BJ Martin Photography

My wife and I found this guy on craigslist. He referenced his website in his craigslist ad so we checked it out.
We sent BJ an inquiry for his services on April 6, 2013 via his craigslist ad. BJ replied to our inquiry via his craigslist ad April 6, 2013, the very same day asking for our telephone number and the best time to call. We obliged by responding to his email with our number and best time to call. All of our correspondence was via craigslist email. Never heard from him again.
To date, he’s all over craigslist and has a professional looking website yet after he requested our contact information he’s unresponsive.
We provided our number in good faith. In turn, he never followed up by contacting us which in our opinion is extremely discourteous, unprofessional and invasive.
We can’t recommend BJ’s services because we never got the chance to engage in business together.
We did, however, experience his inability to follow through by not responding back to us which questions his reliability and reliability is key to providing excellent customer service which we did not get.
In response to Mr. Martin’s rebuttal on 5÷3÷13:
We’re not critiquing his ability to take photographs. On the contrary, we are critiquing his ability to follow through with customer inquiries.
Our reply, via email, was sent to Mr. Martin through craigslist. Whether or not he or his assistant inadvertently deleted it is anyones guess. What Mr. Martin neglected to comment on in his rebuttal was that we sent him a copy of the email showing our response indicating best time to call and our phone number.
He said, she said. Regardless, what’s more perplexing is why Mr. Martin didn’t take it upon himself to send out another email asking once again for the information he claims he never received. If he wants business he needs to be pursuing his leads.
We thought of contacting him when we didn’t receive his response but quite honestly we concluded he had no interest. Besides, why would we attempt to contact him again, we’re the paying customer with ample choices available to us not a service looking to make a buck.
In choosing any service and/​or company, communication is first and foremost which is key. It’s certainly not just the ability to perform the service. He failed in this arena, so our review is quite appropriate.
It certainly didn’t appear that Mr. Martin was remorseful about our Unilocal review given the fact he began his initial correspondence to us with «Excuse me but…». His lack of professionalism is very apparent.
He was very defensive and remains to be. Not one time did my wife or I receive an apology from Mr. Martin for his miscommunication. He had the chance to turn this all around but instead has decided to continue to add fuel to the fire by debating this rather than admit his shortcomings and perhaps regain our confidence for future services.

This guy is fantastic.
The whole time he was super duper friendly.
We met about 2 – 3 times before the wedding to discuss the time-​line of events, where it was going to be held & things like that.
Everyone ended up getting lost at the palace of fine arts, but surely BJ arrived and took fantastic pictures at the wedding and reception.
He even gave in a 2^nd photographer to get better shots! I loved it!
I deff. recommend him for your next event.
We got our photo’s through dropbox/​flickr. Took a WHILE to download but ended up posting them all on Facebook anyways.

Good work as always.

We hired BJ Martin for our daughter’s baptism ceremony. He was a hit with our party and our guests really liked him. He was very easy to communicate with via e-​mail or phone. His prices are very reasonable and is willing to be flexible with you.
The older guests really liked him because he took «facebook» profile shots of our guests during down time. He captured the moments of the ceremony and the reception. He also did a great job going table to table taking pictures of us and our guests. He is a perfectionist because he’ll try and try to get the best group photo to make sure EVERYONE is seen and are looking at the camera… including babies! He also makes suggestions on poses that look great on camera.
I will hire BJ again for our parties. He is far from where we normally host our gatherings but he’s proven to drive a few miles with a nominal fee.
The only thing that stops us from giving him another star is that he uses Flickr… which is no problem but it just takes longer for us to obtain the full image size by having to download each one separately. He can provide an actual disc for a fee, though. His turnaround time is the best though! We got samples of the event on the same day!!!
I definitely recommend him!

