Derek Lapsley Photographer

To say, without a doubt, that Derek is the best is an absolute understatement. I have waited years to book with Derek and it was worth the wait and then some. He captured our engagement and wedding photos so beautifully and artistically. They were so dreamy. Derek made that part of the wedding smooth and stress-free making our special day just that much more special. Thank you, Derek, for being so wonderful and giving us gorgeous photos that will last a lifetime.

Derek really is the best and with all things unknown with covid we knew no matter what happened our photographs and experience was going to be amazing!!!

He is very creative! He knows exactly where and when to take the perfect photograph depending on the sunlight or even when indoors with the lighting. His pictures are unique and he captures even the smallest details! He is extremely talented, and his personality makes him enjoyable to work with! He captured me and my husbands wedding and we wouldn’t have anybody else!

We eloped to Sequoia National Park and Derek captured our wedding. He is great! I would definitely recommend him. 5 stars without a doubt!

We chose Derek Lapsley as our wedding photographer in Sequoia National Park. Our photos we received were incredible and exceeded all our expectations. We're overwhelmed with all the compliments on how amazing our photos were. We had a very small wedding and it was important to us to be able to share our experience with friends and families. Derek was phenomenal to work with. Our wedding was amazing and we felt so comfortable and had a lot of fun taking photos with Derek! Thanks again for everything!

Derek was an absolute joy to work with! He captured our engagement and wedding SO perfectly. I would HIGHLY recommend him.

I would give Derek and Andrew way more than five stars if I could. They take amazing photos and are super creative with their shots. Derek makes the whole process fun and easy. He gives great directions on how and where to pose. Derek is definitely someone you want to hire to capture all of the magic on your special day. The quality of my Wife and I's photos are unmistakably the best!

We absolutely LOVED Derek!! His work and artistic ability was exactly what my husband and I were looking for and we were not disappointed! He did our engagement and wedding photos and they came out perfect! We couldn't be happier!!

I knew Derek and his photography style from when he took my high school graduation pictures and knew he would be my wedding photographer no matter what! He was so professional and our pictures came out exactly how I knew they would.. PERFECT!!! He and his assistant for our day captured every moment that we wanted in the most seamless way! I have been to a few weddings where it feels like the photographers are in the way and taking from the elegance of the wedding and they did no such thing! He also made my husband who HATES taking pictures feel so comfortable! My husband even told me after how much he liked Derek and the photos and like I said he HATES taking pictures!

We love Derek so much! I am incredibly uncomfortable in front of a camera and truly dreaded having photos taken for our wedding ceremony. But Derek is so easy-going and helpful; he really made me feel relaxed and comfy. We were married outdoors in the Sequoia National Park, and Derek was willing to hike and run around in the woods to get us some wonderful photos. He even suggested the most amazing overlook to finish our photo shoot that we would have never thought of—with mountain views we couldn’t believe! He was also very flexible and worked with us—we appreciated it so much. Thank you Derek for everything!!!!

Derek was everything we ever wanted in a photographer and more!! I seriously can't praise him enough. Not only is Derek an AWESOME person, but he is extremely talented in his craft. He goes above and beyond to get you the photos you want. My husband and I love creepy abandoned buildings and taking goofy photos, and that's exactly what we wanted for our engagement shoot, and Derek was on board for all of it! He has a way of knowing exactly what you want, and making it happen. Needless to say, we had no doubts about Derek after our engagement shoot and knew he was going to kick ass on our wedding day. As for our wedding, Derek exceeded our expectations. He was so organized on our wedding day which made everything so easy! He was amazing at directing our family/wedding party portraits; he kept his eye on every single person in the photo to ensure no awkward poses/faces/etc. He also kept us on time, which was HUGEEE for us. We had such small windows to get a lot of photos done, and Derek accomplished our hefty list all on time! We got all of our wedding photos about a month after the wedding and WOW, we were IN LOVE. I still can't stop looking at them. Derek captured such amazing moments that could have been easily missed. Weeks have gone by, and we are still constantly getting compliments on the photos! All of our guests just LOVED Derek. All in all, Derek is one of the nicest people we've ever met, and now consider him a friend. He is extremely passionate about his work and only wants to give his clients the best; he doesn't settle for anything less.

My now husband and I were very particular when choosing our wedding vendors. We wanted to connect with them on a personal level. We met with a total of three local photographers in the Fresno/Clovis area and Derek was the last of the three. My husband was unable to make the meeting due to work constraints. I immediately loved Derek and all of his incredible photos. I was ready to book him right then and there, but Derek thought it best for my husband to meet him and make his own decision as well. We met at a local pub for a drink a couple of weeks after. My husband agreed: Derek and his work - superb. But, who does that? Derek wanted to make sure my husband was comfortable with working with him too. That is awesome! My husband was impressed by that, and so was I.

The big day rolled around: Derek was right on time. I never felt his presence when we were all just hanging out or getting ready. We ended up with some amazing candid shots. When it came down to Derek directing us on poses - it was effortless! We loved it when he would snap a photo and get super excited as he looked at his own work. You can tell he truly loves what he does. He had so many creative ideas. We ended up with some dark and romantic shots as well as the bright, formal shots. His versatility is what you need in a wedding photographer. We could not be more excited with the photos from our wedding. We are so thankful for the memories we are walking away with, both of Derek and of the wedding. And we have it all on film. Priceless.

Derek and Andrew did very well on our wedding. Highly recommended!

There is a lot of stuff that goes on when you are doing pictures for your wedding, the pictures don’t start and stop on your wedding day, and it starts well before the day of. When we came across Derek’s website we immediately knew we had found our photographer! Some of the things he had written had us laughing, so we knew that his since of humor matched ours, which is something you may not think is important, but you would be surprised how much it actually DOES matter. Of course let us not forget that the quality of his pictures were also very influential in our decision to have him do our photos, his sense of style and the way he frames shots are perfect.

From our engagement pictures where he made a dried up field in the foothills look amazing to our wedding with a dry lake bed, which he also made look amazing, working with Derek was a pleasure. Not only does he know how to take awesome pictures, he is a genuinely friendly and nice dude. Having someone that you feel at ease with is important when you are getting pictures taken. You don’t realize it until you are there in person taking the pictures, but capturing an intimate moment on film could be pretty difficult if you don’t feel comfortable with the person behind the camera.

I would caution you, and I speak from personal experience here, don't skimp on your photography budget. Think about it like this; you might save some money skimping out and hiring someone who has limited skills, but these are pictures that you are going to want to look at (presumably) forever! Take that couple hundred of bucks and stretch it out across the several decades of your marriage, doesn’t sound too expensive anymore does it?

We had the pleasure of working with Derek and his team at Wolf Lakes over the summer. They captured every detail you could want and the true personalities of the couple they were shooting. Their great attitudes and professionalism made it a fun experience for everyone. The photos are phenomenal! I would highly recommend Derek and his team for your wedding. We cannot wait to work with them again. Thanks Derek!