I wanted to post reviews of Justin Schuck Photography by actual clients taken from various sources. I have not edited or altered these reviews in any way. The first three reviews were rejected and removed from our page on Yelp.com, but I thought you should know what these people have said in order to set the record straight. (Star rating is out of a possible five stars.)

4-Stars / ANDREW L. writes:
This guy is brilliant, if not a moron. His work is outstanding, but being a solo operation has its drawbacks and it occasionally shows. My company has a contract with him where he basically has to jump and run any time we assign him a project. I was a photo minor so I just have to give him some props because he makes boring stuff look good. Sometimes he even makes "stuff" look hot. We had him photograph about 200 random products for sale on our website and he suggested doing something different with the background. We used this alley behind his apartment building at night to photograph all these bottles of shampoo and whatnot. I mean, who thinks of that? That's the brilliant part.

I will say that he's usually pretty good about following-up, if not incessant. Usually. There's been times where he's been MIA, but whatever. No 5 stars because no one's perfect. Except for maybe Richard Avedon.

5-Stars / ANDREW T. writes:
I'm surprised to see these negative reviews. Justin has always provided my company (and my family) with great customer service. He's punctual, polite, displays manners, he turns things around on the spot. We once needed something delivered to our office in NY for our catalog and because it was past the time for FedEx, he actually drove a hard drive with video and images to our editor so they could get cracking on it before the next day. Now that's what I call client devotion and service. I hope he remembers why clients like us always hire him.

Great results, best price, unbeatable service.

5-Stars / MADELEINE J. writes:
Well, Justin has to be not only one of the best photographers I've ever seen, but he has this tortured, gentle spirit. He's kind, mannerly and works really well with children. I have a daughter with cerebral palsy and a son with autism and a husband who hates to have his photo taken. And I'm no better. I didn't realize it but Justin had experience with special needs kids. He came over two weekends in a row before our family shoot just so that my family could be comfortable in front of him. He didn't ask for any additional money, nor did he accept a tip. He knew that these pictures were so important to me. As you can imagine, we've never had a good portrait taken before him.

Justin was kind, soft and gentle. And he made us all laugh. It was actually fun. I didn't even know that was possible. There is a kindness in his heart that comes out when he's working with kids. My daughter really responded to him. There's a picture of me crying and her laughing and happy. I would trust him with anything.

Other reviews appearing on our Yelp.com listing:

5-Stars / ALLISON C. writes:
It was only after a few hours of contacting Justin to photograph an up scale outdoors event at Bryant Park in New York City had he personally taken care of all his travel arrangements and sent me the logistics. I communicated the time and place and he showed up early and ready to work. The photographs were so amazing that I called Justin to help me with a personal project of my own.

I wanted to restore and enlarge a very old photograph of my parents from about 40 years ago for their Anniversary. I was slammed at work all week and could not get out to Bethesda so Justin drove to Alexandria (in a snow storm!) picked up the photo and then dropped it off at my house in Maryland a day later at 1am before I was leaving to go out of town!!! The picture of my parents was beautiful and they couldn't believe how well it had been restored.

Many many thanks Justin!

5-Stars / ANDREA K. writes:
Where do I begin? I hired Justin on more than one occasion. First to shoot mine and my husbands special day back in 2007. Everything went very smoothly, from the initial meeting and engagement session to our special day. Justin showed up to my wedding with 2 assistants and took over 2,000 photos. Not only did he do an amazing job at the wedding, but right after the wedding ( about 2 weeks ) we got our proofs online.. once we picked out our proofs we received our prints in an extremely short time. He was able to turn around the photos from our wonderful day so quickly that I was in shock and able to give some out as Christmas presents.

After enjoying that experience with him, I contracted him to do a photo shoot for a advertising campaign I was working on. Again, another amazing experience. As a graphic designer we are usually expected to be the ones to art direct the shots but he was so creative and had so many great ideas that he was able to get better shots that I was directing him too. After I put the photos into the ad campaign I went on to win numerous awards because of the great overall concept and photography. Thanks Justin!

I highly recommend Justin for any photography needs... again, if i haven't said it enough, hes an amazing photographer and an amazing person!

Reviews I've received on LinkedIn:

Scott L. Rolle
Fmr. State's Attorney, Frederick County Maryland
2006 MD Attorney General Candidate
This guy is, quite simply, the best photographer/website designer in the DC area. He is reliable, creative, reasonable and a pleasure to work with. You simply can't do any better. In addition to taking phenomenal pictures for my campaign, he put together the best political website I have ever seen. We received thousands of compliments on it. I look forward to working with him on the next go 'round!

