Travis Kaenel Photography

Travis was hired for our engagement session and our wedding. He is all the things you would want in a photographer. He is professional, decently priced, and does great work. I was a control freak for the wedding and made him this long list of shots I wanted. He remembered all of them throughout the day. I was so impressed by the moments he caught on camera. He was a pleasure to work with. Anytime our family will need photography done we will call Travis 100% of the time.

I 100% backup Marina M. review. My husband and I had the same experience with Travis. Usually I do not write reviews but I feel very wronged and feel that this review could help you with making your choice, because you only have your wedding ONCE. As for us we will have to remake our wedding photos at a different location with a different photographer because Travis sent us NO photos of our family members, or bridal party, our first kiss, first dance, and cake cutting. The only photos he sent of other people besides us (the bride and groom) is of my husbands grandmas, one aunt, and stepmom which you can see on his social medias, he sent us 20 pictures of flowers from the back of our venue, also my dad because I personally requested that photo, (but not even our venue or decorations), leaving us with 34 actual pictures, and since most of them were of the same poses there’s not enough to even make an album. We spent $ 1200.
The engagement shoot was GREAT, little photos, but GREAT (we got almost the same amount of photos for our 5 hour wedding, as we did from our 1 hour engagement shoot). We WERE to receive our photos a month after our wedding; HE sent it 10 days LATE in an EMAIL that EXPIRES. We were on our honeymoon, like we told him we would be, and missed the emails expiration date so we had to wait even longer to get the photos he sent us, we texted him to send photos, his response was along the lines of, you didn’t get the email? Then after that we didn’t hear from him again until the day I went on his IG to ask if he was receiving our messages. When we finally got the photos we were disappointed with the amount but what can you do? We would be happy if he sent us our family photos and bridal party photos for memories to cherish. We messaged him again for family and bridal photos, he said he would send them the next day and we have never heard from him since then. Very saddening considering every one of our family and friends stood in line to take pictures with us and Travis took tons but we did not receive even one. Our bridesmaid and Groomsmen took time away from setting up the wedding to take pictures and we did not receive one. We sent him one last text today saying how very upset our family and friends are and how we are facing hardships that he could have prevented and we just want our photos from one of the happiest days of our lives (to be honest this one might have been rude), he didn’t respond cause frankly I think, he did not care.
To be honest I would be more upset if we did not have the means for new photos and if we (the couple) paid for his business but my father in law paid, and we have NO photos of him at all. I just want to save you the heartache, disappointment, and stress because a wedding is stressful enough. Save yourself now and look for someone else. I might end up paying double for another photographer to remake our photos if a friend can’t do it.
I’m not really even upset about the photos, I’m more upset that he seemed like a nice guy and at the end, he ended up causing us a lot of trouble, for one of the happiest and biggest days in our lives and he feels no regret or remorse, at least not enough to be upfront about it or to even give an explanation or even a response, but now this review is up. I will update this review if he does send us the rest of the photos, for you guys to know.
But I’m writing this review because its just really sad and I wouldn’t want any of you guys to go through what we are. Especially if you have to pay out of your pocket and cannot afford to go through this.
Update* Travis has now sent us over 900 photos, his work is pretty as u can see on his profiles. Still this was an experience my husband and I did not and would not want to face in the future, especially since we faced so much trials already getting engaged and married, we wanted some happy moments after the wedding not more stress. I raised my stars and rewrote my last review (try to leave only facts not anger) because I did write the last review while I was upset and feeling pressured and that I let others down with no response from Travis at all. I am partly at fault, I admit. I think I chose the wrong photographer for us.
Problems faced:
limited pictures: (but got them all last night, married July 3^rd 2015)
Lack of communication: Over the period of 2 months he sent us about 3 responses, leaving us even questioning if he still had our photos or if we were going to get them. We messaged him several times and were ignored, you can see that he is posting on his social medias mins later after our messages.
Family and friends, upset and frustrated with us.
A lot of grief and stress