There really isn’t much to be said about a photographer’s work because anyone can talk a person up to be absolutely amazing if they have a dictionary around. Rather, it is truly something you have to SEE to believe, and I am more than impressed with BJ’s work.
When you’re a bride, the last thing you want to think about is pictures. The Knot tells you to get a list of pictures you want together to show to the photographer, but I was so busy it took a backseat to the rest of the stuff that needed to be done. Thankfully, because I hired BJ, I never had to think twice about it. Maybe an impulsive «Oh here!» one or two times, but that was it.
At 8am SHARP he arrived at my hotel room, bearing gifts of pastries and coffee from the downstairs lobby. When I was tired, he burst into the room with this infectious energy that woke me up! He even went down and got some tea for me (I can’t drink coffee D:)! He took pictures from the moment he arrived, through my hair styling, and then a few «pre-​getting ready» ones. He later met us at the Stanford Shopping Mall for pre-​wedding makeup pictures — and by the way, PERFECT portfolio shots for both the makeup and hair stylists.
We got to the house and got ready — it took me all of two seconds to zip up, and I was so nervous I didn’t even care if I got pictures! He took some more of the Maid of Awesome and I, last minute preparations before heading out so I can marry my best friend.
After the ceremony, it was onto pictures. He did such a great job capturing the whole family and shots of us that I am currently picking out to print out to send! They are truly photos that I cannot WAIT to hang up on our wall — and these don’t get cheap frames, my mom and the husband will hand-​make them because that’s what they deserve.
Here’s part one of the two kickers that make BJ stand out as a professional photographer that I think means everyone should hire him:
1. We decided that, because the wedding ended around 6pm, that we would go out that night to downtown Palo Alto. We didn’t end up going until 10pm, but we stayed out until at least 1am and he was there the entire time! Of course, we paid for his drinks and grits as an extra thank you, but I will never feel as if it were enough. We ended up getting some absolutely AWESOME pictures that night — I felt like a celebrity! BJ was taking pictures while people were yelling and congratulating us, honking their horns and wanting to take pictures, it was really fun!
2. Here’s what sealed the deal: He got us probably 30 photos by.8am Sunday morning. What the hell!?! Maybe it’s because Offbeat Bride shares horror stories about how long it takes to get pictures from the photographer, but I waited all of like, 6 hours… of which were spent sleeping. I have been so amazed at his work and his timing that I am recommending him to just about everyone I know.
Best of all, he was reasonable. BJ is worth his prices, every single cent. I implore you to take a look. If you need something photographed, get a camera. If you need something photographed WELL that you’ll stare at hours and hours each day, then hire BJ.

I wanted to get head shots for a few professional websites, but had no idea where to even begin to find a photographer. I’m not keen on getting my picture taken… typical girl thing, I never, ever like the way I look. On the other hand, I didn’t want overly manipulated photos that didn’t look like me at all… what’s the point of that?
Luckily a few friends have worked with BJ Martin and I had a chance to get to know him a little bit before I decided «he was the one». He’s so nice, interesting and fun to be around that he put me at ease and we had a really enjoyable time… well, at least I did, he was working, but I’m trying to say he just did everything right and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Mr. Martin is not only a consummate professional, he has an infectious enthusiasm for what he does. 5 stars!

When I was in graduate school in Nashville, most of my friends/​classmates got engaged and/​or married. This gave me ample practice looking at pictures, poses, different photographer’s work, etc. I can’t tell you how many sets of engagement pictures, wedding pictures, etc. I looked at. And what did it make me think? «I will not have a photographer at my wedding.» The reason being, I am seriously one of the most awkward, un-​photogenic people alive. While my friends looked all cute and coupley, and happily in love, I knew this would not be the case when I got married. I’ve had plenty of experience looking horrible in pictures, even when I swear I didn’t look that nasty in person. I had my senior class pictures take multiple times, and the photographer actually apologized that out of the hundreds of pictures he took, there wasn’t a single picture he would recommend that I put in the yearbook. The one that is part of the yearbook is laughable… Then came my prom. Hair, makeup, a gorgeous dress, padded bra… I looked hot. However, when I looked at the pictures afterwards, I thought «Damn, I’m busted.»
What does any of this have to do with BJ Martin Photography? Well, I am getting to that.
When my fiancé proposed, my mom asked, «Do you have a picture I can put in the paper?» His mom asked, «Do you have a picture I can put in the paper?» My friends asked, «Did you get engagement pictures?» His friends asked, «Did you get the World of Warcraft expansion?» I avoided any pictures for as long as possible, then realized that we actually might need some practice before our wedding. And I need to shut up my mom and my soon to be mother-​in-​law and give them a picture already.
While on Unilocal,I came across BJ Martin’s profile, and saw some of his great photographs. I emailed him and he got back to me right away. After talking with him on the phone, seeing his work on his website, and meeting him in person, I knew this would be a good fit.
He scouted several locations, found some great places for us to shoot, and sent me numerous pictures that he liked, and asked for my input on shots I liked. He helped with clothing selection, and even went out and picked out a shirt for Pete. When it was time for the shoot, he was very well organized, helped us both feel comfortable, and gave us great direction. We left there feeling so comfortable and overall very pleased with how things went. I have seen some of the pictures, and I must say, BJ is AMAZING. He took a very un-​photogenic, not particularly cute couple, and made us look our best. I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend BJ to anyone looking for a photographer.

I had a crash course in photography 101… BJ was kind and patient and explained how to use my Canon Rebel EOS xti SLR camera… I left feeling so much better about how to use my camera… he also took the time to look at my shots before and pointed out tips and suggestions… I am a hands on learner and BJ was an excellent instructor.