Outdoor Photography Denver and Colorado, Client Testimonials...

Hear what the Jacobsen family had to say about working with Craig…

Simply click the link below to play the video testimonial from the Jacobsen family.

Hear what the Kochevar family had to say about working with Craig…

Simply click the link below to play the video testimonial from the Kochevar family.

Hear what the Basefsky family had to say about working with Craig…

Simply click the link below to play the video testimonial from the Basefsky family.

What an absolute delight you made for our day up in Vail for our photo shoot. Truly our experience could not have been more enjoyable, or successful in its results.

What an absolute delight you made for our day up in Vail for our photo shoot. From locating the perfect site...to entertaining two teenaged boys who were, shall we say, a bit reticent...to capturing the perfect image for us on canvas...(Dare I also credit you with the uncannily good weather and ideal lighting that day?) Truly our experience could not have been more enjoyable, or successful in its results.

Having spent so many years enjoying the Rocky Mountains, it was only fitting that this “already treasured” heirloom reflects our family’s love of Colorado, as well as for one another. And with great skill you have managed to merge both of these themes artfully into a stunning image which will call to mind not only the many moments our family has shared here, but also the laughter and camaraderie enjoyed that day, “on location” with you and your team.

Again, our heartfelt and most sincere thanks,
The Packard Family

You have been very accommodating and a pleasure to work with.

As you know, I have been an “Indiana Cowboy” since the “Hopalong Cassidy” and “Rin Tin Tin” T.V. shows of my youth back in the 1950’s. And one of my hobbies has been to collect western art, firearms, and miscellaneous and sundry other western memorabilia all of my adult life.

When my good fortune had me marrying a Colorado woman, born and bred, I couldn’t have been happier having the opportunity to relocate to the “Rocky Mountain” state to be with her. I love the west, and in particular, I love the beauty of Colorado. Now I know what my beautiful wife has always known; Colorado is a beautiful precious gem of a state comprised largely of a colorful palette of sun, sky, mountains, valleys, streams and wildlife.

To have met you and to have discussed what a “western family portrait” would mean to Diana and I (we had only been married a couple of months at the time) had to be “fate.” I say “fate” because we were very fortunate to have found someone with your professionalism and your capabilities accompanied by your own unique blend of personality and charisma. You have been very accommodating and a pleasure to have worked with. And I say “fate” also because, obviously, the bottom line was the finished product. We could not be happier with the way our portrait turned out. The Vail location with the winter scene and sun highlighting the Colorado mountain range complete with the western motif, right down to the horses and wagon, make our portrait very pleasing to the eye. This portrait could have been from a scene in “Jeremiah Johnson” with Robert Redford or from a scene in “The Mountain Men” with Charlton Heston. (In another life I would have relished playing the part of either man!)

Thank you Craig for the experience you provided for us. We wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend your services. Please let us know if we could ever be of assistance to you.

Sincerely,
Jerry & Diana Magers

A very special thank you for our treasured portraits - they are SO special!

A very special thank you for our treasured family portraits. We were not quite sure what to expect the day of our setting and how the whole process was going to turn out. The location you suggested was just perfect. You were so professional working with our family and especially the four little ones, ages four, three, two and one. We were all so impressed! Again, thanks so much for our family portraits - they are SO special!

The Kilgroe Family

Taking family portraits was not only fun, but extremely entertaining as well!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you implicitly for all that you have done for our family. Taking the family portraits was not only fun, but extremely entertaining as well! You conducted yourself with the utmost professionalism, yet still managed to entertain us and make us laugh out loud the entire time, “No small feat” let me tell you. It is easy to associate family pictures with stiff, uptight, stuffy environments and annoying photographers who yell commands such as “cheese” and “show me your teeth.” Our experience with McNeil Portraits was exactly the opposite, and one that we will remember for years to come. It is very important to preserve history, and to take the necessary measures to ensure that your memories are captured correctly, and in a style that appeals to you. You managed to do all of this and more! Once again, thank you so much for making this experience enjoyable for our family, and we look forward to working with you in the future.

The Sherrill Family
(Paul, Kaybe, Jordan, and Katelyn)

Thank you, Craig, for making this a pleasurable experience from beginning to end!

