Nirav is a joy to work with! We admire his kindness and lovely spirit
By the time we booked Nirav for our wedding in Yosemite, we had loved his work for several years. We were so excited he was going to document our story and knew the photos would be incredible. What we didn’t realize was how Nirav would capture everything — every detail and collectively, the essence of the day — with such kindness and grace.
Since ours was a destination wedding, we’d only exchanged emails and Skyped once with Nirav before we met him in person at our rehearsal dinner. The first thing that struck us about Nirav was his calm, kind, quiet demeanor. He seemed completely at ease while remaining a true professional, and he put us at ease too.
Tyler and I (ok, just me) had the idea of doing portraits in Yosemite National Park the morning of the wedding, and Nirav was totally game for this. Even though it meant him waking up at 3 am and staying up for nearly 24 hours. We had the best morning with him shooting portraits at sunrise and stopping at multiple locations throughout the park to capture absolutely breathtaking images. He let us be us — offering helpful direction when necessary, but mostly just quietly capturing. And the results were gorgeous, authentic photos of Tyler and me, showing all the joy we were feeling that day. We adore these photos — every single one!
We are perhaps most thankful for Nirav’s attention to detail throughout the day. The way he captured all the most important looks, gestures, and moments, you would think he’d known us for years. It was as if he could sense the most important relationships and most meaningful moments — down to the smallest detail. My sister slipping me a tissue in the middle of the ceremony, Tyler’s dad wiping his eyes, my mom holding my hand as she opened my gift to her, our flower girl eying her reflection, a single tear on my bridesmaid’s cheek. Plus, all the big, glorious moments. Nirav captured them all. And meticulously edited them. Collectively, these photos somehow capture the un-capturable — the feeling of the day. They do justice to our joy.
We could keep going, but we’ll end with Nirav’s thoughtfulness. When we received our photos, Nirav also sent a slideshow of his favorites — complete with carefully selected music that matched the rhythm of the day. We immediately watched it twice through and were in awe. It is not every photographer who would make the effort to create this. Plus, at the time Nirav delivered our photos, he and his family had been evacuated from their home due to wildfires. And he still sent our photos.
In short, Nirav is a joy to work with! We admire his kindness and lovely spirit — my whole family wants to be his best friend — and his work is unparalleled. Every photo was a work of art that we will forever cherish. Thank you, Nirav!
These photos, like Nirav, are precious treasures.
Phenomenal. My daughter and her fiancé scrutinized photographers for their wedding more than any other vendor. A passionate hobby photographer, she looked for someone who shared her aesthetic and crafted beautiful, unique, and interesting photos that could tell a visual story of relationships and personalities with light, shapes, color, movement, touches, and nearly imperceptible details more than just capture great shots or posed portraits. After being recommended by a friend, reviewing Nirav’s website, speaking to him on the phone, and then meeting with him, J & R were completely convinced that Nirav was the photographer for their wedding. My daughter was impressed that he communicated what he does and how he does it extremely well, discussing certain guidelines and expectations well ahead of time, and asking them great questions when they met together over a casual meal. J mentioned that Nirav was very personable and open, and shared about his background, life, and family. J & R walked away from their meeting feeling like they were the only couple in the world that mattered to Nirav, their wedding was the most important event of the century to him, AND that they had really made a friend.
I met him the first time when he and his assistant were performing their magic by taking photos of the girls prepping the morning of the wedding. He was warm, friendly, witty, kind, flexible, and purely enjoyable to be around. Someone in a previous review described him as a Ninja, and I concur. He and his assistant were part of the ambience of the wedding preparation and dressing (boys and girls), ceremony, games & cocktails, dinner, and reception. They seemed to be everywhere and capturing the most intimate, hilarious, touching, and incredible moments with the backdrop of an absolutely beautiful venue (Nestldown), but never in the way or prominent. Working with him was very easy – he knows his stuff, knew the venue, has a great eye, and is efficient. The posed shots took very little time because he was very clear in his direction and ultra organized. He worked incredibly well with our venue coordinator, caterers, and videographer.
The confirmation of his technical expertise, artistry, innate talent, and professionalism is in the resulting photos. He compiled a collection of his photos which he put to music commemorating the day (from beginning to end) that simply took our (collective) breath away. Every person who has seen it is awestruck and, in most cases, moved to tears – between unbridled belly laughs to intense tenderness. Along with this presentation are over a thousand photos posted on a web site to review. J & R are now reviewing layouts and selecting photos for an album Nirav is creating.
How Nirav is able to use every available element to tell the story of this couple’s lives and values and love and devotion and humor and joy and craziness and passions and friendships and families and sensibilities is mind-boggling. He GOT them. That’s really the best that can be said of a photographer. In the short time he had to get to know them and understand what they wanted, he nailed it unconditionally and resoundingly.
