John Yao is unbelievable at one thing above all: He is great at helping you feel comfortable and have an amazing time. I hate taking photos but John helped me to feel comfortable and taught me how to smile (for real!)

We kind of failed to prepare for what would happen after the ceremony and John kind of just took over the mic and with his vast experience, guided our post-ceremony shots with all sorts of different groups. A blast having him around, as he is great at talking to guests and family as well.

Excellent photography and design professional, would recommend to anyone for any type of event or shoot.

John is an extremely talented and creative photographer! Since we got married on May the 4th, we wanted to incorporate something Star-Wars related into some photos without it seeming too obvious. He came up with this cool concept of using sunlight shining through cut-out letters to create our save-the-date words shadow so it looked like the intro to Star Wars with the scrolling text (Hard to explain, but the pix came out amazing). He is friendly and genuine and is good at making people feel comfortable in front of the lens to get natural poses/shots, and we got numerous compliments on our engagement shots. He is flexible and answers questions in a timely manner. He even came to our rehearsal to see the space and got along great with our wedding coordinators!

Added bonus: John speaks some Mandarin! This was extremely helpful in my case to help some of our relatives and parents' friends know when to take a picture and where to stand! We had a Chinese banquet dinner, and we actually made it to all the tables! John was great at time management and guiding us along without making it feel rushed. It was so much more convenient to have a photographer who could communicate with all the guests! Even if he couldn't speak Mandarin I would still have booked him because his photographs are beautiful and will last a lifetime!

We just had the pleasure of working with John to shoot our destination wedding in Mexico, and it was hands down the best decision we could've made!
As a photographer, the quality of his work is truly amazing. From his creativity and ability to find and direct shots to his professionalism and work ethic, he was nothing short of “epic”. But on top of all this, it was his personality and his ability to get to know our guests and make everyone feel comfortable that sets him above every other photographer we’ve met.
As we already had to organize/plan most of the wedding from abroad without ever having set foot at our destination, working with a photographer you have never met (we live in Canada) and hoping things will work out was a bit scary and daunting at first. But through a year of email exchanges and being able to follow John's life and work online, we became more and more comfortable and confident that we had made the right decision. Once at our destination, he absolutely blew us away and went above and beyond to ensure that we not only had all the amazing photos to remember our special day in its entirety, but that we also had fun doing it too! Through the day (and night) John actually became our friend and as for his work, it speaks for itself.

My brother first introduced John's website to me almost 3 years ago. Since then, I had religiously followed him with every hot brides shot, engagement session and wedding session. To my surprise, he had also shot a few of my friend's weddings and I thought they were absolutely spectacular; which reinforced the fact that I needed to have John as my photographer.

When it came to my engagement and wedding sessions, I couldn't believe that the majority of the photos that John had taken were done so with pure skill. He made "normal" shots look as if they were photoshopped. I'm awkward in front of a lens and John made it as comfortable, carefree and natural for me. :)

As for the wedding, John was fantastic! He helped keep me (the bride) calm before, during and after the ceremony. John was extremely flexible with our crazy wedding constantly giving us feedback and trying to capture every emotion and detail. I am so satisfied with his work. He is worth EVERY penny! I just can't wait to see the rest of our pictures.

John is tremendously easy to work with, very accommodating, has a stunning eye for shots, and helps everyone feel at ease. His shots make you feel like you were even being photographed. I appreciated his understanding of when to take initiative and when to let us take the lead. I highly recommend him for any wedding or other important events.

We had the pleasure of working with John this past weekend for our big day. We couldn't be happier with his service. Ever since our initial contact, John has always been extremely responsive and answered all our questions. We can tell he really cared about getting the best photos possible. He took extra time to meet with my hotel coordinator to scout out the key photo areas throughout the resort. He also came to my rehearsal so we can plan out the logistics of the photos and discuss any creative ideas we had. He truly went above and beyond to make sure our photos came out perfect! Not only that, our preview photos were available the very next day! No waiting weeks and weeks..
He was always punctual and extremely professional throughout the whole process. Everyone in my bridal party felt really comfortable working with him.
Pick John and it'll be the best decision you've ever made!

