John Schell Photography

We hired John to be the official photographer for the 8^th Annual McFarland Surf Contest, and we could not have been more pleased with him, both personally and professionally.
We’ve used a couple of other photographers for the Contest in the past, with good but never great results. One of these tried to double his price at the last minute. Another was late and took marginal photos.
John was very flexible with timing, agreeing to show up whenever the waves were best. He was there early to scope out the conditions, and he stayed until the last surfer was out of the water. In addition to catching some great surfing (and wipeout) photos, John stuck around and took some very cool, artistic shots of the boards and the various surfers.
John was very quick in getting the photos out to us, and they turned out great — he has a very artistic eye. If you are considering him for surfing photos, he certainly understands the sport and will do a great job. He clearly loves photography (we initially met him when he was wandering around taking pictures for fun at the beach). More importantly, he’s just very like-​able and good to work with. We even managed to convince him to stick around for a beer after the shoot.
Anyway, John will definitely be the official photographer of the McFarland Surf Contest for as long as he wants the job. He’s good at what he does, very communicative and responsive, and the kind of guy you will want to support with your business.

I asked John to do a photo shoot of my big brother and me for family xmas gifts – not an easy task given that we definitely did not want to come across as a couple, yet we also wanted to express that we are siblings and do love each other. John did a fantastic job!
This is why I liked working with John Schell Photography:
— he is knowledgeable, but not in your face about it (not LA photoshoot feel… something I wanted to avoid completely)
— he is great at suggesting shots without interrupting the flow of the shoot (a stop and go photo session would not produce natural photos)
— he plans ahead: what will those in the photos be wearing? what props should I bring (e.g. surfboards)? what are our backdrop options?
Definitely give John a ring if you need any kind of photos taken. He does great work!
P. S. He’s also great about turnaround time – you’ll get your photo CD quickly once the shoot is over.