We want to thank you for the great experience you provided for us in creating a beautiful family portrait for us. With a small baby and young grandchildren we were a bit concerned about getting a good picture. However, there was no need for concern because you and your assistant made the entire session a lot of fun! You were calm and easygoing and very positive and upbeat. Even the members of our family who dislike having their pictures taken were attentive and enthusiastic. It was a great family time. We also appreciated the care and concern you showed in making sure the final portraits were to our liking. We were very impressed with the process and the final product. These portraits will be a treasured heirloom for our family. Upon seeing our portraits displayed in our home, our friends have been inspired to have their family portraits done also. We recommended they contact you! Thank you, Craig, for making this a pleasurable experience from beginning to end!

Doug & Mary Windemuller

Every time we walk by our family portrait, we have to stare.

Every time we walk by our family portrait, we have to stare. It evokes an emotion. It is a moment in time that we wanted to preserve and cannot be replicated. You chose the perfect location and time of day. Despite our family’s uncontrolled laughter, we 
have never seen our boys photographed so beautifully. This portrait is an heirloom that our family will forever cherish. Thank you for making this experience a memorable one.

Sincerely, 
The Najjar Family

We are very proud to show this portrait to everyone and can not thank you enough for helping us create our family treasure.

My wife and I have always wanted to make a family portrait worthy of passing on to our daughter, Emily, and some day on to her children. When I came across your portraits, I knew now was that time since Emily is 10 years old, and since through you we had found someone that has the ability to capture the essence of our family bond and our love of Colorado. But I must confess that based on prior experiences, I personally hate sitting for portraits and dreaded the process. Luckily my trepidation proved to be completely unjustified due to how you managed this experience and your sensitivity in working with my family. The first step was the friendship and trust that you built with our family. I never thought that I would say this, but you made it enjoyable. The setting was beautiful, the process was fun and my family stopped for a great mountain dinner before going home. I knew that we would have a great family keepsake in the form of this gorgeous portrait, but we also found warm memories that will never be forgotten. We are very proud to show this portrait to everyone and can not thank you enough for helping us create our family treasure. I know we will keep in touch.

Thank you,
Dave, Ellie & Emily Norwood
Lakewood, CO

We had a great experience!

Sverre and I just wanted to thank you again for the fantastic job you did on our family portrait. We’re receiving an abundance of compliments that are making us feel very proud, but then we realize that it was you that did all the work. We just had to sit there :) So thank you for sharing your professional talent, and for being so great to work with. It is obvious that you take pride in your work and that made all the difference to us while working with you. You were willing to do anything we felt important
and your artistic insights were invaluable. We had a great experience!

Thanks again,
Sverre and Erin Jensen

We could not be more pleased with the result and strongly recommend McNeil Designer Portraits for capturing any memorable event.

I would first like to commend Craig McNeil for donating his services to the Families First silent auction.

My wife and I bid on his offering with the desire of getting a picture of our entire family during an opportunity we feared might not occur again. After bidding, we had some trepidation about the challenge of organizing eight children under 12 years of age, 10 adults and year old puppy.

Suffice to say, Craig and his team pulled it off with minimal stress and effort. We could not be more pleased with the result and strongly recommend McNeil Designer Portraits for capturing any memorable event.

Jon and Sue Burns

Thank you again for the beautiful portrait of our family.

Thank you again for the beautiful portrait of our family. I am so impressed you were able to get the kids to smile and laugh and look like happy children with wonderful lives and capture their delight in the picture (rather than the much easier to record moments of moods that I prefer not to see on a daily basis!) My husband was not at all looking forward to the ordeal of trying to get all the kids to smile for a picture and we were all pleasantly surprised with what a smooth and fun process it turned out to be. Especially in comparison with our previous attempts at getting a family photo, which did not result in anything near the quality of what you managed to create for us. The finished product is now hanging in our living room where it makes me happy every time I see it, and I know as the kids get older I will always be happy that we took the time to take them out to your beautiful spot in Colorado and have a family picture taken. Thank you again. 

Love from,
The Bugelli Family, La Jolla, California

There is no doubt that this piece of art will be treasured for many, many years to come.

As I walk by our family portrait every day, I pause and admire how well you captured each and every one of us. You encapsulated a moment in time and place, and that I will always cherish. It seemed an ordinary day when you took the photo, but now it is a day rendered permanent and special in your photograph. There is no doubt that this piece of art (for it is art) will be treasured for many, many years to come. We are so glad that we decided to do this, and feel that it is an investment well made. Thank you, thank you.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Corbet & Family

We were very pleased with our experience. The whole process was very professional and gave us wonderful family portraits that we will enjoy for years.

