Christopher Paul Photography

Christopher did an amazing job of photographing our family last fall! We had pictures taken in a local park and not only were the pictures beautiful but Christopher’s creativity made each one special. Christopher is very easy to work with and our grandchildren really liked working with him also. We are looking forward to scheduling another photo session later this year. So happy with Christopher’s work!

Christopher has taken photographs for us twice. Once he did our baptism and once he did family pictures. Both sessions turned out great. We were extremely happy with the quality of the photos, the amount of photos, the candidness of the photos and the turn around time of the pictures. He is super easy to work with and the pictures turned out amazing. Additionally, our kids really liked him. We will definately use him in the future.

We absolutely loved working with Christopher and his wife Marcy for our wedding photos. They were so easy to work with and made my husband and I feel like a million bucks the day of our wedding. He worked with us to capture those important «family» photos but the real fun came when we left all the creative responsibilities to him. He had an amazing vision and ideas that were custom for us as a couple — they made our day perfect! If you need a photographer, this is the one. Also, his wife Marcy served as our day of coordinator — I can’t even tell you how awesome she was for us. She pulled it all together and made it happen with no stress. Thank you Christopher and Marcy!

I have been using Christopher Paul to photograph my baby since she was 6 months old. He comes every 6 months and shoots wonderful photos that hang on canvases all over our house. The last time he came was for my daughter’s 2 year birthday party and everyone was so impressed with the pictures they received. Marcy always replies promptly to my emails and is very nice and friendly. And my daughter who doesn’t like most men, actually feels comfortable around Chris and therefore, the pictures turn out so nice and not posed.

I bought a living social deal last December thinking it would be awesome to have shots done with my children and I in the Chicago winter and then life got in the way. My kids were sick most of the winter, it did not snow until it was February and WAY to cold to be outside for pictures so I did not even try to make an appointment until spring. When I did I had to work around my kids’ sports schedules, their time with their dad and of course the photographer’s schedule as well. We settled on a date that was outside the window but he graciously extended it. Fast forward 4 weeks, it was raining and has been raining for several days. We had to reschedule, again given our busy schedules we finally set a date about 5 weeks out.
The morning of the photo shoot, it was overcast and looked like it was going to rain even though the forecast said nothing about rain but I waited and waited and just as it was time for the shoot the skies cleared up and the sun came out. Our photo shoot was at 6, so I was tired from a long day of work and the kids school but Christopher was great. He was able to get a ton of amazing shots.
The photos took a little longer than expected to be received but after reviewing them they were well worth the wait. THEY ARE FANTASTIC!

Christopher was great to work with. We did a family photo shoot, at our home, with 3 kids. He brought a lot of creativity and imagination to the shoot, was great with the kids to get them to show off their individual personalities, and great ideas for my wife and me for our couples pictures. The quality of the images is outstanding, you receive every picture he takes on DVD so you can pick and choose at your leisure, or share out with family and friends. All in all, I’m very happy with the pictures, highly recommend Christopher as a top photographer and will schedule our next family picture session with him.

Christopher shot amazing photos of my children! I never expected my 3 year-​old son to work with him, but his photos were the best. The photos were not «staged» and brought out the amazing qualities in my kids. He was courteous and took so much time to create beautiful memories. I have recommended him to all my family and friends!

First time doing a family photo shoot. I was nervous because I’m not relaxed in front of cameras. But everything turned out great! My 7 year old son had a lot of fun. Chris was very creative and very accommodating to my schedule. Marcy always answered my email right away with any questions or changes. Communication is great! Photos turned out beautiful. If you want to create precious memorable moments. Chris and Marcy will make that happen. I will be scheduling another family shoot for the fall!

I am in loooove! Christopher and Marcy gave us the best photo session of our lives on this past Saturday! Marcy was very accommodating in giving me a weekend date in October even though I initially called in September. That meant a lot because my husbands work schedule is crazy during this season and a weekeday just would not have worked. So I was so appreciative for that especially seeing how it wasn’t much notice that she was working with. I was clueless as to what location to pick but once I chose a general spot, Christopher recommended a specific spot in the area that I chose. It was evident that they both were very passionate and knowledgable about photography and the science behind getting a great shot. They photographed my husband and I along with our dog Max. They were prompt and on time for the shoot. They were driven to give us a great experience. I also appreciated their warmth, friendliness, and easygoing nature. We were just ecstatic! We haven’t seen all of the shots just yet but from what we did see, it’s absolutely amazing. Our pics look like the ones in the photo frames that you buy in the store, very surreal and whimsical. We have been telling our friends about them and we definitely plan to use them for winter family photos and for any other event in the future. They are our new ‘go to’ photographers! I’m lovin it!

