About Me
Hi there! I’m Kristen Beinke and I’m a wedding + lifestyle photographer based in Southern California. I have a love for film, inspiring locations and natural light.
I’ve been a professional photographer for over a decade and work with both film and digital mediums. I believe that timeless images are always in style, and my approach to photography is to direct while also capturing moments while they unfold.
I’ve lived in Santa Barbara for 16 years and have worked with so many amazing wedding vendors in the area and beyond. My photography has taken me to beautiful places around the globe and I love the thrill that every photo shoot brings.
When I’m not busy working, you can catch me at the beach with my rescue pup, Bailey. A few other facts about me: I love great sushi, I still think hand written notes are better than emails, I love home design magazines and I’m really close with my family.
I attended Brooks Institute of Photography, graduating in 2002 with a BA in commercial photography and I was lucky enough to spend my school days in the dark room with friends that I still work with today.
If you’d like to find out more about my pricing, please visit my investment page.
TESTIMONIALS
Holly + Robert
"Kristen Beinke is an AMAZING photographer and our wedding would not have been the same without her! She went above and beyond for us, even going so far as to drive us from our ceremony to our reception! We were so happy with all of the photos she shot of us with her team for both our engagement session and our wedding day. They couldn’t have turned out better! The lighting in her photography is gorgeous and she really takes the time to check it in each location to make every photo its best. She’s also really detail oriented, even if it means moving furniture around or staging backgrounds before taking each photo, which we really appreciated. Choosing a wedding photographer at first had us nervous because we knew our wedding photos would be one of the only keepsakes of the day that would truly last. It was really important to us that we found someone detail oriented with an amazing eye for design and photography. Kristen ended up being the best decision we made for our wedding and looking back now, we’re so glad we went with her. She definitely has a clear vision and we felt we were in great hands the entire time. We received so many compliments about her from our family and friends, and when we got our photos, we had such a hard time choosing our favorite ones because we love them all so much.
Kristen is not only an amazing photographer but she is also very personable and friendly. We felt like we became instant friends with her the moment we met her. It was such a pleasure to have her with us on our special day and overall we can’t recommend her highly enough. Thank you so much Kristen! You are seriously the best!!"
TESTIMONIALS
Kelsey + Logan
"Kristen is absolutely fantastic. We recently did our engagement session with her in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and we were truly blown away by her photos! We are so in love with them!
Kristen is so sweet and personable. Taking photos is a little anxiety provoking for people that aren't used to being in front of the camera. And she was so patient, kind and instructional! She knows what looks great on camera and really helps you feel comfortable!
We can not wait to see what she does for our wedding next year! Thank you Kristen!
UPDATE from our wedding: We just got our photos back from Kristen and we were truly blown away. They were EXACTLY what I had envisioned! She is truly the most talented wedding photographer I know! We plan to use her for the rest of our big milestones, like having children, etc :) THANK YOU KRISTEN!"
TESTIMONIALS
Kameron Westcott
"Kristen took beautiful photographs of our children and family this summer! She was so incredibly patient with our small little children it was wonderful. She set up the most pretty backgrounds for each look. We are so happy with our collection of photos and we will be using her many many times in the future!! Thank you so much Kristen :-) XO"