Michael Roberts Photography

Michael is great — he’s easy to reach throughout the process and a wealth of information. For a flat price, which is very reasonable, he gives you a pre-​wedding shoot that you can use however you want, his full attention on the day of starting whenever you need him, and 100% access to ALL of your photos. And I mean ALL — he doesn’t filter out bad ones or pare down each sequence of shots. If he took 10 photos of you in one position, you get all 10. For our pre-​wedding shoot, we opted to have him at our rehearsal dinner. On the day of the wedding, he came around with us for shots around the city and to the hotel for a time while I got ready. Our wedding was on Saturday and he had the raw photo files to us on Sunday night. We then went through over time and let him know which images we wanted him to touch up and use as our «final» wedding photos. I say «final,» because the raw files are of quality enough for any general use. Like I said, his style is to capture moments, so if you want to come away with specific shots of specific groups where everyone looks good, let him know that that is important to you and he’ll make it happen. Otherwise, he’ll do his thing. For example, in all the photos we stood for with my husband’s dad’s side of the family, Grandpa’s head is blocked. But, there are some great candid shots of Grandpa from the reception and ceremony (even one of him seemingly snoozing). One of my favorite pictures from the day was taken when we were on LaSalle St. bridge and a tour boat went by — the shot is of my parents, brother, and sister, and me laughing and waving over the side of the bridge. Another, of my brother picking me up and swinging me around. Overall we were very happy with Michael’s casual vibe, the quality of his work, his flexibility, availability, and affordability. We knew we didn’t have to worry about getting charged for every single thing, like is so common in the industry. You get so much access to your photos and to Michael, that was a big plus. And, if you’re considering using him that means your wedding is at Prairie which is awesome — 5 stars for the venue as well.

I needed head shots and called Michael. He gave me advice on colors and recommended that I bring a selection of tops to wear. When we got to Prairie Productions he set me up in the right lighting, and patiently made suggestions on how I should approach the camera as he shot away. He then gave me helpful suggestions on how I should review the more than 300 shots he took in order to make my final selections. The photos were sent to me that very evening and I was very pleased with the results. He then made adjustments to my final choices. This was the first time I’ve had a formal sitting, and Michael made the experience both educational and pleasant. I highly recommend his work.

We had a lovely wedding at Prairie production, Michael and Kristin were very accommodating and easy to work with. We used Michael for our photography, however, and I am disappointed. The pictures taken before and during the ceremony are pretty good, but there are hardly any of my husband and I afterwards. No posed pictures of the two of us, and very few decent ones of our bridal party and families. I am usually not one to write bad reviews, but for something as important as wedding photos that cannot be redone or replaced, I thought I would give my opinion.

We had our wedding at Prairie Production (see separate review for Prairie Production) in early March 2013 and Michael was our photographer. As he will tell you when you first meet with him, he is not a true «wedding photographer», but my husband and I are so happy with the pictures from our engagement shoot and the wedding. I had asked for references of other brides that had used Michael as their wedding photographer and they all had nothing but good things to say and I’ll ditto their comments. He definitely has his own style as all photographers do, so look through his pictures and make sure it’s the style you want. Our engagement photos turned out great. He gave us direction, such as suggesting that because of the part in my hair, we should do pictures from one side rather than the other. Before the shoot, I sent him a few pictures I liked and wanted to re-​create and we tracked down those spots and took pictures all around Lincoln Park Zoo and North Avenue Beach. As we walked, he had other ideas of where to take photos and those turned out even better than some of the ones I thought would work best! So trust his judgement and his eye for what works and what doesn’t! For the wedding, we did the same thing, sent him a bunch of pictures of other brides and grooms and we drove around the city in a shuttle bus with our wedding party taking pictures. It was a little colder than I’d hoped, so I opted to cut it short and go back to the venue, but we got most of the pictures we wanted and then some! We took some really cool pictures under train tracks that he found as we were driving and he was able to direct our driver very easily. I would encourage you to have a friend or family member come along to help organize your bridal party so when he’s taking pictures, your friend can direct people to look at the camera, take off their sunglasses or step forward or angle themselves more, it was hard for Michael to coordinate everything and everyone and I was in the picture, so I couldn’t see when members of my bridal party weren’t looking! Pictures of the wedding ceremony and reception turned out great. Michael has a great camera and the quality of the pictures was amazing! The best part of it all was that he gave us all of the pictures on a CD the morning after our wedding! They were all untouched, but it was great to look through them so quickly. Once we’ve gone through them, he’s going to edit our favorites for us. Michael was great to work with and he really captured all of our favorite moments from the wedding!

The majority of the pictures on the company I work for’s pictures were taken by Michael. He was wonderful! I sent him a shot list a couple days before the photo shoot. He did all of the shots I asked for, plus several that I dreamt up on the day of, and some excellent candid shots of his own. I had never organized anything like this before and he was very flexible, supportive, and offered helpful tips. It’s obvious that he has a lot of experience and is great at what he does. Plus, he sent me 1000+ proofs the day after the shoot! He even offered to help edit them if we needed him to. I couldn’t have been happier with our experience!

Book the venue, not the photographer. My husband and I got married at Prairie Production and absolutely loved the venue. Unfortunately, the same does not ring true for Michael Roberts Photography. Considering this was mine and my husband’s first wedding, we were hoping for a little more direction and some suggestions. And when I say «a little more,» I mean any at all!
We asked for suggestions on different locations around the city that might be fun for our engagement shoot but Michael had no suggestions. This, along with his incessant bragging about who he’s worked for and what locations, should have tipped us off to find someone else. He also gave no suggestions for poses, no feedback on whether or not we should turn towards each other a little more or a little less… all he did was point and shoot. We don’t have a single wedding photo of the two of us both looking at the camera or at each other that’s worth putting in a frame.
I can’t tell you how frustrating is it to look at a CD full of photos and see so many opportunities for a great shot if only he would have helped us out a bit. The last thing you want to do is instruct your entire wedding party on where to stand and what to do the day of your wedding. I wanted to be swept up in the day and enjoy every moment, not do my photographer’s job reigning people in, telling who to stand where and when, and leading everyone to the next location spot.
He’s a nice enough guy, and technically he is skilled as far a lighting and whatnot, but if you want any direction, help, or feedback rather than 1,000 photos shot in sequence, go elsewhere.

My husband and I had our reception, April 2010, at Prairie Production in Chicago which is owned by Michael Roberts, and decided to go with him as our wedding photographer. Michael has a way of making you feel perfectly comfortable in front of the camera. I always feel self conscious when getting my picture taken but he made me feel like I had been modeling my whole life. The unique thing about him is that he tries to capture the moment; a gesture, a facial expression, an interesting interaction, etc. He got so many good pictures of our guests and we heard from friends and family who said they had interesting conversations with him at the wedding. The price for his services were WAY worth it. For a low price we were able to get a pre-​wedding session where we got to pick a place to do a photo shoot so that we could get used to Michael’s presence. After our outing we went back to Prairie Production and he shot each of us individually. We got over 300 raw photos from the pre-​shoot. For the wedding day, Michael came to the house before the ceremony while I was getting ready, got photos of my husband at the church before the ceremony, and then took pictures for the rest of the day until almost the end of the reception. We got over 2000 raw photos from our big day. He offers photo editing for an additional fee but we didn’t do that since we are Photoshop savvy. (You can see some of the photos he has edited on his website.) He takes a lot of pictures at a high resolution so that you can crop what you want from any picture. My husband and I highly recommend him because he is such a friendly and interesting guy and he will provide for you a complete documentation of your big day.