We were very pleased with our experience. Craig found a beautiful location based on our discussions with him and captured some beautiful images. He gave us a number of different portrait and image options and we were very impressed with the final product. The whole process was very professional and gave us wonderful family portraits that we will enjoy for years.

The Owen Family

We appreciate and value what you have created for us and will treasure our beautiful portraits for a lifetime!

When we met you at the MS Fundraiser, we had no idea the treasure we had happened upon. From the day you walked in our home, we’ve been so impressed! The location you helped us select is meaningful to our entire family, the colors blended beautifully, and you took such great care in getting everything just perfect. We appreciate and value what you have created for us and will treasure our beautiful portraits for a lifetime!

Thank you!
The Myers
David, Theresa, Sarah, DJ and Keli

Wow! All of the photos are amazing!

Wow! All of the photos are amazing! Thank you so much! Dan and I really appreciate your hard work and talent! We really enjoyed our photo session and the outcome is better than we could have hope for...again many thank you’s!

Sincerely,
Dawn Jacobsen

We really love this portrait!

Just a brief note to express our appreciation for everything you did to compose and create our beautiful portrait. Working outdoors and capturing the beauty of the Roxborough red rock formations in our “backyard” was so special. You selected the perfect time of day and lighting to fully capture the rich colors of the rocks…and you helped us to fit into the scenery so naturally. We really love this portrait!

Jeanne & George Rasmussen

Thank you for capturing our family in our favorite place; in Roger’s gardens in our own backyard.

We always talked about having a family portrait done, but it was on the back burner.  We happened to be at a fund raiser for a local non-profit organization and came across one of your packages in the silent auction.  This was the time. 

Working with you was so much fun! Thank you so much for capturing our family in our favorite place; in Roger’s gardens in our own backyard. You were terrific in getting Rog, I and our two dogs, Pitzi and Zeesy, to look at you and smile. As you know I hate having my picture taken, but you produced some amazing photos. 

Thank you so much, not only for the amazing portrait of us, but for your generosity to the non-profits in the community. 

Lisa and Roger Koenigsberg
(and Pitzi and Zeesy)

You captured the spirit of our family like no one before.

It has taken me a while to sit down and write you a “thank you” note and for that I truly apologize. Our family portrait hangs proudly in our “Gathering Room” and every time I step back to look at it, I smile. I must say that I do get a bit emotional at times, when I gaze at our faces. You captured the spirit of our family like no one before. Our portrait is a true masterpiece. It all began a year earlier when we met in our home.  The personal consultation was incredible. You asked so many good questions to capture the true essence and reasoning behind the portrait. When we arrived at the shooting location, I just stood there, taking in all of the beauty surrounding us. We had water and we had the mountains, the two things that were important to us. During the session we were treated like celebrities and you even made Greg smile. No one has been able to capture Greg’s smile in a photo before, including me. The best, yet most frustrating process was to pick THE perfect photo. There were so many extraordinary photos to choose from. We had so much fun deciding. I can’t tell you how emotional I got when I saw Michelle on a few of the photos. I almost cried, for she almost looked alive. She looked so beautiful. Craig, you have such a gift for this work and we are grateful that our paths crossed so that we could have this amazing experience together. I thank you from the bottom of our heart!

Best Regards
Greg, Eva and Michelle Milko

I want you to know how talented you are and that God has given you an extraordinary gift.

I want you to know how talented you are and that God has given you an extraordinary gift. We will do what we can to spread the word of your talents. 

It was such a joy to work with you and to watch the interaction with my family as they participated in the process of getting our portraits done in Ashcroft, Colorado. I am thankful to have met you at the Aspen Youth Experience – Celebrity Downhill Gala and that we both have chosen to give our time and talents to this amazing organization. As you know, Aspen Youth Experience empowers young people to achieve things they would not otherwise aspire too. 

From the Marrs Family to the McNeil Family, we thank you for the whole McNeil Designer Portraits experience and for working with us. When watching the DVD slide show of your work and the smiles on the faces of each member of my family, I was in awe.

Thank you,
David L. Marrs

Thank you for making our portrait experience so fantastic!

Thank you for making our portrait experience so fantastic! You were able to capture a wonderful image of everyone (including the horse), which must have been a challenge. But still, somehow it all went so smoothly! It was a perfect afternoon that our girls, Rick and I, completely enjoyed.  

Thank you for a fabulous portrait!
Suzy Hamilton