John was a pleasure to work with! We couldn't have been happier with our choice in photographer for our engagement shoot and wedding!!! First of all his work speaks for itself. His style is natural, creative and captures the mood. He can make a great shot out of nothing. You don't see what he's seeing until he shows you and you are in awe of how he did it. John utilizes all of what is available to him at any moment and makes it look fantastic!!! I had a reflective cake topper that turned into a shot that looked like it was photoshopped! The sky is the limit. On top of his talent, John is easy going and will work with you in any place or situation. My husband and I are both camera shy but John made us feel completely comfortable. We wanted to do our engagement shoot in the bathroom that my husband proposed in and John was more excited than we were! John even texted us the day before the wedding to see how we were doing. Thank you John!

John is THE best wedding photographer. It was too bad we couldn't book him for our wedding, but he was awesome enough to do an engagement session for us (he's crazy booked, so try to lock him down ASAP!). We were so awkward at first, but he was patient enough with us and made us feel so comfortable. By the end of the night we were having way too much fun. Thank you so much for giving us the most amazing photos that we're so in awe of. :)

SimplyTwo Photography is in one word "Amazing"; really, truly amazing. From planning the photo shoots (engagement / wedding + reception) to last shot John was professional, reliable and fun. John is genuinely passionate about his craft. He puts so much time and care into everything he does from each creative session to shooting the session and editing every photo.

Before each session John spent an hour with my wife and me over gchat (we were in SD, LA and Bakersfield at the time) to go over types of shots we wanted, locations, attire and props. At the sessions John met us with multiple cameras in hand and ready to shoot. He was cool, calm and friendly. EXTREMELY easy to work with, relaxing to be around and DID NOT rush us (A huge plus). Our chemistry was great and John knew every last detail of the locations (Coronado Island and USD) which made for intimate and very beautiful photo opportunities.

Just over 7 to 10 days days later John posted some photos on his blog / posted a link on facebook (with our permission before the session). Both my wife and I were were amazed by them; seriously phenomenal. We're both pretty hard critics, especially trying to capture important memories but John exceed our exceptions. The photos he was able to capture manage to bring out the story of our wedding / starting a new life together, complete with elegance, class and humor. If I can give bonus points above the 5.0 rating I would in a heartbeat. Thank you John for being "Amazing!"

John really has the gift to captured love and preserve it so beautifully on film! He captured the magic of our wedding day so wonderfully and he was absolutely fantastic to work with. John's style is keeping it real, he doesn't place you in awkward positions or have you strike unnatural poses, rather he finds beautiful lighting and says "just be in love and occupy this space right here" and then, when you see the pictures the photos are so real and genuine. It's fun when he gets excited about a shot because you know that photo's going to be a winner! For our engagement/wedding photos, he immediately sent us some teaser photos just to keep our excitement high. He was very responsive over email and phone and overall very reliable. On the other hand, he has a very relaxed and comfortable demeanor so it's very easy to just be yourself in front of him. The bridal party and family all really enjoyed working with him and we were all impressed with his pictures. We picked simply two photography because the pictures John takes are true art and they make you look stunning. Thanks John for everything, you helped to make our day perfect!

John is great at what he does and is a pleasure to work with! He squeezed us in to his 2012 calendar with less than 2 months to go when he was already fully booked and not only did he do his job on the day of, he came to our rehearsal far far away to see the venue and meet the immediate family wedding party. He also ended up walking us through the rehearsal because our officiant was not able to come. :) He's very easy to work with and will listen to what you want. He is also very laid back but takes his work very seriously and is professional. We can't wait to see the final product and the album! Thanks JOhN! - anonymous (sorry john you know who we are! :) )

I knew of John’s work through his sister and I’ve been following his work for years. When I got engaged, I already knew that I wanted to hire John as our photographer, but off course I had to convince the future hubby (which didn’t take long). John is the type of person who is passionate about his work, is talented, is spontaneous, gives great direction and is easy to work with. During our first meeting, I showed him a picture of a Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair, and without saying anything he read my mind (replicating a similar portrait to the picture with my wedding party). When we took our E-session, I felt at easy simply because I’m anti-PDA. However, John and with the help of my future hubby, I was able to let go and pretend that no one (besides my future hubby) was around, which made the E-session easy and fun. Now fast forward to our wedding day, all I can say is that John is AMAZING!!! I received compliments on how professional and talented he was. A few days after the wedding I received the teasers from him and all I can say is WOW! One of my favorite pictures is our bar picture (the Vanity Fair inspirational image). The hubby and I showed some of the pictures to our family and friends and they LOVED, LOVED, LOVED them. I highly recommend John to all the couples out there.

