she enjoys incorporating art into whatever she can! Together we take beautiful images and curate them for our clients, and we love it!