The Long Version:
More about us. CherieFoto, a prestigious Beverly Hills photo studio, has taken amazing photographs of children, weddings, bar mitzvahs and classy boudoir for 20 years. Cherie Steinberg, owner and lead photographer, entered the world of photography following a photography class at a university. “I fell in love with the darkroom & the camera,” Cherie was studying fine art, but photography seemed to be a great extension of what I was doing. Shortly after, I became an apprentice in a photo studio. “Photography is a beautiful art form....and I just love beautiful things,” With Cherie’s love for photography along with her partner Hedley Jones, and their three assisting photographers, CherieFoto has a knack for creating beautiful synergy resulting in beautiful imagery.
Cherie shoots high-fashion editorial quite frequently, but splits her time shooting weddings. “I love the beauty of a woman....I love dresses and of course, I love shoes,” she states revealing her love for taking photos of glamorous things. “I love weddings, fashion and couture. I am shooting a woman in the most beautiful of clothes and with my background in shooting fashion, I can assist any woman by standing her correctly to make her thin and beautiful. It’s a very natural thing for me to do. The segue way from the high-fashion couture world into weddings is a fluid transition for CherieFoto and her team of photographers. Our talent is to turn any woman into a fashion model—we can make her look really beautiful on her wedding day—that’s what we bring to the table.
The studio of CherieFoto is really involved in their couple’s needs, and they offer engagement sessions, which is included in the bridal package. When our couples come to the studio, we spend time with them—and we end up becoming best friends. We become their photographer for life. We feel bonded to them. The talented photographers at CherieFoto create a relationship with their clients where their clients become generational, shooting the bride and groom’s wedding, their children, and birthday parties for the kids. “We become like their doctor,” “We go to Thanksgiving with them and all kinds of events.” CherieFoto takes the time to really explain to couples who are in the process of getting married what will happen—and will mentor them. Our philosophy is simple: to go to the client’s weddings and take great care of them. Our team allows the bride and groom to feel really comfortable so they may take the best pictures they possibly can.
The versatility at CherieFoto is really wonderful in the way that they can shoot with 35 mm cameras or digitally. “I love the 35 mm camera and can go anywhere with it— it’s an easy camera to work with.” Steinberg has an abundance of serious photography experience, because she has traveled around the world for seven years with her camera doing photojournalism. I was the first woman photographer for a major Canadian newspaper in Toronto.
A bride and groom would choose CherieFoto for their special wedding day for numerous reasons. “I think it has to do with personality and feeling comfortable and putting your photography in the hands of a professional,” she said, adding “It’s important to put your wedding day in the hands of professionals who know what they are doing...not just in photography, but with all services,”— this team of photographers are more than capable of doing just that. Their talent is so extraordinary; they’ve even been blessed with shooting celebrity weddings. “A lot of times, when my brides get to know me and understand me, they want me to create a vision for them. The brides and grooms give me freedom, but together we create award winning images.
CherieFoto will capture your wedding photos digitally or they can shoot in black and white, which is timeless and elegant. The team is able to convert photos taken digitally to black and white, but they have requests to shoot film and it’s not a problem for them—they are more than happy and willing to do so. The team of CherieFoto are speakers for Nikon and regularly talk to other photographers who are just getting into the business. “We are kind of like junkies I must confess, while noting she can’t be away from her camera for more than three days. “I have to shoot new pictures every couple of days or I get ancy".
Hedley Jones is an experienced multi-media professional with an impressive array of creative credentials ranging from traditional broadcasting to digital music and photography.
He has been the recipient of several Black Music Awards in Toronto. Over the years, he has earned an enviable reputation as a true musical innovator and a genial radio personality with cross-generational appeal.
His roots are embedded in the world of music having started as a musician {drums} in Jamaica, in his teens. It was there that he helped his father Hedley Jones Sr. who designed and built one of the most famous studios in Jamaica "Studio One" for Clement Dodd aka "Coxone Downbeat" who helped to create the reggae beat back in the 60's, where Bob Marley recorded many of the groups early hits. He was also audio engineer on some of early Bob Marley and The Wailers recordings.