My daughter and her husband have now been able to see their entire wedding day, and especially the two of them, as their guests, family, and bridal party experienced, but with much greater depth, breadth, and intimacy. These photos, like Nirav, are precious treasures. I cannot recommend Nirav more highly with absolutely NO reservation, and I want him to be part of our family. He just makes you feel that way.
His take on wedding photography is unique and refreshing..
Nirav photographed our wedding and we honestly can’t say enough good things about our experience with him and his photography …but by golly, we shall try! Because he deserves some serious kudos.
We searched the internet high and low to find a photographer for our wedding and came across Nirav’s work. We were beyond impressed with his unique shots, brilliant use of light, and uncanny ability to tell a story through his photos. Nirav captures the big moments of course, but most impressively he has a knack for catching the subtle, unexpected moments, which is where the real magic lies. You can tell he truly puts his heart into each wedding he photographs, and needless to say, this and much more translated to our experience.
Nirav was professional and extremely giving of his time. He was with us the entire day of our wedding and also agreed to meet us at our venue prior to our big day to scope out the place, not something every photographer will do. And as an awesome bonus, he was a joy and a half to be around. As many of his yelpers have testified, Nirav became an instant friend – he immediately puts you at ease with his warm personality, fun sense of humor, and personable nature. We can wholeheartedly say that his presence enhanced our day in a way we’d never imagine.
On to the photos. Only a couple of weeks after our wedding, Nirav sent us a slideshow that included his favorite images from our day perfectly synched to a beautiful selection of music. My husband and I pushed play, and we’re instantly transported back to our wedding day, emotions and all. We laughed, cried, oohed and awed as we viewed each image. As my husband put it, Nirav “put us up in the clouds” with his creation. Or as I put it, I wanted to hoist him up on our shoulders and parade him around town – strange thing to say for sure but I think it says it all.Nirav sent us the rest of our photos shortly after and we we’re excited to find countless other gems that we will love forever.
The moral of this yelp review is that Nirav is a phenomenal photographer with talent oozing out of his ears. His take on wedding photography is unique and refreshing; he’ll leave you with absolutely breathtaking images. Pair that with his wonderful spirit, not to mention fabulous taste in music, and well folks… you’ve got yourself a real winner. Nirav, we can’t thank you enough for documenting our day! Lots of love.
He truly is worth every penny and more.
Working with Nirav was easily the best decision we made for our wedding! Every one of his images are captivating and contain so much elegance, emotion, and timelessness.
My husband and I were fortunate enough to have two photo sessions with Nirav. Each experience being nothing short of perfection. Our Engagement photos were in San Francisco, California. We went to various locations and spent one afternoon for our entire session. When we received the photos, many of our friends thought we spent 2-3 days shooting. This is just one example of how good he is.
About a year later, we had our destination wedding in Santorini, Greece. Our budget only allowed for Nirav to shoot the entire wedding by himself. We don’t know how he did it, but he successfully captured every important moment brilliantly. I imagine him to be a skilled ninja with two cameras on his holster – all while being super stealth and quiet. Our wedding images came out so insanely beautiful. Definitely more than anything we could’ve hoped for. His editorial style allowed our friends who couldn’t be at our wedding feel as though they were part of the day. He captures so many incredible shots that we always have trouble choosing which ones to share. As a bonus, he throws in amazing scenery images too. Really, I can go on and on about his mad skills so I’ll just include some photos to let them speak for themselves.
In case you were wondering, he really is as kind and patient as others have mentioned! He replies to emails and gets photos back super quick. It was a total stress-free and reliable experience for us. My husband and I love Nirav so much and can’t wait to have him shoot our future events.
P.S. Well over ten of our friends have asked for Nirav’s contact after we posted our photos online. We can only imagine how busy he currently is. Book him in advance! He truly is worth every penny and more.
Details, emotion and color are all featured in his intimate, photo-journalistic style.
Over the past 10 years I’ve adopted the philosophy of the Mayan people, succumbing to belief that cameras steal your soul, and in my case, your ability to look attractive on film.
In many a group photo you’ll see the edge of my sleeve, hidden behind the tallest person. In solo portraits, you’ll often glimpse a closeup of my hand, or an object successfully obscuring my face.
In other words, I’m not a photogenic person and therefore not a fan of having my picture taken. Candid shots of me always feature 12 chins, giant protruding teeth, a hook nose and devilish red eyes. So when it was time to chose a photographer for my upcoming wedding, I had to find someone who made people look exceptionally pretty, no matter if they’re not that pretty in the first place.
