Capturing love should be a celebration of authenticity and inclusion where couples can feel seen and valued without question. When it comes to choosing a photographer to document your special moments from a couples session to your elopement or wedding, consider a queer or explicitly LGBTQ+-allied photographer. I’m an LGBTQ+ photographer in San Diego and am passionate about capturing love in all its forms. Here are a few reasons why members of the LGBTQ+ community are uniquely qualified to capture all love stories: 

1. LGBTQ+ Gender-Neutral Posing & Comfort

As a queer person, I am especially intentional about gender and its role – or lack of – in relationships. I commit to learning about and honoring gender pronouns. For prompts and posing for photos, I prioritize the couple’s unique dynamics and make sure they decide their place. In other words, the couple’s natural dynamics and interactions always take precedence over presumptuous gender norms and posing! As a queer photographer, I love embracing all of the identities within the LGBTQ+ community and authentically capturing their relationship.

2. Supporting LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurs

Hiring a queer photographer in San Diego means you are actively supporting the LGBTQ+ community, which is amazing whether you’re part of the community or an ally! By choosing to work with a member of the LGBTQ+ community, you’re helping a local business that’s part of a historically – and, sadly… currently in so many regions – discriminated and underrepresented community.  Also, when working with me, I donate 5% of every session to a nonprofit of your choice. With this, you can continue to contribute to the LGBTQ+ community (or any other cause you care about!). 

3. Connections to Queer Vendors in San Diego (or anywhere)

As a queer photographer, I’m very intentional about building my elopement and wedding network of LGBTQ+ friendly vendors. Since I’m part of the community, I can test the waters to see if a vendor is genuinely comfortable and supportive, so my couples don’t have to guess. I prioritize creating an atmosphere of inclusive vendors, ensuring that the couples I work with receive support not only from me but also from the entire vendor network for their special elopement or wedding day. It’s sadly a risk many of us take that someone invited to a wedding isn’t 100% on the whole gay thing, and your vendors shouldn’t be an additional point of anxiety.

4. LGBTQ+ Comfort & Community 

Comfort plays a crucial role in capturing genuine moments during any couples session or wedding day. When you work with a queer photographer, you can feel much more comfortable being affectionate and intimate with each other, knowing you have full confidence in their acceptance and celebration. Plus, there’s just something about LGBTQ+ community that’s a vibe in and of itself. My not-at-all-biased perspective tells me you might even have more fun…

5. Awareness of LGBTQ+ Spaces and Safety

Queer photographers are well-versed in knowing the LGBTQ+ spaces and understanding the importance of safety and privacy for their clients. As a queer person, I feel very fortunate in San Diego – and most of California in general – to feel safe. With that said, there are parts of the city that have normalized queer love’s visibility (hello, Hillcrest!) more than others. As part of the community, I have a good pulse on San Diego and California’s areas and their relative LGBTQ+ friendliness. This information helps prioritize my clients’ safety and comfort. 

Whether you’re straight, part of the LGBTQ+ community, or anywhere in-between, consider hiring a queer photographer to capture your love’s uniqueness. And if you aren’t 1000% supportive of the LGBTQ+ community (which would be weird if you got this far reading this, but who knows) then we are not a good fit.

If you’ve been looking for a queer photographer to capture you, your brand, or love story anywhere from San Diego to worldwide, reach out to me here! I’d be honored to work with you. 💗