Ideami Studios

I purchased a 30 minute outdoor photo shoot with Ideami Studios, as I am currently a producer of electronic dance music and owner of LANYX Sound Factory (an independent record label in SF bay area). I was looking for a local professional photographer that I can partner with to take pro portraits to use for new artist profiles, releases, websites, and promotion.
Javier is an efficient, professional photographer that delivers exceptional high quality photos. I am extremely pleased with his work and have used the photos on my website. If you want to see his work then check them out at

Definitely will be using Javier and Ideami Studios for LANYX Sound Factory!
Rich

One word, WOW! A friend of mine invited me to join her during a photography workshop. Having owned a DSLR for about 3 years I was interested in attending this class to learn more about the features of such a camera. Javier was prompt, extremely knowledgeable and an absolute pleasure to work with.
Although our group was large, he didn’t mind spending extra time to answer all of our questions. Most importantly, he had an answer to EVERY question! I would 100% recommend this service to my friends and family. Thanks again for providing us with such a thoughtful and friendly experience. I am looking forward to capturing many more memories in the future (on manual of course!).

Javier is very easy to work with. I normally don’t like my pictures taken but he has a very calm and relaxing manner — I had no problems!
And I absolutely love the results — my pictures look great!
I highly recommend javier!
Tanya D

I recently needed some professional photos taken, and I chose Ideami Studios after receiving a promotional email from them. I just got the photos back, and I couldn’t be happier with the results! I will definitely use the photos on my website and on social media sites to promote my business — they look both professional and relaxed, a great combination.
Javier, the owner and photographer, is great to work with, and he gave me excellent guidance during the photo session. He’s also funny and very friendly, and this helped me to relax and enjoy the session (which is important for good photos). I gave him some very specific guidelines about what I was looking for, and he delivered on ALL of these. Not only did he provide the shots that I needed, he also gave me a bunch of extra shots that were also really useful and nice looking.
If you’re looking for a talented photographer who really delivers above and beyond what’s required, then I highly recommend that you work with Javier!

I can not recommend Javier Ideami enough! His photography is beautiful! I am so pleased with my results. Just look at my picture!
As a real estate agent, having a good headshot is very important because it goes on everything, from flyers to business cards. That is why I called Javier and scheduled an appointment for a 30 minute photo shoot. I was so nervous going into the photo shoot. Everytime I get my photo taken, I always look like I am making a funny face or something just looks off about the picture and I hate having to use it. That was why I was nervous. Plus here I was waiting for a professional photographer who is used to shooting models, but all of my nerves melted away once we started the session. He has such a warm and friendly personality that he made me feel comfortable instantly. My photo shoot took place in a private garden which also made me feel more comfortable.
After the photo shoot, he told me my results would be ready in about a week. However, my session was on Saturday and he sent me my results via email Sunday night! I couldn’t believe it! I opened the web page with my results and my heart skipped a beat. I looked great! All of the photos were absolutely stunning, plus he gave me a couple of extra ones that were not headshots. I have this one photo of me holding a flower and gently smiling. It is my favorite picture of me ever! I feel like he captured me having a wonderful moment and was able to potray a very personal side of me. I actually use it on my webpage because I love it so much.
Javier is a great photographer, but he is also the kind of person that does a little extra for every person he works for. Javier went above and beyond for me and I have a feeling he does that for all of his clients and that is why I am giving him 5 stars. I would give him more if I could.

**N.B. This review is based on my experience after having purchased a portrait session on Living Social and having just received my photography package today.**
Oh boy, my first 5 star review. This never happens.
Background: I’m a super infrequent user of online daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social. I’ve bought under 10 of these types of things in the past few years, for reference, and this purchase was my most expensive.
As a full-​time working professional, I’m just starting to get back into acting on a hobby basis (unless anyone wants to give me my big break, of course). I’m taking private lessons from an acting coach, but it’s really all just for fun at this point. The first thing I was told I’d need if I wanted to be considered for roles at auditions was a nice set of headshots. I understand I could’ve had a friend take some, but I did want a nice quality set — I just didn’t want to pay upwards of a thousand dollars on something that amounts to a hobby.
Enter Living Social and the Ideami Studios deal: for $ 99 (reg. $ 500), I’d get a 30 minute outdoor portrait session with 3 photos digitally retouched, a neat magazine cover with quotes of my choosing, and a video of my photo session.
Ever cautious, I emailed the merchant before purchasing, with the understanding that I wouldn’t purchase the deal if I didn’t get a response. I’ve dealt with Groupon/​LS merchants before who treated me a little bit less than respectfully (I’m guessing because they view the discounted deal as me being completely cheap).
But no! Within an hour, I had a response back, addressing my questions about the feasibility of using the session for headshots. Owner and photographer Javier Ideami even offered me a better deal after a minor misunderstanding (that was no one’s fault) so I got a slightly longer session. My girlfriend purchased a 30 minute session too, and we were scheduled for a shoot within a week of purchasing the deal.
Throughout the week leading up to the shoot, Javier was responsive to any questions the two of us had via email (and we had a lot), always responding promptly and politely. A few days before the shoot, he sent us some information with tips on colors to wear, what to do with make-​up, etc.
The day of the shoot we met on time at a café and walked to a nearby courtyard. It was a nice, quiet setting. Javier was friendly and seemed genuinely interested in my girlfriend’s and my pursuits and reasoning behind getting our headshots taken.
My girlfriend went first and seemed to have a blast, doing a lot of different poses and being her typically outgoing self.
Then came my turn. I’m much more reserved, but Javier made me feel really at ease, encouraging me to try different poses, expressions, etc, and talking to me throughout. After my hour, we parted ways with both my girlfriend and me in good spirits. Javier had let us swap out clothing and given his opinion on certain looks without being pushy in the least throughout the session.
Two days later (this morning), we had our pictures. Since I was paranoid, I checked out my girlfriend’s first (we were emailed the links together as that’s how we’d been conversing) and WOW. Javier seemed to pick up on the features that made her unique and beautiful and just amplified them with his digital retouching. The background was also tastefully done and didn’t draw attention away from the person in the picture. And her video was adorable. He managed to capture her personality perfectly in a 30 second short.
My turn: I’m super nitpicky about my appearance, so I went in expecting to be mildly let down, but wrong again on my part. Apart from one picture I wasn’t horribly fond of (blame goes to my dopey expression entirely as the retouching was just as good as the rest of them), I was stunned by how much I really loved the shots he chose to retouch for me. He picked a great variety of angles and colors. And there was my shy personality, right before me, except it looked appropriate in the pictures. Professional. Appealing. I was really pleased.
Then to top it off (because Javier is the friendliest professional photographer on earth, it seems), Javier included a couples picture of my girlfriend and me as a gift at no cost as a thanks for the fun session.
Incredible. Here’s this professional photographer who’s treating our $ 99 Living Social deals like we’d paid him his normal $ 500. There was no sense that he looked down on the fact that we were paying so much less.
This photo session was an absolutely positive experience. I told my girlfriend earlier today it’d be a dream to have Javier be our wedding photographer sometime down the road. I liked him that much.
Without question, I’ll be recommending him to anyone I know who’s looking for a photographer, as well as returning whenever I’m in need of new photos. His easy-​going, friendly, and professional nature really made the experience memorable for the two of us.