Susan J. Weiand Photography

Award winning photography in San Jose, California for over 35 years

Professional Headshots, Children’s and Family Portraits, Maternity Portraits, Weddings, Event Coverage, Promotional Photography

My desire is to create meaningful images for you through my photography. Listening to your needs and wishes is very important to me and together we can create beautiful images for your portrait, event or wedding.

For me, photography is a way of capturing a special moment in time on film, whether it’s a child’s smile or a bride’s tears. The most satisfying part of my job is doing that well enough to see the expression of joy on a client’s face when they see my work.

A photograph is a treasure that lasts a lifetime. For me, photography is a way of capturing a special moment in time on film, whether it’s a child’s smile or a bride’s tears. The most satisfying part of my job is doing that well enough to see the expression of joy on a client’s face when they see my work.

- Susan Weiand

A photograph is a treasure that lasts a lifetime. For me, photography is a way of capturing a special moment in time on film, whether it’s a child’s smile or a bride’s tears. The most satisfying part of my job is doing that well enough to see the expression of joy on a client’s face when they see my work.

Susan Weiand

More About Susan

Susan has always been interested in photography, but during her early years in Massachusetts she studied to become a teacher and earned a degree in biology with a teaching certification. Those career plans changed when she moved to California 36 years ago and looked for a career she could really love doing.

Her specialty is outdoor photography of children and families. Parents like the natural look of her portraits and she is adept at making small children feel at ease during the photography session.

Clients also like knowing that Susan is very flexible and willing to meet their needs in terms of hours, locations and special requests. She works closely with her clients to produce the type of images they desire.

While children’s portraits are one of her specialties, Susan also photographs weddings and events, to which she also brings her unique natural approach. She feels that while there are many talented wedding photographers working today, the most important thing is to find a photographer with whom the wedding couple can feel at ease and develop trust.

Her experience in group posing is also helpful in handling large groups of people at weddings. Because she is adept in dealing with kids who have a relatively short attention span, she works quickly and efficiently.

Reviews and Testimonials

Sue has been photographing our family for several portraits over the past 24 years. Our first time was with our first young baby, who wanted to scream and cry that entire day. Nevertheless, we have some adorable keepsakes of our cutie surrounded by stuffed animals, and other shots which really captured the pride and joy of parenthood we felt. She has met us at parks and our back yard, and caught many moments of the kids playing, that I still treasure, especially now that the kids are grown. She allowed me to pick through the proofs and mailed us enlargements, so it was a really easy process. Sue is great with organizing good shots; with flattering poses and good lighting. Always she works with a down-to-earth attitude and good humor. Also, Sue took a nice headshot for me a few years ago, which is nice to have to look more professional. She is friendly and funny. Keeps the kids entertained. Really knows her stuff. I’d recommend her for your family shots.

When my grandson was to have his Bar Mitzvah in 2020, his entire family had been making plans for a year for his special day. The pandemic shut everything down in March and by summer, we had already begun to make the necessary changes to adapt to a new world. There would be no in-person Bar Mitzvah nor any celebration with extended family and friends. The event would be transformed into a “Zoom Mitzvah.” We had already made plans to engage Sue. After all, she did a stellar job for my sisters’ wedding and is also a legendary Rock music photographer. The ceremony was to be limited to immediate family members and the Zoom facilitator. Even the rabbi and cantor managed the proceedings via Zoom in an adjacent, separate room. I managed to secure the rabbi’s blessing to allow Sue to photograph in person. Masked and distanced, Sue navigated the whole affair artfully, with no hint of anything out of the ordinary. It was a remarkable feat, to say the least. Of course, the photographs she took were outstanding. There is a wall in my father’s house where generational pictures hang of Bar Mitzvah’s past. It begins with a grainy black and white photo of my father, his father, his grandfather, and his great grandfather. Next, is mine, with my father, my grandfather, and my great grandfather. Then, in color, is my son’s, with me, my father, and my grandfather. Now, there is a beautiful color photo of my grandson, my son, me, and my father. Thanks to Sue, it’s the best photo of the bunch!

My husband and I have been fans of Susan's music photography for years, so were thrilled to have her photograph our wedding in Colorado and second reception in the Bay Area last Fall. Susan is friendly and easy to work with, and has a great sense of humor which put everyone at ease. We wanted a lot of candids throughout the night and she perfectly captured so many great moments with friends and family. She was really great with the younger kids and our dog...patient and quick and managed to get the shot even when they were not always the most cooperative. We highly recommend Susan for any of your photography needs!

After working with Susan for more than 10 years, I am thrilled that I can give her a well deserved review. Her style of photography is unlike all others. She is able to capture the feeling of the moment and transcribe it into a beautiful photograph that will always take you back to that place and time when you look at it. Susan is multi talented and able to effectively shoot a rock concert one day and a wedding the next. I recently had the opportunity to work with her at a wedding while at a music festival. Talk about talent! She has photographed my family photos as well as many of my events for several years. I am forever grateful for her professionalism, reliability and always know if Susan is on the job, I have nothing to worry about.

We LOVE Susan's work!! we hired her to photograph both our engagement photos and our wedding. Our experience was so pleasant and fun and the pictures were beautiful. Susan directed us with warmth and humor in order to get our best selves for the camera. Her entire process from start to finish and after was professionally executed with a Grace and ease that made us feel so happy with the choice we'd made. A+!!

Susan Weiand made our wedding amazing! From the onset of her hire, throughout the planning days, up to and beyond our special day, Susan was an absolute pleasure to work with. Her professionalism and bright attitude inspired us and made for beautiful photography. And, her quick wit and constant smiles helped with our jitters.

