Jason Lanier Photography

I had the most wonderful experience with Jason as my wedding day photographer. From the moment I contacted Jason, I felt grateful to have the opportunity to work with him. He is a consummate professional and has a wonderful personality. His talent and passion for his work effervesce. His work is truly ART. Jason is one of those people who make you feel completely at ease, and I was SO happy to trust him with the most important day of my life. I felt happy and confident throughout our shoot. All of my friends and family loved him and his crew. They still mention what an awesome photographer my husband and I had! I am so proud of the beautiful memories captured by Jason, that I looked forward to printing them out to send individual photos within my thank you cards that included special photos with the specific people we were sending the notes out to. He captured the most beautiful moments, and I couldn’t have asked for more. There are so many wonderful highlights to mention about my experience with Jason, but to mention a few that would be most important to those looking for a photographer, here are my top 7 reasons why I love Jason:
1. Jason worked with our budget
2. He made my husband and I feel confident and comfortable
3. He exudes professionalism
4. Jason is more than a photographer, he is the most talented artist I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with
5. He is efficient! He gets the BEST shots exuding the emotion of the moments
6. He has amazing cutting edge equipment and a wonderful crew
7. Most of all, he is just incredibly TALENTED.
Because Jason was going to Africa days after my wedding, he made me a priority and processed my photos so I actually had them the day after my wedding!!! I couldn’t believe it. Jason is the best best BEST.

So, my original review was posted 8 months ago. I just got an email from Mr. Lanier saying that he JUST saw my Unilocal review and then basically bribed me to write something that painting him in a better light in exchange for a training session for me.
His exact words; «…if you would like to reconsider your review of my business which does obviously have a negative impact on my business I would do whatever I can to help you in the training your seeking. I’m not looking to make money, I’m looking to fix a situation for a mutual benefit.»
How about you realize how you treated a potential customer/​praiser of your work, and make it up without bribing them to re-​review you? I would have considered going to a training session with him, if he hadn’t pushed the review thing.
It also makes me wonder his motives when in the last three days, he has received fourteen, 5 star reviews. Hmm, coincidence? I don’t think so…
I think these Unilocal reviews are honest. With the experience I had, when I wasn’t even a full customer yet, I don’t doubt the problems others might have had. I’m not saying this is the case ²⁴⁄₇ with this guy, but Unilocal is here for us to review people/​businesses honestly. And before hiring anybody, we all should be able to see the good and bad side (not just what they want to hear).
My review stands.
*** Yet another update ***
I’m just going to share his whole email this time. You can read for yourself the arrogance of this guy. He just doesn’t get it, or want to even see that he messed up.
«Well, I tried… I didn’t try to bribe you, I tried to resolve the issue. I come from a hotel background where it’s very traditional to offer your guests something to try and fix a situation. Instead of getting mad at you I decided to try and take the high road and see what I could do to bridge the gap. I never brushed you off, I’m just busy. I never took any money from you which means I never reneged on any deal.
You took an olive branch that I extended and set it on fire. Unilocal is the antithesis of a place for honest reviews. It’s full of fake, uninformed, and untrue reviews. You were never my client yet you trashed my company. You stated my workshops are outrageously priced yet you’ve never attended one, so you don’t know how valuable they are.
The worst part Gina is that you ruined a chance for everything to get resolved which I just don’t get. Don’t you think things would’ve been much better if they were resolved? Wouldn’t you have liked to get together to learn from me as you once wanted to rather than trash me? I can live with your bad review, I was just trying to get this cleared up. You’ve made it very obvious that you have no desires to fix anything.
It’s just sad.»
What is sad Mr. Lanier, is that you won’t even recognize that you treated a POTENTIAL customer wrongly. Yes, I never actually paid you, but that is only because you ignored me and didn’t give me the chance.
Do yourself a favor, and don’t give this guy the time of day. He is arrogant, and won’t own up to his own actions. He may be a great guy, but only after you pay him. What a shame… ego gets in the way again.
PS– Glad he thinks so highly of Unilocal,when he obviously put out a review call for people to write good reviews for him on here the last few days…

Straight and to the point. Excellent service and very professional. Thank you Jason for making our day special.

