Extended review of photographer, Bill Youngblood

  • Youngblood Photography, Bill Youngblood (***)
    studio (626) 281-3004
    (888) 268-7987
    fax (626) 281-3110
    San Gabriel
    email: ybloodphoto@earthlink.net
    www.youngbloodphoto.com

    NOTES:
    On the Athenaeum recommendation list in 2002. This is the photographer we used for our wedding. A friend in Arcadia also used him for her wedding. We really liked his photographic style from our first meeting with him when we looked through albums of other weddings he had done and some of his general shots hanging around his home. We would definitely recommend him, just make sure to remind him of details over and over again. He frequently got my name wrong (he kept calling me Kelly instead of Heather).

    EXTENDED NOTES:
    Bill books up quickly, especially in the summer, so make sure to call him first to see if he's even available for the date you want. His office is (or at least was) in his home, so you'll need to make an appointment to meet with him.

    He did a good job of listening to want we wanted and we didn't want. He is easy going and friendly. My husband and I sat down ahead of time and prepared a list of every shot we wanted to make sure to get all of the formal shots we wanted and then we gave Bill carte blanche with the candid shots. Bill tends to have a journalistic flair, so he's much more in his element doing the candid, story telling pictures than the formal, posed shot of every possible combination. When we met with Bill for the first time and saw his work, we knew immediately that we wanted him.

    Bill was good with the family for the posed formal shots. We had elderly grandparents, so he made sure to get all of the pictures they were in done at once, so that they weren't standing around in the sun waiting. He also made sure to take several pictures of each formal posed group just in case someone blinked or was smiling funny for a split second.

    He did work on our wedding alone. I'm not sure whether or not he has an assistant available to help if needed. He did just fine working our wedding alone. He buzzed around and got all the pictures we asked for plus some great candid shots. Our wedding had 115 guests with 4 bridesmaids, 4 groomsmen, and 2 ushers, so we really didn't need more than one photographer. I think it also helped that he has done lots of weddings at the Caltech Athenaeum (where we got married), so he was very familiar with the location.

    My only words of warning with Bill are that things went slowly with getting the prints and albums after the wedding. This was partially because when didn't place our order until close to the holidays and he was really busy at that point. It also because it took us a long time to decide which pictures to put in our album and it took our parents a long time to decide which prints to put in their parents' albums. The proofs also had to be shipped to us (in the Bay Area), then to my parents (east coast), and then to my in-laws (Pasadena area). Basically, when you're in the ordering process, you just have to be patient and you may have to call him lots to check up on how things are going.

    The end result prints and albums turned out great though. He did a good job advising us on layout and on which prints would look better in color and which in black-and-white. He was able to touch-up photos that needed touching up. The lab and binder that he works with are both did great work. Given the choice again, we would pick Bill again.

    The only thing that we were disappointed with was that Bill didn't offer any digital options. That may have changed since it's been 2 years. We ended up having plenty of digital photos though thanks to family and friends.

    Heather Suchter (heather@suchter.com)
    written Nov 2004, last updated May 2005