That person is Nirav. Although our wedding isn’t until Summer 2011, we spent time with Nirav taking engagement shots, which ended up being absolutely breathtaking. Details, emotion and color are all featured in his intimate, photo-journalistic style. He’s inventive and fun and most importantly, he makes you feel at ease.
His first request when he started shooting us was for us to be “natural and in love.” Well our natural in love pose usually looks like two people in sweatpants sitting on the animal-fur covered couch eating burritos. He then asked us “how comfortable are you having your picture taken?” To which we replied “not at all.”
Nirav tries to make you feel relaxed and doesn’t put you in ridiculous, cheesy poses, but rather, tries to capture you at your most natural moments.
We’re incredible happy with our engagement photos and can’t wait to spend our wedding day with Nirav, as his presence is akin to an old buddy (an old buddy following you around with a camera, but a buddy nonetheless).
Amazing guy with an amazing talent and amazing spirit. Oh and an amazing ability to not take a photo at the moment I have 12 chins. Thanks for that, man.
Nirav is a truly gifted storyteller and there is absolutely no one else who could have told our story more beautifully.
When we set our wedding date, priority number one was booking our venue and very close behind that was finding our photographer. My husband is a wedding photographer and a friend from the industry said we should check out Nirav’s work. We fell hard as soon as we looked through his galleries. Both of us immediately loved how he worked with light and seemed to see everyone from a unique perspective.
We were never able to do an engagement session because we were planning a Sonoma wedding from Boston so 1 skype session, 1 phone call, and a few emails was the entirety of our interaction before our wedding. Luckily, Nirav is incredibly laid back and easy to be around, he felt like a friend from the moment he joined us the morning of the wedding at the maid of honor’s house.
Our wedding day was seriously more special than I could have ever imagined and it went by in a flash. Looking back over the next few weeks I started to wish that we’d hired a videographer because I didn’t want to lose all those little moments. And then our pictures from Nirav came. I truly think that his pictures hold more emotion than any video recording could. Watching the slideshow that he sent us of our “highlights” really brought us both back to the day. Every picture had us reliving the parts of the day we’d shared, telling stories about our separate moments that day, or seeing parts of the wedding that we hadn’t been present for.
I think every review has said this in some way, but to reiterate it, Nirav is a truly gifted storyteller and there is absolutely no one else who could have told our story more beautifully. We are so lucky to have had Nirav document our day.
they break my heart because i remember those emotions of love, excitement, the thrill of living my wedding day.
The one thing i didn’t realize is that after the wedding (while you are totally STOKED the wedding planning is over) you’re completely heartbroken that the wedding is…over! you spend so much time, thought and effort for what feels like a million years making this one day amazing – and it is, i promise – but then afterward it’s like, wait, COME BACK!
our wedding day was the happiest day of my life. bar none. i would live it over and again a million times. which won’t ever happen. that’s where nirav and his gift come in. there is only one way you will ever get to live those once in a lifetime moments of pure, total and complete bliss: through nirav’s photographs. nirav’s photographs are unlike any other you’ve ever seen and i doubt i’ll ever see others that will compare. everytime i see them, every. single. time. they break my heart because i remember those emotions of love, excitement, the thrill of living my wedding day. nirav captures the most intimate moments of the most intimate day of your life, yet you never even see him! he really is like a ninja – in fact, i found myself missing him! but he captured every part of the day and all the little parts you hadn’t even considered. those are the most beautiful.
if i had to give up every other component of my wedding day for nirav – i would do it in a heartbeat. the moments he captured are absolutely the most valuable “things” i own. to top off everything, nirav has become a true friend. when you share something this incredible with someone like nirav, who opens himself up to the whole world and all it has to offer, you can’t help but keep him as a friend forever. he is utterly an amazing human, the most talented photographer and i would get married all over again just so he could photograph it.
Nirav is present, he is truthful, he is generous, and there’s a calm that literally lives in his photos.
Sitting to write this review is a joyful challenge. I have been at a loss at how to fully capture our experience with Nirav through the course of our wedding planning. The emotion is so present, that my eyes become teary as I reflect on our experience. But there is also lightness as I think about the hilarious fun moments that we shared with Nirav and those amazing moments that he captured.