Thank you John, I can’t wait to see the rest of my pictures.

John at SimplyTwo was a pleasure to work with. Throughout the wedding planning process, the best advice to receive is to go with someone you feel comfortable with, and throughout our time working with John, nothing has been easier. John was always easy to talk to and discuss ideas with and willing to try new things without hesitation. And if he did, he'd have a good reason as to why not. At first my fiance and I had quite some reluctance to have a person we just met snap photos of us for our engagement session, but after chatting with John before and all throughout the session, nothing seemed more natural. John has a way with people that makes people -- or at least us -- feel like we've known him for years.

Perhaps the best thing about John and his works is that nothing is the same. If you look throughout his portfolio, the couples never seem to be posed in the same way -- there's always something different about each picture and each couple. John has made each of his couples' sessions unique to each of them and allows for their characteristics to shine far beyond the picture itself. The pictures he takes aren't just of another bride and groom that can be interchanged, but of a specific couple caught in a specific moment that is true to them.

I think most couples going into planning for their wedding will put much emphasis on whom they choose for photography... it is the essence in which all of your memories (engagement, pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding) will be able to be re-lived and shared with friends, loved-ones and family.

Prior to meeting with John, we met with numerous other photographers and studios. Right off the bat, the connection that we had with John was very instantaneous and genuine and we really knew that if we had the opportunity to work with one another, we would not pass on it.

The most common fear for those of us that are not comfortable taking pictures or feel we are not exactly photogenic is to get in front of a camera. Let me just say that John eased all these fears and made us feel completely at ease! The professionalism that he exudes is beyond expectation and out of all the vendors that we used for our wedding, he was the most punctual and accessible.

It must be said that when you choose your vendors for a wedding, especially photography... you need to choose a studio that you can trust in the quality and attentiveness of the work performed. SimplyTwo Photography goes above and beyond all expectations and I would and have highly recommended their services to capture that special day and beyond.

Thank you Simplytwo for capturing all the special moments of our special day!

Sincerely,

May and David

John was better than we could have ever hoped for! Our wedding and engagement pictures were a top priority for us when we were planning so we researched many photographers. He made us feel so comfortable and really caught the perfect moments from our day. The pictures we got back were all so beautiful that we had a hard time picking only a few for our save the date cards. The previews that we have seen so far look amazing and we can't wait to see more. We would highly recommend Simply Two to anyone who is looking for a photographer!

As with any diligent bride-to-be the first thing I look for is an extraordinary photographer to capture my special day. And that's exactly what John of SimplyTwo was to us. From our very first email exchange John already felt very personable unlike some of the more generic responds I got from other photographers. We really loved his vibrant colors, creative style and friendly personality so right after our first meeting we quickly booked him before anyone else does even though our wedding day then was an entire year away.

Our engagement session with John was by far the most casual and easy going photo session. He listened to what kind pictures we want and at the same time he comes up with these most creative and fun ideas. We even used one of his new R&D concepts for our party favor! 3-D photos! How cool is that! So by wedding day time we already knew what to expect from John, but I think my friends and wedding party was shocked at how easy going he was and had a blast during our creative session. John is also very quick in sending us (a lot of) teaser photos literally the day after the wedding. We thought our engagement pictures were great, but when we saw the wedding pictures we were blown away! I am so looking forward to seeing the rest of the pictures!

What I have learned from this entire process is that you want a photographer that takes exceptionally awesome pictures but also someone that you feel comfortable with, trust and can bring out the best in you and everyone else. That’s why I highly recommend John of SimplyTwo to anyone looking for a great photographer.