Ars Magna Studio

I had the opportunity to work with Allana for my head shots for my new tutoring website. I’m not sure what I expected, but Allana exceeded my expectations. She took a series of portraits designed to capture my love of learning and expertise. The person I look at when I see Allana’s portraits is closer to the way I see myself than I had imagined possible.
She kept me comfortable and really took the time to understand what I was looking for — she wasn’t afraid to push back when her ideas for the shoot were strong.
In short Allana is a gifted photographer who applies her skill to capturing your best self. I couldn’t be happier and look forward to working with her again.

Allana is a superb and talented photographer. She is a true artist. After seeing how impressive my friends’ wedding photos came out w/​Allana at the helm, we hired her as well. They were absolutely perfect!!! I liked her work and working with her so much, I hired her to do another shoot with me for my 1 yr anniv present to my husband. Once again this talented artist has exceeded my expectations. Do yourself a favor and hire her!!!

Allana made us all look like movie stars. There were some things during our event that didn’t go exactly as planned, but she totally went with the flow and made everything perfect. She also made sure I ate when I needed to eat, made sure I relaxed when I needed to relax — she was awesome. A consummate professional and an amazing artiste! We booked her for our wedding immediately after an amazing family portrait session in the Arboretum about a year prior, because we just immediately clicked and knew she was perfect. We will continue with her for photo coverage of other important events as our family grows. VERY highly recommended!!!

Allana is exactly who you want by your side for the whole wedding process– calm, reassuring, and fun all through the big day. Not to mention her photos are gorgeous — we just put together our wedding album (a year and a half after the big day… we’re a little slow) and are marveling at how beautiful her photos were all over again.

Over the last year I have had the joy of working with Allana Taranto during various portrait sessions hosted at Little Fish Boutique and most recently for my finance and I’s engagement photos.
She has an amazing ability to be casual and easy going while capturing precious moments in ideal framing with all the tools and talents of the master photographer that she is.
Check out the website and blog to see the depth of experience, variety of styles and endless stunning photos!

Allana is just plain great! My wife and I live in the Bay Area, but got married in La Jolla. As everyone knows there are tons of photographers and finding one can be a really big pain in the ars.
We met up with Allana at a pretty cool coffee shop and she showed us her stuff, pretty stunning, great style, great quality. The overall package was a better value than the other photographers we had met with, and she was pretty cool to boot. We were sold. Luckily she did our engagement shoot in the East Bay, since she relocated up there right after booking us; that was totally great. Of all the vendors for our wedding, she was the easiest and most fun to work with, I’d buy her a beer any day.
Our pictures were ready online in short order. Allana’s «team» worked fast even at the wedding cranking out a very impressive slide-​show during the reception — Lot’s of good feedback from the guests, it was a nice surprise.
Ars Magna puts out a great quality product, at the right price, with the right attitude; our DJ on the other hand, that’s another story.

Jon J. and I tied the proverbial knot in May, and hiring Allana was by far the best choice we made in our entire wedding planning process. Early in the game we decided that our two main priorities were throwing a fun party, and having beautiful photos by which to remember the entire affair. So we put our money where it counted, and we couldn’t be happier with the decision.
Obviously, the first thing that drew us to Ars Magna Studio was the exceptional quality of Allana’s portfolio. She manages to candidly capture emotion and humor in her photographs that few others can. After interviewing a handful of other potential photographers, we finally had a chance to meet with her and were sold on the spot. She’s laid-​back and absolutely hilarious, which are priceless qualities to have when trying to put people at ease in front of the camera lens, especially at such emotionally charged events as weddings. We had a great time shooting our engagement and wedding photos with her, and absolutely love the results. We even received numerous compliments from guests about her level of professionalism and sense of humor. Overall, by far one of the best wedding investments we could have made — I can’t recommend her enough!

Allana did a wonderful job documenting our wedding in June. I chose Allana after going through her portfolio… I loved how she has the rare skill of capturing someone both at their best but also naturally (I never felt self conscious or awkward). Her portraits are particularly great — my husband and I were thrilled with our engagement photos and the pictures she captured of the two of us during the wedding.
Choosing a photographer is of course, a very personal decision… but if you’re looking for someone who will document your wedding as it unfolds and who is very professional, but with a great sense of humor, then I can’t recommend Allana enough.

Allana was the photographer for our wedding this past weekend and was she fantastic! The advice I’d gotten from friends was to pick a great wedding photographer and Allana more than lived up to my expectations.
Allana has all the ‘basics’ covered — she’s very professional and reliable (on-​time, responds quickly to email /​calls, etc) and she of course shoots great photos (I don’t consider myself photogenic at all, but she got some great shots!) Of course, many photographers take beautiful pictures and are professional… what really attracted me to Allana was her personality. She has a generally laid back demeanor (while of course getting everything done) and has a good sense of humor (both in person and the whimsy in her photos) … attributes essential to any wedding.
I would definitely have chosen Allana all over again… indeed, I’m trying to figure out an excuse for another photo session already!