San Francisco · Bay Area · Worldwide
A photograph, at its best,
is a time travel
machine.
Not the perfection of a magazine cover. An image so arresting, so transporting, that twenty years on you feel a gust of cool mountain air against your veil. You smell your grandmother's perfume one last time.
This is the question Paul Gargagliano has been asking diligently with his cameras for fifteen years.
Now booking 2026 & 2027
Documentary photography
has one rule.
Let people live their wedding day as fully as they can. Trust, the photographs will sing. No posing for endless group photos. No assistant with a reflector. No heavy filter to make all the work look the same. Just dialogue, flow, reaction — effortlessly moving through the white gold of California light.
Fifteen years of learning where to stand and when to press the shutter.
My enduring compass is my interest in you, your people, how you love, and your exquisite unrepeatable day.
Some photographs you look at. Some you step inside.
What couples are saying
"Paul manages to defy Heisenberg's uncertainty principle — he doesn't change or ruin a moment by capturing it, he heightens the moment."
"If I had to do the wedding all again, the only thing I know I absolutely couldn't do without is Paul. And my husband, I suppose."
"You just can't help but look at these photos and feel happy. They transport us right back to all the joy and love we felt on our special day — what a gift."
"Hiring Paul was hands down the easiest decision we made in the entire wedding planning process. He wove himself so seamlessly into our day."
"There is a soul to every one of Paul's photos. We treasure our pictures and cannot wait for another opportunity to work with him."
"On the day of our wedding, Paul was such a calming presence. It felt like we had an old friend on our team helping capture every moment."
Hi, I'm Paul.
I've loved weddings
since I was five.
The kitchen of a colonial home in Exeter, New Hampshire. All is quiet. I almost wasn't there. Through my viewfinder, Jocelyn — in her wedding dress — catches her grandmother's reflection in the glass of a framed painting of daisies. She doesn't know I'm watching. I press the shutter.
…it would be such an honor to photograph your wedding.
…(Stomping my foot here) but I am already booked that Sunday. Why don't you move it to Saturday? (73% in jest.)
A month later, she wrote back: We are changing the date to Saturday.
My name is Paul Gargagliano. Two reasons the business is called Hazel Photo: practicality (Gargagliano is a magnificent surname, but not an easy business name) and whimsy (I met the love of my life, Adeline, on Hazel Avenue).
California, in every direction. And beyond.
Based in San Francisco, Paul photographs weddings throughout Northern California and travels nationally and internationally. Whether your venue is a sun-drenched Napa estate, a fog-kissed Big Sur cliffside, or a backyard in Marin — the documentary approach travels with him.
The work speaks for itself.
The rest is a conversation.
Paul books a limited number of weddings each year — enough to give each one the attention it deserves.