Susan's eye for a good shot really shined that day. She was able to record the emotion and life that surrounded us. Her talents are boundless and she proved it at our wedding. When it came to price she was more than reasonable. And, after everything was said and done she showed her true generosity by giving us her overtime for free! That type of altruism is rare to find now-a-days, but she possesses kindness in spades. Our special day was perfect because of Susan Weiand.

I've known Sue for a while and have always loved her photographs. We were pretty late in planning our wedding, but Sue was available on short notice and was willing to travel up to Sonoma to help us out. Sue was so very helpful in getting all the right photos from before the wedding getting ready, during the wedding, and after the wedding, pretty much leading everyone to stand in specific ways or look in certain directions to get the best angles for the photos. She was super great learning everyone's names and getting everyone together for specific shots like all the men, all the women, couples, etc, Sue is super friendly and easy to work with. She actually made our wedding much less stressful overall. She even came out to our reception dinner with us and took more photos. Our pictures were delivered in a very quick turn around and came out better then we could have ever hoped for. I recommend Sue for your Wedding or any other pictures needs you might have. She not only is an excellent photographer, but she knows how to capture memories! Thanks so much Sue!

Most importantly, the pictures Sue took were FABULOUS. She was very easy and accommodating to work with and was fun but firm when it came to lining people up and getting the right people into the photos for our wedding (which is no easy chore when there's an open bar beckoning people away from the task at hand). Finally, her rates for her service are EXTREMELY competitive as we got quotes from several wedding photographers prior to choosing Sue. We really could not have hoped for more beautifully executed wedding pix and Sue got the job done without being rude during the shoot (which we hear a lot of photographer's can be) and working efficiently and effectively to stay on budget. Not to mention she was simply a pleasure to work with (took time to find out about us and our families before the wedding!) and to have as a photographer AND guest at our wedding. Thank you so much for the beautiful pictures. The bride loves them and is very happy to have these photos to commemorate our special day.

We hired Susan Weiand as our wedding photographer and were lucky enough to be able to get her on short notice, particularly since we had a destination wedding in Kauai. I cannot say enough good things about Susan. She was incredibly easy to work with, exceptionally reasonable in terms of rates, and provided us with amazing photographs that captured the most special day of our lives. Since it was a destination wedding and Susan was one of our guests (in addition to being our photographer), Susan went over and above what any vendor would have provided as far as coverage. Not only did she put in a full day of shooting for the wedding and reception (she arrived at our property around 3pm to do bridal shots and then continued to shoot until approximately 10/10:30pm), but as our guest, she also gave us a number of great shots from the rehearsal as well. Having just finished the wedding album, I can honestly say that Sue's pictures took my breath away and will serve as a permanent reminder of the emotions of that day. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you Sue...you know we love you. Thank you for capturing the most important event of our lives in such amazing fashion!

We hired Susan to take family pictures of us and our two kids after a special event, and we are so glad we did! Susan was very skilled at directing our poses, the session was pleasant and fun for us all - it rounded out a great day for us. And the pictures turned out great, too! In fact the hardest part was to pick which pictures to get printed - there were so many that we love! If you're looking for some wonderful keepsake memories of you and your loved ones, don't hesitate to hire Susan.

Sue provided us with excellent professional photography for our wedding: A Convenient pre-payment plan, reasonable prices, clear communication, best possible photographic work, personable, funny, and friendly interaction with her subjects (even the kids!), timely follow-up and post production work... It just doesn't get any better than this for a wedding photographer. And when it comes down to wedding photos there is very little room for error. When you need someone who is reliable, hard-working, and produces top-notch results then you need Sue on the job.

Sue has done a number of sessions with our family, everything from family photos to 2 bar mitzvah events. She always gets my guys to smile and we end up with pictures that look great. She has an eye for capturing the exciting parts of a party and for keeping things relaxed, which is particularly important where a lot of people are involved. She has always been responsive, on time and truly wonderful to work with.

Susan is the best in the business and provides top quality photography with a hands-on approach to her subject matter. When hiring Susan, you get more than just a photographer. You get a professional who is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty of just taking pictures. Example, where our wedding coordinator was unable to keep our event moving on schedule, Susan took the initiative to keep things on schedule for us by providing direction to family, guests, and other staff, all while taking some amazing photos of our most memorable day. And her rock photos are simply the best, capturing that indescribable moment in time that the artist is putting out there.

We have been using Susan to take our family photos and get our Christmas card shot every year since 2011. We are always so happy with the results. She also took my daughter's solo shots growing up and I treasure them as well. She makes the process pain free (on her end) and she always makes it fast! We have used her for our extended family as well. She was able to get the perfect photo even with a large group which was impressive. We love working with Susan.

Very professional, amazing talent!! She really captured our personalities and provided us with beautiful photos of our special day in record time. Highly recommended by the both of us!

Susan was the photographer for our September wedding and was absolutely amazing! She's a pleasure to work with and was a master at organizing a large, boisterous family for those highly-treasured group shots. Susan worked extremely hard, from start to finish, helping us preserve our memories of that day and the end products were gorgeous. Everyone loves their photos - especially us!

Susan has been photographing our family annually since our kids were toddlers...they are now in college and we continue to call on Susan each year. Our dogs have always claimed a front and center spot in our family, and Susan has cheerfully managed to wrangle us all (humans and canines) with ease and grace, making us actually look like a put-together crew! The photos are beautiful family keepsakes that we will have forever. Thank you, Susan, for your kind demeanor, your great sense of humor and the wonderful family photos!