Jacquelyn Muller
Vice President, Corporate Communications/Public Relations
Education Management, LLC
Justin has done a great deal of work for The Art Institutes --- most notably the Passion for Fashion Competition in NYC, the Americans for the Arts Poster Competition and many others. He is a consummate professional who aspires to the highest levels of excellence. I know I can count on Justin to produce a top notch product for our promotional purposes.

Carmen Moreira Prassas
Wedding Client
Justin was very professional and and attentive to our needs. He asked us in advance what pictures we wanted to make sure he took and he was able to execute them in a creative way. The pictures came out beautifully and I would not have changed a thing about them.

Recommendations I received for a recent White House appointment:

Morad Ghorban
Political Director, Iranian-American PAC
I'm honored to recommend Mr. Justine Schuck for the post of White House Photo Director. The following information should help introduce him as well as convey my wholehearted recommendation for his appointment as President-elect Obama’s chief photographer.

I worked closely with Justine in July of 2003 when he was hired to photograph the kick-off event for the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) in Washington, D.C. on July 22nd. The event marked IAPAC’s formal entry into the American political arena and was attended by three United States Senators-The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, The Honorable Charles E. Schumer of New York, and The Honorable Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, as well as by distinguished Iranian Americans from many sectors of American society.

Justine did a terrific job photographing the event! Despite the fact that the crowd at the event was so large that the room in which the reception was held was overflowing, he blended into the background and was unobtrusive. At same time, Justine was able to capture the true essence of the event with fascinating photographs of the senators and guests interacting and responding to each other.

Justine delivered a top quality product with quick turnaround time. He was trustworthy, meticulous, industrious, and above all a true pleasure to work with. His infectious personality along with authentic professional mannerism makes him an excellent candidate for the position of White House Photo Director.

Allison Campbell
Account Executive, Precision Meetings & Events
Justin Schuck has worked with Precision Meeting & Events for the past few years solely photographing one of our most prevalent events of the year. Every December, The Pond at Bryant Park in NYC is turned into a winter wonderland in which, one of our biggest clients, the Canadian Tourism Commission along with other Canadian partners, host a 250 – 300 person party at Celsius, a temporary event space built just for Canada. Justin photographed the event in December of 2006 as well as in December of 2007. Last year being my first year at Precision, calling Justin was one of the easiest details of planning the event. Since he had experience from the year before, all I had to do was tell him the date and time of the event and that was it. Justin made his own travel arrangements, promptly confirmed via phone calls and emails and arrived to the event early in order for him to introduce himself, walk the space and get comfortable in his surroundings. Justin was professional, respectful and incredibly easy to work with. For the most part, Justin blended into the background of the event, making it seem like he wasn’t even there, however there were other times where he made the people he was taking photos of open up and feel completely comfortable to have their photos taken, a task that is never easy for anyone.

I was lucky enough to have a few of my family members attend the event last year and introduced them to Justin. Justin was polite and even cracked a few jokes making us all laugh while he was taking our pictures which made for a great series of photos that Justin was generous enough to edit and give to me as a special unnecessary but much appreciated gift. Justin turned the photos around in a matter of hours after the event much to my amaze. The photos were fantastic and captured all elements of the event from the décor to the guests (including VIP) to the lighting to the entertainment.

Justin did some personal photo restoration for me as well last year. He took a 3 x 3 photo from 40 years ago and restored it into an 8 _ x 11 picture that looked only a few years old that I was able to give to my parents for their 25th Wedding Anniversary. Justin went out of his way to drive to my office to pick up the photo, take it back to his studio to edit overnight and then personally delivered it to my house the following evening before I left to drive to NY the next day. I have only seed Justin once or twice since last December, however we keep in touch and he is by far one of my favorite people to work with, not only in DC but anywhere. I would be more than happy to discuss any other recommendation or information you need regarding Justin Schuck and Justin Schuck Photography. Please do not hesitate to contact me.

Bottom line is that I'm imperfect, but I do work hard and I have the credentials and clients to prove it. As many of you know, this has been not only a difficult year for the company financially, but also for me personally. It wouldn't be fair to drag all that stuff up here, but suffice it to say I've become an expert on death and tragedy.

2009 is looking to be a good year, and with the new administration in the White House, I hope it's a sign that great things are coming.

Thank you to the clients who have stuck with me through these turbulent months. I will never forget it.

Labels: Blog, business, Family, Frederick County, JSDS, Justin Schuck, Justin Schuck + Company, recommendations, reviews, Scott Rolle, studio, washington dc