Review - Photographer Michael Maurus/Cancun Wedding Photography

OMG I'm so sorry you had to go through this ! This guy really seems like the guy to avoid ! Does he have any idea of what "service" and "client" is ? And insulting you on top of this ! Can't believe it !

 

For the editing of your pics : if you don't want to invest in a paying software, you should try Picasa. Picasa is completely free (it's google photo software), and it comes with some basic, though powerful, edition features. When I say basic - it's compared to photoshop but they actually have a full range of cropping, color, contrast, light, effects.... and a "feel lucky" button if you don't know what to do. You can modify your pics, undo the changes if you don't like them, and make a back-up of the original when saving.

 

For the albums : I am using shutterfly and I am so happy with it ! You get free prints just for sharing your pics. And they have all kind of goodies including nice albums. You can start your projects and save them and order them once you're done. It's really cool.

 

Good luck girl ! and thanks for your review in the name of all the brides that will avoid this crazy photog thanks to you.

 

Oh my...

I almost didn't want to respond to his post b/c it's so ridiculous and riddled with inaccuracies, but I'm waiting for some paint to dry, so I will:-)

 

First of all... thanks Michael for posting pictures of us without our permission! Another sign of bad business!

 

Second...thanks so much for finally editing some some of our pictures for us! Maybe you could send us a copy of a couple of the ones you posted that you edited just for this purpose?! That would be great!

 

For example, the one you posted of me throwing my bouquet in the ocean...

I'm going to post the exact same picture the way we got it:

 

 

The one you posted has clearly been zoomed and cropped...something we were told you wouldn't do for us! So thanks... again, feel free to send us that edited copy!

 

Next up... what's this all about??

I can see you're trying to make me out to be some sort of a bridezilla...but we both know that's not really true, don't we?

I did not blame everbody at the resort, just the hairdresser! Also, I did not have them re-do my hair over and over... I re-did it ONCE... myself!

I did write about my experience at the resort salon in my wedding review...

Here's the link for anyone who wants to read it:

(and BTW, anyone who reads it can see I actually really liked the resort!)

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t34046

 

You can read there I said I was running 45 mins behind schedule...

But that also meant cutting the bride and groom pre-ceremony pictures short, so we weren't actually THAT far behind once the ceremony got started.

And I fully admit we were behind... I even gave you some props for being nice about it! Guess I'm going to have to take back that ONE nice thing I had to say... a shame.

 

And that picture you posted where you say I just arrived? This one:

 

 

This was actually taken AFTER the ceremony, just as our cocktail hour was about to start (right about the time you disappeared and left your assistant to take our group photos... maybe that will jog your memory?)

 

Here are the pictures of me actually arriving... See? I am running to hug my FI and apologize for being so late! See how light it is out? Yep...there's that light you say there was none of...

 

Here I am running to meet him...

 

Almost there:

 

There we go...and look! You managed to shoot it at just such an angle where you can't see me at all! Great photojournalistic work!

 

 

And finally, I see you didn't have any explanation for your bad attitude...?

What about the fish eye lens you promised you'd use...?

Bottom line is, we asked your for a few simple things that you agreed to... We PAID you to deliver these things.... AND YOU DIDN'T BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T THINGS YOU WANTED TO DO!

 

Just a thought here..maybe take this and use it as a way to improve your people AND photography skills...?

 

Girls...any questions...just ask!:-)

Good question! He never really answered that either...except to say it was all my fault for running behind and being a bridezilla:-)

As for the TTD pics... I think he posted some of the only useable ones.. Though that one where I'm holding the parasol is terrible! I think I'm saying something right when the pic got snapped! We have lots of these shots...they just haven't been edited properly...

What a flippin' idiot. Seriously.........just wow.

O M G!!! OK girl....I just got around to reading your review (thank you SO much for the email by the way!! I would have hated to miss out on this...I did wonder why there wasn't much mention of your photog in the review but figured I'd ask later!).