I got the living social deal, and emailed a month before it expired, and they had a long wait so he extended my expiration date which was great! He sold so many of them, of course there was a wait, and of course there was a 4 week wait to get the photos returned. They were very clear and upfront about both. He/​wife/​partner always returned emails within 24 hours (on at least 10+ conversations we had throughout this entire process) and they were clear and communicated very well with me. (And more than made up for the very short delay in appointment and delay photo return-​really, I couldn’t be happier!). This was not for a wedding, and was not a traditional photo-​shoot. It was in an alternative art gallery for a variety show production company, so we had 5 people and a variety of combinations and poses. It was hot in there, we used all of our time and maybe then some, and he was happy to be there and do anything we asked! I’ve recommended them on my facebook page, on my company’s page, and am glad I can write them a good review here!

Christopher just shot our wedding this weekend and we could not have been happier. It was 90 degrees outside and we had 3 hours straight of outdoor pictures and he was running from angle to angle to get the shot. After doing such an AMAZING job with our epics we cannot wait to see how these turn out. My communication with both Christopher and Marcy over the past year has been outstanding and I really felt they both went above and beyond my expectations.

Just finished working with Christopher on a series of photos of our company staff, building exterior shots and group photo. The experience was outstanding. He is professional, gives great direction to make sure each shot turns out fantastic, and made the whole process a lot of fun for everyone. (And you know how everyone hates getting their photos taken).
I would highly recommend Christopher for whatever photographic needs you have.
We will be working with him again on some upcoming events.

I can’t stomach giving this business one star, but Unilocal doesn’t leave much choice. The husband and wife team are the single most unprofessional business people I have ever come across in my life. The communication with clients is horrible and when a misunderstanding occurs based on the content of their emails, they get upset with the customer. In my experience, when a professional makes a mistake, he admits it to the customer, apologizes, and works to make it right. Twice I have attempted to use their services and twice I have been burned. Don’t trust anything to do with your wedding with these people or you’ll end up crying your eyes out in your wedding dress on Michigan Avenue like I did.

After working with Christopher Paul for my wedding, I can honestly say I think he’s the best value in Chicago photography right now.
We wanted a nice picture or two to put on the mantle but the truth is, photos were far from our number one priority when we got married, so spending a ton on a photographer was not in the cards. We settled on Chris after looking at a few budget photographers in the Chicago area and finding his work a cut above the competition. (As a sidenote — I found the samples Chris showed us in person and the pictures we ultimately received to be even better/​more my style than the ones on his site when I first looked last year.)
This ended up being our single best vendor choice! Chris was extremely flexible and easy to work with. He was friendly and low-​key when we first met him and pretty much disappeared into the crowd during the event itself.
And uh, he also worked his butt off for us. We had a lot of… ideas for our pre-​ceremony photos. Ideas that involved standing out in uncomfortable weather and tromping through terrain that would later fill me with regret as I examined the train of my dress. Chris was more than game for it all and turned our vague «wouldn’t it be cool if we…» ideas into some serious «looks like a wedding magazine» shots. We got married in a fairly urban area, but lots of our pictures look romantically rural (per request), thanks to his careful shooting. He really seemed to get the style we were looking for and brought his own ideas to our less creative moments – not cookie cutter poses but fun, inspired shots.
In the end, we ended up getting much more than a shot or two for the mantle. I’d say out of the hundreds of pictures we received on CD, I absolutely *loved* at least 60%, with the others being very good too (some of my favorites are pictures of our guests from moments we hadn’t even been aware of at the time). Overall, everyone we’ve told has been surprised by how little we paid after seeing the pictures.
In terms of getting the photos themselves, I think it took about seven weeks. I believe we were quoted four or six – not a big deal for us personally (delayed honeymoon!). As another reviewer noted, this is probably the one area where the new business is still working out kinks, but not a huge one and once we got the photos (hundreds, retouched, with full rights) we were more than happy to recommend him to anyone who asked.

