About Our Company

Covello & Covello Photography was founded by late Santa Cruz photographer Ed Webber in 1938. Originally known as Webberąs Photo Service, the business was well known locally as the news photography service that provided the photos for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It was also the leading commercial photography service in the county and was the major source of photographs for the Miss California Pageant. Many of the most important post World War II era Santa Cruz area images are contained in the thousands of negatives that comprise the Covello & Covello stock photograph collection.

In 1960, Ed Webber sold the photo service to his long time employee, the late master photographer Vester Dick and his wife, Esther. Ed continued to operate his camera store on Pacific Avenue and Vester moved the photography business into new quarters. Now called Vester Dick Photography, the studio had become the main producer of group photographs for the many campgrounds and conference centers located in the Santa Cruz Mountains; a niche that Covello & Covello still has today. When the Sentinel started its own photography department in 1966, Vester expanded the business to include wedding and portrait photography. Esther began searching for older historical images of the Santa Cruz area and built a collection of many hundreds of photographs, dating from the middle of the nineteenth century through the 1920s and '30s.

In 1979 Vester sold his business to his employee, Karen Covello, and her husband, Jon. Once again the name was changed, this time to Covello & Covello Photography. Karen and Jon have encouraged the studio to grow in the direction of wedding and portrait photography and are now recognized as one of the leading large group photographers in the country.

The perpetual negative file, including the stock and historical collections, is recognized as one of the most extensive photographic archives of the Santa Cruz area. It is widely accessed by local historians, scholars, students and residents eager for a historic photograph. See the Services page for details on how to obtain a print of your own.

As it has from the very beginning, all processing and lab work is done in-house. This allows Covello & Covello to maintain control of the superior quality of their finished photographs and enables them to meet the strict deadlines for delivering their camp and conference group photos.

Covello & Covello Photography continues the legacy of dedication to creativity, quality and fine service.