Dorothy Hatchel Photography

I had the pleasure of working with Dorothy Hatchel for a gala at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco last November. She was very professional, easy to work with and went above and beyond the call of duty. The photos she took have a photojournalistic, elegant style. She captured the essence of the event beautifully and I would recommend her to photograph any special event or wedding!

Dorothy is beyond fantastic and a wonderful photographer! We hired Dorothy for our wedding and engagement photos about a year before our wedding date. We had met with 4-5 other photographers prior to our first meeting with Dorothy and loved her instantly and hired her on the spot! We felt like she was very reasonably priced and loved her work. Our package included an engagement shoot, and Dorothy went above and beyond to help us get the pictures we wanted--even meeting with us on separate days so we could include our favorite spots around San Francisco. She was very fun and easy to work with. She scoped out our locations ahead of time to become familiar with the area and the light. She also drove more than 2 hours to our wedding venue ahead of time to preview the setting before our big day!

On the day of the wedding, Dorothy and her assistant photographer were wonderful! Having worked with Dorothy before at the engagement shoot, and spoken with her on the phone and by email countless times before, I felt like she was an old friend on the day of the wedding! My husband and I were both totally at ease with her and commented after that we couldn't have imagined working with anyone else, because they might not have delivered the same friendly experience. The day of our wedding was incredibly hot (with temperatures over 100 degrees!!) and Dorothy and her assistant were working tirelessly to ensure we recieved all the photos we could have hoped for. Many of our guests commented that she and her assistant were "everywhere" and didn't seem to miss a single moment! We even received our full set of photos already edited less than 2 weeks later on our honeymoon!! I was thrilled with how they turned out and have a hard time picking favorites because there are so many to choose from! She captured our wedding beautifully!

I think hiring Dorothy was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! She was always responsive and helpful and above all else extrememly professional. I loved working with many of our vendors, but Dorothy was by far our favorite!

Dorothy shot our engagement photos at Baker Beach and did a fantastic job! She has a wonderful eye and creates romantic photos that capture light beautifully. She is very organized and easy to work with. Her rates are extremely reasonable and she is a great value for the quality of work that she provides. I definitely recommend her as a wedding photographer!

Dorothy shot our March 2009 wedding and did a fabulous job. I enthusiastically recommend her to other couples. From our first interactions with her, to the prep for the wedding and engagement photos, to the wedding day and the photos from the day, Dorothy was a consummate professional and lovely to work with. She is friendly and genuinely interested in getting to know us as a couple. I think this really helped her capture our personalities in the photos.

When we first contacted her, she was extremely prompt in all our communications (within 48 hours) and was flexible in meeting with us. She was also flexible in helping us to craft a package that fit our budget and requirements. We booked her about 6 months prior to our wedding and throughout that time, Dorothy would check in every now and then just to say hi. I really appreciated this and it definitely alleviated my stress level knowing that she hadn't forgotten us.

One of the things that has really impressed me about Dorothy is her professionalism. For example, we had a engagement shot with Dorothy and while I thought most of the photos were great, there were a few that I wasn't so fond of. I gave that feedback to Dorothy and she listened to the feedback and took it to heart to make sure that I was 100% happy with the wedding photos (which I was!). She was prepared for each of our meetings and did her homework - even going out to the wedding site without us to scope out the times with the best light.

On our wedding day, Dorothy and her second shooter were on time and worked tirelessly throughout the day (more than 10 hours). She did a great job blending into the crowd - I never even noticed her and have no idea how she managed to catch more than 700 beautiful photos. She has a wonderful eye and the moments she captured were the small moments that make you look back and really remember the joy of the day. She got all the shots that we requested and did a wonderful job corralling our guests (we had almost 200 guests). The photos feel very natural and organic as opposed to being very heavily photoshopped or posed. Dorothy also has experience in fashion photography as well and this really helped her capture me at all my most flattering angles.

Finally, Dorothy has a wide range of packages and I believe she is a great value for couples on any budget.