Sailor John Photography

Sailor John was amazing! After being extremely frustrated by the search for wedding vendors, a friend recommended him. We ended up hiring him for both an engagement shoot and the wedding. From start to finish Sailor John was fun, kind, and professional. He is a wonderful person and truly became a good friend throughout the experience. And the photos were absolutely incredible! There are so many choices to make when planning a wedding and hiring him was one of our best. I think it’s pretty rare to find someone that is so genuine and so talented. Thanks John!

I saw Sailor John photography advertising a special on mini-​sessions on Craig’s List and was very interested in hiring him to do a quick session with my family. I have three children under three, so getting good pictures of them is difficult.
John was very patient and was great with our kids. He had an adorable little cradle for the babies and helped us pick a perfect location for the shoot. In two weeks we had unlimited access to our pictures in a digital format for no additional cost.
The only reason I am not giving him 5 stars is because I was upset that he was accidentally late to our session. I was juggling twin 2 month olds and a two year old trying to get there on time and he was late. But he more than made up for it by staying until we got great pictures of all three kids, and one great one of my whole family. It was an honest mistake and I doubt it is a pattern, based on how remorseful he was. I highly recommend him, and hope to hire him again for the twins’ 1 year shoot, if he is willing to take on my circus.

I first found Sailor John in a local listing. His friendly communication and reasonable prices prompted us to choose him to do our engagement photos. Immediately we were captivated with his fun personality and dedication to acquiring the perfect shots. We were also new to picture taking and he took the time to help us relax and find our natural stride. Once the photos arrived, we loved them so much we hired him again for our save-​the-​date photo shoot. He carefully planned everything with us ahead of time and it worked out beautifully + taking some extra cool shots that were John’s idea and I would have never thought of.
We completed the circle by having John as our wedding photographer. We met beforehand to make sure we were all on the same page. It felt like we were a team and this wasn’t just a job for him. On the wedding day, John arrived early to start the morning, was professional and has a knack for livening things up. I was stressed and he put us all at ease. The whole day and night he offered support at every turn in a gentle yet competent manner. John’s devotion to service is as quality as it gets. What I think matters more than anything though is John’s commitment to his craft. Everything from his state of the art equipment, to going out of his way to get the perfect shot, to thinking outside of the box, and coming up with creative picture ideas, John’s a keeper in this department. I also just really like the guy. He’s got a good heart, you can tell he means well and I can honestly say I feel like a better person for having met him.

John gave above and beyond and the pictures were amazing. Absolutely recommended — he does quality work!

We called Sailor John for the Monterey Auto Luxe event held at the Stanton Center during Car Week. Here’s what you need to know:
— He showed up 30 minutes early
— He moved with speed and intensity to ensure that he got as many «money» shots as possible
— He proved to have an eye for ideal people shots
— His gear is diverse and top quality, and he uses it to the max
— He stayed longer than paid for to make sure he got all the right shots before he left.
Sailor John Photography is a solid choice — you’ll be glad you invested in him!

Sailor John was our wedding photographer and I cannot recommend him enough. Most obviously, his prices are unbeatable– full wedding coverage and an engagement shoot for around $ 2000 is simply remarkable in this market. But his professionalism, knowledge, and skill are really the reason to book him. He met with us several times before our wedding to go over our plans and develop a good photography strategy. He was thoughtful and made excellent suggestions about how to maximize the quality of the photos without taking much time away from our events. When he learned that I was also a novice photographer, we quickly became friends and he helped me find a new camera and taught me how to use and clean it before our wedding. He even helped my brother get a new camera set up!
During the wedding, Sailor John seemed to always be in the right place at the right time without seeming intrusive at all. He suggested that we have quick a photography session before the reception and captured all the «staged» photos necessary in a short amount of time. That meant that we were able to fully enjoy our wedding without having pose for photos, while Sailor John was off capturing all the candid moments. And as for the photos– they are all superb, in part because he hand edits all of them.
Definitely book him if you are getting married or just for a fun shoot!

Loved working with John!
Great job on photos
On time (early like us)
‘A’ for attitude we had to do a little hike in for the wedding in Big Sur
We received our photos within 2 weeks and had many creative choices
If you use John everything will go as planed, Done right and on time!