Christopher Paul Photography is OUTSTANDING. I had Christopher take photos of foster dogs I had, so they could have the best possible photos, for the best chance at adoption. And he also took my 3, so it was 5 dogs total! His photos were AMAZING! He captured group shots, individual shots, the 2 puppies together, each puppy with mine – it was unbelievable! The shots were GORGEOUS – I can’t express how perfect they were. The puppies were adopted quickly and I am so very grateful for these amazing pictures – which are memories for me. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I can’t wait to have you come again.

Christopher photographed my wedding at the end of July. From our initial consult, to our communication leading up to the event, to our experience on the day and the price we paid, I couldn’t be happier with our choice of photographer.
Chris did a great job of getting to know my wife and I before our ceremony date. He met with us to discuss what we wanted and to get a feel for our personality as a couple. We were a bit apprehensive before meeting him because neither my wife or I are very comfortable in front of a camera, but he really put us at ease, making us feel confident that we wouldn’t feel overly pressured or «directed» working with him.
Chris was very accommodating to work with, agreeing to a few different last-​minute schedule changes when we decided we needed more time for pre-​ceremony pictures. With only 90 minutes before our ceremony, he worked very fast to take a bunch of creative photos in different locations we’d chosen around town, getting us to the «church» with plenty of time to spare. He was also great at finding unique angles from which to photograph the ceremony (stealthily creeping around so we never even noticed him), dealing with our disorganized families to get group shots of everyone before the reception started, and capturing all the guests and big moments during the reception itself.
The biggest thing I can say is that Chris listened to what my wife and I wanted and delivered! This is a strong contrast to our engagement session with a different (more expensive) photographer, which was overly staged and harried and resulted in «nice» pictures that nevertheless don’t feel like «us.» We are a laid back couple and had a very low-​key wedding (no wedding party, few traditional elements), and Chris did an excellent job adapting to our personalities.
In reference to the very negative review posted earlier, I can only say that we experienced no communication issues with Chris or his wife. Our photos were delivered to us more or less in the timeframe promised, and I appreciate that he gives you an entire disc of pictures rather than just a selected few.

This was the worst experience I have EVER had with any business providing services. Christopher was the photographer for my wedding. He is very charming and nice and is a great salesman. The pictures came out okay. On a scale from 1 – 10, they were a 7. Maybe he is not used to taking pictures of African American brides and grooms??? Either way, that wasn’t the worst part. After waiting for 2 months to get a disc of my picture– which was ridiculous and unprofessional in and of itself, I had to deal with his wife and business partner who is a completely unprofessional and emotional wreck. My husband and I prepaid for a picture book to be made. We were given poor instructions from the photographer pertaining to how we should select the photos that go in the book only to be told several weeks later that they needed us to select the photos in a different way. I spent hours and days doing something that in the end was a waste of time. After weeks of poor communication, not returning emails and phone calls and being extremely frustrated, the photographer’s wife, Marcy, tells me that she will just give me a refund because she doesn’t like how I’m talking to her. Of course I was frustrated and upset and instead of validating my frustration, she tells me that she is upset too and has spent a lot of energy on this as well… and that she has taken time out of her Jewish holiday to call me back and that I should appreciate that… WHAT!?! Are you kidding me. They really need to understand the professional ethic of working with people especially when it comes to weddings and brides. I was married in May. I didn’t receive my photos until the end of July. We are still fighting over this photo book and it is almost October. Can someone please tell me why they think they have handled this situation appropriately? Nonetheless, if you go with this photographer, you might get a good price, you might meet a man who seems very nice, you might get decent pictures taken. BUT you will not get your pictures in the promised 4 – 6 weeks time frame, they will not answer your emails or calls in a timely manner (or at all), and they will not treat you like a costumer who has already paid them money– instead they will treat you unprofessionally as if they are doing you a favor. It’s not worth it– there are so many other photographers in Chicago. Don’t ruin your special day dealing with people who will take your money and treat you with such disrespect!