In the early ‘70s, Jones began his broadcast career with CBC Radio in Toronto, as a Writer/Producer for several highly acclaimed programs including the Juno nominated, daily morning variety show Eclectic Circus. In 1977, he secured his place in Toronto music history as a member of the original on air staff of the, then fledgling radio station CFNY FM. During his tenure with the station, which ended in 1993, “Deadly Hedley” became one of the city’s best-loved and most respected DJs, introducing audiences to the best in reggae, worldbeat and house music and shaping the musical tastes of a generation of Toronto listeners. Throughout the 90's, Jones remained a high profile Toronto has a radio personality on major market stations stations Q107, Mix 99.9 and Energy 108 which was Canada's first dance music station.... playing his unique blend of reggae, hip hop and electronica.
In 1996, sensing the coming convergence of music and the Internet, Jones co-founded Canada’s first internet broadcast station, with the late John Walters, the Virtually Canadian Broadcast Network which subsequently became the publicly traded Iceberg Media.com Inc. (Iceberg Radio is now one of the channels of new Canadian Satellite Radio. Through its entertainment portal, The Iceberg.com, created and deliverd audio and video programming over the Internet through a variety of distinct channels of content for which Jones served as Music Director. 1Groove.com featured the Best DJ's in Canada 24/7 in 1999-2002 which was Hedley's contribution to what has become common place on the Internet.
I retired from The Toronto music scene in the 2003 to explore my other passion, the visual side of me which is photography and also to be with my mate, partner and fellow photographer, Cherie Steinberg. Cherie is also a Toronto native who was one of the first women to work at the Toronto Sun as a photographer, she also started the "Sunshine Boys" page.
I came to Los Angeles in the fall of 2003 and together we have built the CherieFoto brand. We have created branding in several aspects of commercial photography including fashion, weddings which Cherie is really well known for and recently we have been shooting a lot more boudoir which we love. Also behind the scenes we have a new online business to sell some of the products that we are developing. For really cool photo edges that work with photoshop check them out here on this website.
Recently we both experienced our dream assignment....to shoot the brochure for the revolutionary Nikon D700 for Nikon Japan. (Highly recommended - I have been a Nikon shooter all my photographic life and I still shoot my Nikon F film camera)
It's a very exciting time for photography and at CherieFoto we are exploring all the possibilities that the digital age has given us. The new cameras have now pushed the boundaries of photography to new heights and we can now shoot in situations that were impossible only a year ago...and now even video have become a part of our still photography world. I have been waiting for the digital age all my life and now it's like being in a movie all the time....hey we are in Hollywood.
For me the digital world will compress several lifetimes in the next twenty years....I can walk around with a recording studio in my pocket and a camera that shoots almost in the dark.
(Nikon D700). Welcome to 2010.
CherieFoto travels a few times of year for destination weddings, and has an abundance of shooting in the heart of where they are, the beautiful city of Beverly Hills. “We are very lucky to be able to do this. Photographers like to work for ourselves.....we are independent thinkers.... and we are adventurous. It’s a beautiful thing to do in life—take pictures
Their work has appeared in many magazines worldwide some of which include:
Grace Ormonde
The L.A. Times
Nikon World
Digital Photo Pro Magazine
Rangefinder Magazine
Los Angeles Magazine
Los Angeles Wedding Magazine
Orange County Wedding Magazine Bride & Bloom
Los Angeles Weddings
Studio Design & Photography
Towne & Country
Distinctive Magazine 90210 Magazine
5280 Magazine
Professional Photographers
Palm Springs Life Rangefinder Magazine.
Cherie & Hedley are available to travel worldwide .They have done weddings in all corners of the world. One of their favorite places is The Isle of Capri ........They will travel anywhere........