From my experience, very rarely can you say this about wedding vendors but in my case it’s true: Sailor John saved our wedding.
A little background: I’m from the area but have been living overseas for awhile. Late last year my father fell ill so the wedding was moved up asap.
Planning a wedding in 3 months is hard– planning it from 5000 miles away is harder. We found John online and were initially attracted by his extremely competitive prices. To say we were on a budget was an understatement. We ended up choosing him, though, because he was the only one who asked about US and was willing to work with our time zone dilemma.
I’m so glad we picked him because an hour before the wedding, I became the dreaded bridezilla. If it wasn’t for John, I probably would have started breathing fire. He told me what I was going through was completely normal. Then he told me to shake my sillies out, hug my maid of honor, and to just smile. It worked. He even played referee, telling people who were stressing me out (the awful wedding coordinator mostly) to give me some space. He put the best man at the door to make sure no one else bothered me so that I could finally put my makeup on. If he hadn’t done that, I probably would have had a complete meltdown and missed my wedding.
Because he got to know us so thoroughly before the wedding, he took all the shots we wanted and the ones we didn’t even know we wanted. Everyone at our wedding kept telling us how great our photographer was and how they could tell he really loves what he does.
He worked realistically with our budget and provided so much client care before, during, and after our wedding. I honestly still can’t believe we received such an incredible deal on our photos given all we got for the price. Picking him to be our photographer turned out to be one of the best wedding planning decisions we made and I’m so grateful we found him. Thank you, Sailor John!

Sailor John is awesome. I used him for my maternity pictures. This is my second time taking maternity pictures. The first time I took pics were at the JCP Studio. But this time around I thought I’d take them out in nature. I found Sailor John via Craigslist, I interviewed him a bit, checked out his work online and went with him. He seemed good to me along with his pricing. I had also checked out/​interviewed other photographers I found on Craigslist, but they seemed a bit out of my budget and not as flexible. Anyway, my photo shoot went great. He is very friendly, has a lot of cool ideas as to how to pose. He really knew how to use natural lighting and listened to me, my ideas and allowed me to do a change of clothes. Which I know a lot of photographers don’t allow unless they charge an extra fee. I am for sure going to use his services again for family photo shoot or maybe even another maternity shoot hehe. Oh almost forgot to mention two things. I asked for some editing to some pics (which he charged a bit for that and I was totally fine with it cause it’s extra work) and he said it would take a few more days for me to get my photos. I asked if I could at least get two in advance because I wanted them for my baby shower… well he got me all the pics with in a week (sooner than what he had said) and with the editing I had asked for. Another thing that I liked, well not liked, more like loved, is the fact that he doesnt put his signature or what ever that is called when they put their company name on pic where is very noticeable. He does put it in the pic but its very small and in the corner, you can actually appreciate the photo. I was almost going to rate him 4 stars cause, he was about 10 min late. But then as I was typing this review, I look back at my photo shoot and the results and his work, and everything else I mention oversees those 10 min he was late. So I give him a 5 stars. I am a very happy and pleased customer!!!

I would stay away from this photographer. Extremely unprofessional and the «finished» photos were awful. My husband and I hired him for our marriage reception in Santa Cruz this April 2014 due to his flexibility in times (we only needed a few hours of service), reasonable price, and what looked like professional photos on his website. We paid his fee upfront and noticed he had not arrived at 8pm before our toasts like we had discussed. We couldn’t call him until after the toasts and when we were able to reach him, he promised to arrive in half an hour. He ended up showing up an hour or more after the conversation which was 2 – 3 hours late! He had a very long set up and complained about our choice in location. We were finally able to get some formal photos but were less than pleased with his ability to organize groups, interactions with us and our guests, and lack of creativity or style. The final «edited» photos did not show up in the time he guaranteed and he used our poor location site as the excuse. My husband finally emailed him and after a very nasty, unprofessional email exchange where he told my husband he apologized TWICE for not showing up and essentially it was our fault he showed up so late because we waited so long to call him (on our reception day during speeches and toasts)) and that he would not apologize again because we «clearly could not be pleased.» So we finally received the photos and they were HORRIBLE. Laughable really. They were not centered, cropped, or edited in any way. In addition, he took 1 – 2 pictures per shot which meant one person always had their eyes closed or looked strange. He did not offer any refund for showing up 2 – 3 hours late. I would definitely not be enticed by his website or reasonable prices and look elsewhere for a photographer.