I implore you; I beg you, please do not choose Travis to be the photographer for your wedding. Everything about him will seem amazing at first, but when all is said and done, you will feel cheated, crushed, and left with maybe five useable pictures of the most exciting and emotional day in you and your husband’s lives. When we first met him, he seemed cordial and polite, a little aloof, but nothing that set any alarms off. After viewing some of his work, we agreed he was what we wanted, so we signed the contact and made our deposit. We scheduled the engagement photo session, I was just so excited and eager to work with him. He got us access to those pictures very fast, and we were amazed and overjoyed with the results. This was
in December 2014, I didn’t hear from Travis again until about two weeks before the wedding. I had to initiate contact on May 29^th and then after no response I sent another email on June 02. He responded on June 03 confirming we were still on and I breathed a sigh of relief.
During the wedding, I noticed a couple of things that made me uneasy: he only took a couple of shots of the wedding party in various poses, and he kept asking me what shots I wanted to do next. Over the course of the night I noticed he was at the bar a lot, later some of our
friends mentioned they had urged one of our groomsman to tell him something. Toward the end of the reception my husband came up to me and said that Travis had asked him how we planned to settle the balance. I discreetly pulled my card from my purse and we stepped
outside to settle it. Very awkward moment, he was with me while I was getting ready, there was plenty of time to settle this then. Heck! He had over six months to make a more suitable arrangement, but there we were sneaking out of our reception to pay the photographer an hour
before we were to leave. I waited for the pictures, and waited. Then I waited some more, and
decided to read the contract about when my pictures should be ready.
Finally I sent him an email asking when they would be expected as per the contact I should have got them the previous day (which was a month after the wedding). In this time, I saw he was posting pictures on his FB page about another wedding his had done after mine. I left a couple of voicemails in the morning, and finally in the afternoon he called me back and said he had been delayed waiting for a friend to“uhhhhhh…” but sure he would send them today.
I cried a lot evening, not out of sentimental nostalgia, but heartbreak. Almost all of the pictures look like they were shot by a junior high art student picking up a camera for the very first time
ever. No useable pictures of my dress, which in almost all of the pictures is over exposed so that you can’t even tell it is lace. A constant blur in all the wrong places, hardly any pictures of our guests, the wedding party pictures has everyone in focus but us. Like I said there are some pictures that came out very nice, but they don’t include one of me dancing with my father, or with my husband for the first time.
There was some emailing back and forth, zero understanding or regret on his part and he stopped returning any of my emails also. Ultimately I’m left with very little options but to share my experience with others. I never got the USB, I ended up begging our friends and family for copies of the pictures they took at our wedding, and thankfully they delivered. Save yourself the headache, the regret, and the heartbreak. Do not use Travis Kaenel. You will have nothing but a handful of pictures to show for it, and for the money you spend on him you can
find much better options.

I had such a great experience with Travis! Seriously I could not have asked for anything more! He was so helpful and willing to work with our ideas! He brought all of his artistic skills and totally made magic out of our wedding and engagement pictures! People are in amazement of our pictures! These pictures really are art and they make such an incredible memory.
He makes you feel so confident and that you truly are the most beautiful/​handsome person that exists while he’s taking pictures! So comfortable and friendly as well!
At our wedding a lot of people mentioned how nice and friendly our photographer was! He does all if this and doesn’t get in the way if anything. Not overbearing at all. He knows how to naturally get the best shots that capture the most perfect moment whether it’s of the ceremony or wedding party or party time!
Hire this guy and you will not be disappointed. If you’re looking for lovely memories that will last forever and forever get compliments hire Travis! You will not be disappointed!

Best photographer I’ve ever worked with/​heard of.
I can’t gush about Travis’ work enough. I met him through a coworker who similarly raved about him, only to find he was twice as cool as my coworker promised. Use Travis for for your wedding/​engagement photography IF:
1. You need a quality pick me up. Seriously. He made me and my husband feel so comfortable and confident while we were taking photos that I now have a movie star complex.
2. You want a photographer willing to go above and beyond expectations. Travis was game for all our inconvenient and weird requests, willing to drive for hours to meet us at a random spot in the mountains, and then climb up rock and steep dirt embankments just to get cool shots.
3. You like hanging out with super fun people who have thoughtful things to say. We would hire Travis again just to continue the awesome theology conversation we were having with him on our engagement shoot. He was genuine and easy to talk to.
Lastly, and most of all,
4. You want GREAT PHOTOS. You get high end photography for the price of a novice. He puts his heart and soul into the artful creation of every photo he thinks of and captures. His ability to capture moments and love and natural light is stunning. He made us look so good in our photos! He’s never out of creative ideas, and has skills and ability that goes way beyond the amount of years experience he has.