Melissa Madden Photography, San Diego CA

Melissa was amazing to work with for our Fresh 48 photoshoot! She was very professional during our session, gave us great directions, worked with our daughter well, and gave some great parenting tips. We are emotional from looking at these photos and re-living those first few hours with our daughter. Thank you Melissa! We would highly recommend her services to others:)

What an incredible experience! Melissa was ready to go and orchestrated our family beach photos perfectly! She captured beautiful sand dune shots, that on their own would be artwork worthy! I just printed all our photos and they are even more incredible framed! We are a family of three with a teen and a toddler and Melissa was able to miraculously keep everyone in good spirits and smiling for the shots. I am more than pleased with how these turned out! Great work and thank you for capturing such a beautiful time for us so quickly! It made a beautiful Christmas card!

We have been using Melissa for years for our family photos and she never disappoints. Her care and passion for photography is evident. She takes the ideas we have and elevates them as well as provides suggestions for outfits and props. She is also great with kids!

We have used Melissa on more than one occasion and have received the most wonderful photoshoots and beautiful photos. She is great with our kids and makes the whole experience so pleasant. I couldn't recommend her services enough.

We always have a fun time with Melissa she always gets us to relax and just have fun while getting our pictures taken which can be difficult with 4 kids. We first met Melissa 7 years ago when my wife was pregnant with our first, we had the maternity/newborn session. I still remember like it was yesterday. She did such a great job back then and again and again. I love that Melissa is really good with kids, we always get great pictures.

We had such a wonderful experience with Melissa! We loved how welcoming she was and we felt comfortable immediately. We are so happy with the photos and would love to work with her again!

The services provided by Melissa Madden Photography are so incredibly memorable. It’s not just photos, it’s an artfully crafted experience. Melissa has compiled a beautiful client closet to ensure perfect fabrics and color palette combinations. She has a gorgeous, multi-setting studio for indoor photos and researches the best landscapes for outdoor sessions. Don’t know how to stand in photos? She teaches you as you go! Our three generation photo shoot turned out better than we hoped and we will cherish these memories forever. Thank you Melissa!

I stumbled upon Melissa while looking for inspiration for my baby's first birthday shoot on Instagram. I figured it could be something I could DIY with some props and help from a friend. I have never been one to find cake smashes appealing because I believed it to be too messy and difficult to capture any photo/keepsake worthy shots. However, after seeing photos of the ones Melissa captured, I was more than convinced that she is 1000000% the one that will make my baby look beyond adorable. Boy, did she DELIVER. The shoot itself was super fun and we could not have had a more than perfect location to match the theme and aesthetic I was looking for. She even encouraged me to dress up as well so I could get in a few pictures. I was hesitant but I am SO GLAD I did because she got some beautiful snaps of me and my baby. It really gave me some confidence after feeling so frumpy and not cute postpartum. When it came time to selecting photos, husband and I wanted to buy them all! There were so so many photos that we just did not want to let go of but we were able to decide on which ones would be the best with Melissa's professional input. We are beyond pleased with everything that Melissa has done so far. It has been an absolute dream to work with someone who is so kind, talented, and personable. She was even able to make my baby laugh really hard during the shoot and not everyone can do that because of how serious my baby can be at times. Also wanted to add that when we came to the studio for the photo selection, my baby recognized Melissa and was comfortable enough to come up to her and walk around while husband and I looked at photos. Melissa is truly one of a kind and shows so much care for her work and clients. I cannot recommend her enough!

The best Christmas experience my kids had, even though kids cry and make every photo hard to take she was able to make them smile and get the perfect family picture. Definitely doing this every year from now on.

From beginning to end my experience was amazing. I really enjoyed the communication and preparation for the maternity photos. Makeup, hair, and plenty of dresses/ outfits to chose from. Hardest part was narrowing down the photos but Melissa does a great job helping you narrow them down. The final images were beautiful!

Melissa is the best of the best! She made our family photo experience enjoyable and caught perfect moments of our toddler. She is patient and a true pro. Thank you for capturing our family.

Had a great experience with Melissa! What a relief to not have to worry about what to wear, color coordination, location, makeup, how to pose, etc. She guided us through it all and we love the end results.

I cannot say enough positive things about Melissa. I was very impressed by her professionalism. She really was involved in the whole process from concept to completion. She was very accommodating with our family and even allowed our dog in the photos. Melissa is incredibly personable and creative. My son was so comfortable with Melissa that he wanted to be held by her! This is by far the best experience I’ve had with a photographer and I hope we can work together again in the future.