There was a moment during our cultural engagement ceremony when my husband’s almost three year old nephew was lazily strolling past us in the ceremony tent. My mother, who was sitting close to me, reached out to his exposed tummy and gave him a little pinch. He immediately exhorted her with a “stop it” and kept on his way to gaze at the object of his affection, a young family friend. We of course were laughing at his swagger and wit. It was a moment that I repeated many times to friends and a memory that stands out. Well I was gobsmacked GOBSMACKED that the entire interaction had been captured in the photos. I couldn’t even believe it. This moment that maybe was all of 5 seconds was immortalized. And that is what is so amazing about Nirav. There are layers to his photos. Each viewing is a different experience… noticing the Hollywood sign fuzzily in the background…seeing an interaction between friends that I hadn’t previously noticed…seeing a picture of an outside wall of my mom’s house that is a quiet reflection of our immigrant family’s American dream. Nirav’s photos tell the stories of your wedding, but his gift is his ability to capture the narrative about everything else- friendships, relationships, pride, achievement, resilience. Those are all of the things that I see and feel when I look at photos of our wedding weekend. Upon viewing the photos for the first time, my mom just kept on saying, wow…wow…wow. She was in awe, she was speechless and she said something that resonated so deeply for me I had to write it down. Of the photos she said, “the ‘silence’ is penetrating…I don’t know what to say, I just have to let the emotion wash over me.” Nirav’s photos are powerful; powerful in their depth, playfulness, richness. To me the power of the photos are not that I have an exact retelling of everything that happened, but that I have an experience that I can continue to build in my thoughts, imagination.
When I first spoke with Nirav, I was struck by the similarity in our family stories/trajectories. I immediately was so happy for this person that I had never met; that he had the incredible courage and support to choose the path that was truly his purpose. Nirav is present, he is truthful, he is generous, and there’s a calm that literally lives in his photos. Nirav and Jeramie were such a joy to be around. Our friends raved about them. They understood what we hoped our wedding weekend to be and they made it possible. We are forever indebted to Nirav; he truly honors the ritual of weddings.
Every single image he presented us with tells a story and evokes emotion.
We are so thankful to have had Nirav document our most memorable day. Back when we were searching for photographers, we hoped to find something extra special, and I found myself unable to get Nirav’s work out of my head. We knew we found that ‘something special’ we were looking for. Every single image he presented us with tells a story and evokes emotion. When viewing our photos for the first time we were taken on a journey reliving the feelings of the day. We, along with our friends and family, can’t believe how breathtakingly beautiful the photos are; complete works of art. Not only do the images capture the utter beauty of the day, but also the beautiful emotions we felt throughout the day. Not a single moment was missed, from the tearful reactions of wedding guests during my father’s speech, to my grandma busting a move on the dance floor.
Entrusting Nirav with capturing our entire wedding weekend was the best decision we made.
When planning our wedding, we knew photography was incredibly important to us. Entrusting Nirav with capturing our entire wedding weekend was the best decision we made. He somehow managed to be both unobtrusive and additive at the same time, seamlessly weaving himself into the fabric of even the most intimate moments while bringing joy to us and our guests. The images are breathtaking, as anyone can see, but having him present with us was an honor and a pleasure. We put our faith in him to capture the weekend through his lens, which allowed us to feel free to make memories and fully immerse ourselves in the experience. As a result, we have a collection of images that truly tell a story. Each photo seems alive, as if the frame is in motion, and conjures up layers of feeling. We look forward to one day showing our children and grandchildren these images and inviting them into the celebration in a way that feels so natural. Nirav is an extraordinary human being with extraordinary talent.
Nirav’s easy going, lovely attitude was the perfect oasis for us
We are so unbelievably thankful to have worked with Nirav and his team for our wedding.
You might not know it yet (we didn’t), but you’ll probably spend more time with Nirav than just about anyone else on your wedding day. This makes picking the right person so important. While truly a professional, Nirav also quickly became the favorite family member of the wedding parties and our parents. Everyone commented on how lovely it was that Nirav was so good at balancing being at just the right place at the right time while still also letting family and friends have special moments together. This unique skill allowed all of us all to truly be seen by Nirav and it absolutely shows in every single photo.
As just about everyone who has ever worked with Nirav will tell you, he is kind, caring, and really good what he does. Its amazing to have someone so capable by your side on a day when you’re going to feel such a range of emotions, but also lovely to feel so taken care of and at your best. Nirav’s easy going, lovely attitude was the perfect oasis for us during an otherwise crazy and emotionally charged couple of days.
it immediately felt like we were speaking with an old friend.
Nirav was the first vendor we reached out to when we got engaged. I had been following his work for several years and knew that if we ever got married, Nirav would be the one to document it. I had never seen any photos, much less wedding photos, that encompassed such sensitivity – not just to the subjects, but to the light, the details, the surroundings. We knew the photos would be the only tangible element left from our wedding, and as such it was very important to us to hire a photographer we knew would make beautiful images for us to look back on the rest of our lives. Reaching out and communicating with Nirav was easy, and it immediately felt like we were speaking with an old friend.