I can’t find the words to express how grateful I am for Jason Lanier Photography! I first met Jason a few days before my wedding. (6−25−11) He was calm, cool and collected… everything I was not! On our wedding day, Jason and his team were fantastic! They were very organized and didn’t miss a thing. If I could describe my experience working with Jason in one word, it would be: Easy. So much of the wedding process was stress, but when it came to photos, I didn’t feel like I had to worry. We got our pictures back a week later, and we were amazed!
Workshops: I studied photojournalism in college and figured I had a fairly good grasp on how to take great pictures. I had the opportunity to assist Jason on a shoot in October 2011 on a spur of the moment. I watched how he worked, and would try and catch a glimpse of the back of his camera or his settings. It was after I saw the final images, and remembered what I saw with my own eyes that day, that I knew he knew something I didn’t… So I attended one of his workshops. I learned more in those two days shooting with Jason than I had the six years that I had been shooting prior! So I went to another one! I walked away so much better than I was before! Jason does not keep any secrets when he teaches; something you won’t find from many other photographers. If you’re at all interested in learning how to take a great picture, I STRONGLY suggest you attend one of his workshops! You’ll walk away a better photographer!
If you were to ask me six months ago if I was going to pursue photography as a career, I would have laughed and said, «no probably not». Now, after seeing the work Jason does and attending his workshops where I developed my skills and built confidence in my work, my own photography career is starting to take off! I owe a lot to Jason Lanier.

So after I posted the review on my terrible experience with Jason, he was prompt enough to respond back. As expected, Jason came up with multiple reasons as to why he did not send the pictures. I didnt even care if the pictures were unedited. Honestly, I didn’t work with Jason to hear the BS. He wrote in an email, in exact words, «If you remove the post you will get your images. If you don’t remove the post you won’t.»
First, Jason cannot even keep a gentleman’s agreement of a trade for CD, and then he had the audacity to tell me to remove this post and then I will get my pictures. Completely ridiculous. It’s the principle and I’d rather leave this post so everyone knows how Jason really is and this is what happens when you work with him, than to be bought off. I am recommending everyone to stay clear from this photographer, the reasons are noted in my previous post. I also urge you to read the filtered reviews (as I always do with any business). So, I will never see the pictures (it probably won’t be good enough for my portfolio anyway), but at least I am content to know I did the right thing. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

My dear fellow Unilocalers, I could not wait to Unilocal about my experience with Jason Lanier and his chief associate photographer, Don. We had the most amazing shoot out in Laguna Beach yesterday and I can’t wait to see the photos they took.
My fiancé and I have met with many photographers in preparation for our big day. And, of course, we’ve done the obligatory engagement photos, announcement photos, you name it! Nothing was as exciting and romantic as our shoot with Jason and Don.
I came across Jason Lanier photography through a non-​profit organization event last year. I first met Don. He was really friendly. He showed me the albums they brought to the event where they had a table set up (and they were the photographers for the event). I saw how amazing the on-​location shots were in their portfolio and immediately I knew I would love to work with these guys.
I visited their website when I got home and I have to admit, at first, I was a bit intimidated by their prices. But after a great conversation with Jason, and I told him about my budget considerations, he assurred me that we can work something out.
Since my fiancé and I have done numerous pictures already, Jason came up with a great idea of doing unique and unconventional bridal shots justaposed with the beach in the background. I was immediately attracted to the idea.
I got a beautiful white gown off the rack, (the one I am wearing at the church actually doesn’t arrive until June!), cool beach sandals, and had my hair and make up done. My fiancé was in a tux and we were both ready for action!
Instead of boring posed shots or contrived jumping up and down, we had some beautiful shots showcasing the beautiful waves, gorgeous cliffs and amazing sunset. If my little Sony point and shoot could capture us looking great, I can’t even begin to imagine what Jason and his partner could do!
We wanted romantic photos and also fun ones which speak to our personalities. Jason borrowed a surfboard from a fellow beach-​goer and we had a great time with that! Not to mention the cool prop, fake wine glass and fake red wine (vitamin water!), just totally neat things that I would not even think to do for a beach bridal photo shoot.
I saw some photos on his camera after the shoot and I just can’t wait until after his post production is complete and we can see the results.
I highly recommend Jason and Don to everyone. We had an amazing time and I just can’t say how much I appreciated the thought that goes into preparing for our bridal shoot out on the beach!
I’ll update everyone after we receive our pix and if possible, maybe I’ll even share one or two of them on Unilocal