Manuel Ortega Photography - Monterey, California

Janine N

We had such a great experience doing multiple photo sessions with Manny and Melissa. They are highly experienced, professional, punctual, and passionate about their work. They helped me relax in front of the camera too. I was at ease during our wedding knowing that they were our photographers and the photos came out beautifully.

Soreliz Ascanio

Simply put, Manuel Ortega is a superb, talented, artistic, and professional caliber wedding photographer who fulfilled all our expectations and more. Beyond his exceptional photography skills, Manuel is warm, friendly, and easy to work with, honest, reliable, a good listener, and attentive to you needs/preferences. He loves his craft, which shows in the quality of his photos and the joy with which he approaches his work and conducts himself. Manuel’s wife Melissa is a talented photographer in her own right and together they work efficiently and effectively as a team on all their shoots. They were both an absolute pleasure to work with from start to finish. We also enjoyed meeting their adorable son who came along with them to our engagement photo session!

We spent days searching for our ideal wedding photographer. It was important to us to work with a person of color, and we are so grateful that we found Manuel, a fantastic photographer who is also Latino. We could not have chosen better. Unlike many other high quality, professional wedding photographers we researched whose prices are astronomical, Manuel’s pricing is reasonable, affordable, flexible, and it allowed us to stay within our budget, which we greatly appreciated.

For our engagement photo session, we met Manuel at a beautiful beach in the Carmel area just before sunset. It turned out to be an ideal spot for our engagement photo shoot and we were very happy with how the photos turned out. The setting was gorgeous, lighting ideal, and there was hardly anybody else there. Manuel helped put us at ease immediately with his relaxed manner and professionalism, which made it easy for us to follow his instructions and get some great candid and posed shots. Manuel’s top-of-the-line camera equipment takes amazing photos with him at the helm. Melissa helped out with the backlighting and instructing us on ideal hand and body positions for the shots. We highly recommend doing the engagement photo session. It gave us a chance to get to know Manuel & Melissa and to develop rapport and an easy working relationship with them prior to the wedding. So, on our wedding day, we knew what to expect and already felt at ease working together.

Prior to the wedding, Manuel promptly answered all our questions and we also had a great final conversation with him about our specific photography wishes/preferences for our wedding day. Manuel & Melissa delivered in every way. On our wedding day, they showed up early to familiarize themselves with the venue since they hadn’t been there before. As a team, they captured all the most important moments of our day, as well as the memorable details. They also did a great job capturing the setting, including the food, the dinner reception set up, the flowers, and beautiful aspects of the venue. Notably, despite the fact that our wedding got off schedule because our ceremony ran longer than we had anticipated, Manuel & Melissa adapted to the situation admirably and went with the flow, doing their best to capture family photos after the ceremony, even though we essentially ran out of time for them! They improvised beautifully under the circumstances.

When we received our 1000+ wedding photos from Manuel a few weeks after the wedding, we were blown away. We love the wedding photos Manuel & Melissa captured and are so glad we hired them to be our wedding photography team! We highly recommend them!
Rob & Soreliz

Rosa Newton

Working with Manuel and his wife Melissa was a great experience! I haven't had a photo shoot done since my senior pictures, which was about 8-9 years ago, and this was my fiance's first photo shoot, so we were definitely nervous and our anxiety was at an all time high! Manuel and Melissa definitely made us feel at ease with everything and just made our whole engagement session run smoothly. They have the best personality and a great sense of humor, which definitely helped our nervousness. We are SO IN LOVE with our photos!!!! If we didn't already have a wedding photographer booked, we definitely would have booked them for our wedding!! Thank you so much Manuel and Melissa!

M Lopez

Manuel Ortega and his wife Melissa were so amazing to work with. They captured the most breath taking shots at our wedding. I highly recommend Manuel Ortega to be your photographer for any special occasion. Manuel was very understanding through out, making everything go smoothly. I loved the fact that Melissa was there because she made sure my hair was not out of place. They both made my husband and I feel comfortable. We just absolutely loved his work. I look forward to working with Manuel and his team in the future.

Ali Sabilino

Manuel & Melissa Ortega really know how to capture every moment! They are very detailed, you can tell how passionate they are about their photography. They will make sure they have took the best shot by knowing exactly how to position you, the lighting, the smiles, I mean to the T. Our wedding pictures are stunning and they were a blast to work with. They really know how to make you enjoy your photos and make you comfortable. Very professional! We enjoyed Manuel and Melissa so much we asked to be guests at our wedding. Amazing people, outstanding work!

K. Gabriela Groves

I got married in December and the venue recommended Manuel Ortega Photography. Manuel and Melissa are absolutely wonderful and very professional. I’m so happy my hubby and I decided to go with them. They made the experience magical and so stress free. I had two of my fur babies as my ring bearers and the rest of my fur babies as guests. Manuel and Melissa were so sweet and patient with taking pictures of all my fur babies. I would absolutely recommend them!

Elle Bauer

Manuel took our wedding photos and I couldn't have imagined a better photographer!
He and his lovely wife are such warm and friendly people that immediately make you feel comfortable and put you at ease! They were on top of everything during the wedding taking pictures of the smallest details that in the rush of the ceremony I didn't even manage to notice. Delivered the pictures to us very fast and the quality was amazing. Manuel has such a unique and artful approach to photography I couldn't have imagined a better photographer to trust my wedding with!

Kelly and Bo Rivera

From the moment we met with Manuel, his passion, attention to detail, and professionalism was evident. He took the time to answer all of our questions, find a package that fit our needs, and get a sense of the photography style we were looking for. For my husband and I, photography was the most important factor of our wedding day and we wanted to hire the best. We immediately felt comfortable working with Manuel and we knew we found a winner!

Throughout the planning process Manuel kept in touch, helping us to create a perfect wedding day timeline. He even traveled between two locations to capture both the bridal party and the groomsmen as we got ready. Not a moment was missed!

The best part...Manuel and his wife Melissa were a blast to work with! We never felt like taking photos was a chore...they made the experience fun and natural from the first look to the dance floor candids. Our families enjoyed the added humor and sense of comfort that Manuel and Melissa provided.

The wedding day went by so fast that I was sad when it was all over. I felt as if it was impossible to hold on to all of the memories and details of the day. When we met with Manuel a month later to preview our wedding photos, I cried tears of joy. At that moment, I realized the memories were perfectly captured in every image. They conveyed the details and raw emotion in every shot!! Manuel and his team ARE the best in the business! I never get tired of looking through our gorgeous wedding day album.