 

Honestly, I think I laughed most of the way through all 9 pages on this thread...but I think I was laughing so that I wouldn't cry for you! I cannot believe he is such a !! I truly think I am speechless right now! Your posts are hilarious.

 

That's awesome that some of the members on here have offered and actually helped fix some of your photos in Photoshop. If the saying about polishing a turd goes for people too...I think Cancun Wedding Photography, Michael Maurus, and his assistant are all perma-turds! They just can't be polished!

 

Your side by side comparisons totally rock...that was crazy what a difference there was! And so NICE that he actually cropped and zoomed a photo that he gave the small one of to you! If he wants to prove that you're wrong then maybe he needs to post the ring pictures too! That really heats me up thinking about how he TOOK your rings and now claims that you have all of the pictures on a CD!!! What a bunch of non-polishable turds!

 

Good thing too that he told you not to tell him how to do his job...it sounds like he needs some guidance AND he's supposed to do whatever the h*@l YOU want!

 

At least you got some nice pool pics at SMB... (oh wait, that IS you guys behind the pool in the far distance...I think!)

 

Now I'm all riled up! LOL I'm totally making DH read this thread because I talk about you all the time! Only good things of course and everything I told him about SMB was because I got the info from you. He probably thinks he knows you by now. LOL

Ahhh, I just caught up on this. Can't believe he responded to this thread but didn't really explain his behavior or less-than-stellar pics at all! Isn't that convenient that they're all cropped and zoomed in now? As mentioned previously, if it was so dark during the ceremony thus resulting in dark pics, why do the guest pics seem fine? Oh right, it's because he's lying! What a nut job! Michelle, thank you again for posting such an honest review here so that all brides considering using this vendor are fully aware of what they are dealing with. You rock girl!

Oh yeeeahh...he's a total wackadoodle, no doubt!

So I found out some very interesting things from a photographer friend of mine about why the pics are so dark...
He says the pictures were shot at too low of an "ISO" and too high of a shutter speed. He said they were shot at 1/125th and should have been shot at 1/50th.... Whatever all that means! :-)
But what it boils down to is...Michael Maurus did not have his camera on the proper settings!

As a side note...also interesting -- I found out I can see all the info about when each picture was taken, what kind of camera etc on my computer! So I checked that photo above he CLAIMS was from before the ceremony when he says I "finally" arrived...
That pic was actually taken at 5:17pm! And our ceremony started at 5pm!

AND, this also means that we weren't even CLOSE to running half an hour behind... we were actually about TWO MINUTES behind!! (I had budgeted half an hour for our ceremony but b/c of not starting til 5, our officiant made it super speedy!) So I had told Michael Maurus we'd be done our ceremony at 5:15...and we were done at 5:17... two minutes late -- big whoop!! :-)

Michelle - Yeah, any person claiming to be a "professional" photographer should know how to set the shutter speed for the light they are working with. You should be able to see the photo info on your pics, I can see mine...I thought it was pretty neat! Again, you have just proven him wrong. I hope he gives up trying to make a liar out of you since he is the one who is telling tall tales around here. I can't imagine what a pile of stress he had added to not only to your wedding but also to you for long after the fact (six months later and he's STILL causing you stress!!). He's doing very bad business by the sounds of it.

Thanks for you honest review!!! I was looking to book this photographer last year and emailed him to get a quote. I decided to do a search here and found a review from another bride who did not recommend him at all http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t19461. That was all it took for me not to book him. I ended up booking Cecilia Dumas and it was the best decision I ever made.

 

I hope you are able to use some of photographs to make a memorable book of your wedding!! You handled this situation very well!!

OMG, just reading your review was making ME mad! I'm really sorry you both had to go through that. On a brighter note, the others on this forum were right in saying that you both made a beautiful couple regardless of how badly the pictures were taken. It is also really nice to see all the people on the forum offering to help you out. I totally applaud them.

 

 

LOL....I've been in bed for the last two days as I'm sick as a dog and I couldn't stop laughing when I read that. Totally made me forget I was sick...even for just a moment. Thanks Tammy!