CCMurphy Photography

I’ve had so many photographers and yes her work is beautiful but she is not who you want if you do not want to feel rushed and have any issues with stress etc or if your kids can not handle that pace. She will not stray from what she has and will not sit down to discuss your vision for a shoot etc. Hard to communicate clearly via messenger. Very quick to tell you that you’re a nuisance if you ask too many questions mostly because you’re trying to clarify her scrambled messages. Told I’m interrupting her editing. Asked if we could meet for 20 min anytime the following week to instead discuss the shoot I was wanting (and being told that I have to buy it all) and to see what she had and what we had to work with etc. Told no. I was allowed a phone call only. Explain how I’m supposed to see the backdrops and props which would have been so much easier as she can’t communicate clearly through messages so therefore in person seeing things is needed. Answer was no and told me at least 6 times that I was “keeping her from being able to finish other clients work” meanwhile answering my questions in choppy ways which is why I was asking more questions because her communication style is impossible at times. Told me I was asking for too much of her time to discuss the shoot. Well set aside a time to discuss it then. don’t berate customers because you choose to answer messages whiles you’re editing. answer when you actually can give some decent customer service. Especially when she knows the person she’s berating has severe postpartum depression and the extent to which our family was struggling with this and that my daughters first birthday was much more than that. We made it clear to her that these pictures that would hang on our walls would be a sign that we survived. And that we made it. And that they were our trophies that the postpartum depression didn’t win and that I didn’t kill myself and that the team I had was successful in getting me to my goal. Celeste knew all this. Because she also knew that my double session at Christmas was so they had pictures to look back on me and that they had nice photos for my funeral. I’ve never had customer service like this when she so intimately knew my struggles and still chose to berate me over and over. I’ve gladly kept those messages. How she handled me trying to see if it was possible to do a certain shoot was just sickening. In person she’s great. Hence asking for a 20 min in person to help her understand and see what she had. And the answer is no? My husband was so irritated that she had sent us two chalkboard signs and asked us to mock up what we wanted and because we chose to change the colour of the dotted lines it was an extra $20. So he said that’s it. We’re done. And he did it himself. And it cost is $12.50 at Costco. And so much better. I went to Janice Chavez and she spent hours ensuring we made my vision come to life. Ordered in special backdrops. And SPENT 3 HOURS SO I WASN’T RUSHED AND THE INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT SHOTS WERE CAPTURED BEAUTIFULLY. We paid her extra of course but she never asked. She knew what this meant and she went to the ends of the world to see it through. And for that there are not enough words. The attachments don’t do the photos now hung any justice. Most of all she captured the bond between my daughter and I on film which meant the most because of the severe impact this depression and my doctors malpractice had on our attachment. I can not say enough great things about janice. Celeste is great for mini sessions if you can handle a fast pace and we have lots of great pictures from her but when it was a shoot that meant this much she failed miserably. all she had to do was arrange to meet to see what we had to work with. I wasn’t worth her time. And I refused to let my trophy pictures be anything except perfect because I worked too damn hard fighting to survive this to be let down and not have these pictures hanging on my walls to keep me going.

I would highly recommend CCMurphy Photography. We have had Celeste take photos for us a number of times over the last couple years (my son and daughter's First Communions and wedding anniversary family photos). Celeste is an amazing photographer and person, we are always so happy with her work.