Hampton Roads Wedding and Portrait Photography

Virginia Beach Hair Stylist | Hair by Alice | Michael and Carina Photography

March 29, 2013

Alice is awesome.

She just is.

She’s got all the best parts of a German and an American wrapped up in one.

She’s also friendly, reliable, and real.

Those are but a few of the main reasons why we hit it off when we first met her a few months back.

Alice of Hair by Alice is a professional hair stylist based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Originally from Carina’s homeland of Germany, she has a European background & training in her field.

So what an honor it is, then, when she calls us up and asks, “Hey, can Carina be my test subject for a new up-do I want to try out?” Umm….. YEAH!

Not only did Alice do an amazing job, but we also got to meet and work with Theresa Little of Theresa Little Makeup Artistry. Theresa also got to model a bit, but she’s getting her own separate blog post for that, so more on that later…

Carina really braved the cold (seriously, when is Winter 2013 over?!) and we got some fantastic images inside & out.

We also shot some film, but the rolls will be sent off to Indie Film Labs tomorrow morning!For now, enjoy – and be sure to check out these two awesome ladies for makeup and styling!!

Alice, thanks so much for inviting us over, introducing us to the phenomenal Theresa Little, and for the awesome afternoon! Enjoy your photos!

–the preparation–

Behind the Scenes | Hair by Alice | Theresa Little | Hair by Alice } Michael and Carina Photography

–the result–

inside

–outside–

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at [email protected], or call 757-401-2551.

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

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Tags: 100mm L lens,35mm L lens,50mm L lens,5D Mark II,beach,engagement,hair by alice,hampton,Michael and Carina Photography,natural light,photographers,portrait,portraits,portraits of carina,virginia,wedding,williamsburg

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Virginia Wedding & Engagement Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

March 27, 2013

We were contacted recently by Justin Ferry of Justin Ferry Photography to hang out and pose for him as test subjects.

It’s always an honor when we get to meet and hang out with other talented photographers, so naturally we agreed!

We had been wanting to get to know some new photographers in the area, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Little did Justin know that we had recently purchased a new 35mm lens and we planned on testing it out on him and his beautiful wife Sarah!

Muahahaha!!!

Justin and Sarah were both good sports and we had a lot of fun just hanging out.

You can check out some photos Justin took of us here.

Us posing for Justin… you can kinda tell I (Mike) don’t get in front of the camera often! – M

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at [email protected], or call 757-401-2551.

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

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Tags: 35mmL,blog,destination,diy,engagement,hampton,Michael and Carina Photography,photographers,richmond,virginia,wedding,williamsburg

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Personal Blog | Letter to my Brother | Michael & Carina Photography

March 26, 2013

I’m writing this because I’m a little homesick, but that’s only part of the reason. The main reason I’m writing this is because I am SO proud of my little brother, so I just had to say so…

My little brother, Jonas, called me yesterday.

He was excited to tell me all about his college plans and how he is excelling in math at school.

He is almost finished with grammar school and is starting to pick out already what courses he is going to take in university.

My brother is gifted. He’s not only skipped a grade, but he is excelling in math, English, physics, soccer, piano… you name it, and he is probably good at it.

Except history. Weird for a boy, I know! But it’s just not his thing.

But that’s nothing new…

My brother could count backwards from 100 before he could spell his name…

But he recently completed a “test week” at a university in Munich so he could get a feel for it…

Wow. I was speechless. It made me realize how fast time passes and how much you miss when you’re not there.

I have missed my little brother Jonas dearly ever since we’ve moved to the United States.

Thank goodness he is coming to visit us this summer!

All the happy times of my childhood include you, Jonas.

You made my heart jump the first time I heard I was going to have a little brother.

I remember the night you were born.

I was seven years old and I was staying at our grandparents’ house and when the night had crept up on me, although I was desperately trying to stay awake, I heard the phone ring downstairs.

I threw the covers off the bed and jumped up, ran down the stairs and stretched my arm out for my grandma to hand me the phone.

I knew you were a boy – at least I had been hoping for that for the previous 9 months.

I wasn’t going to put up with all the trouble little sisters come with.

I remember the first time I saw you. I sang “Alle meine Entchen” (All my little duckies) over and over and over. The unfortunate thing about this particular song is that there is only one short stanza. But I kept repeating that one stanza over and over… and over and over… and sometime you fell asleep in my arms..

We went hiking together, to museums and on vacations. I gave anything to hold your little hand, to play sandcastle with you, to carry you around. Any day was great if it was spent with you. We baked Christmas cookies together all day long and cuddled up to listen to mom’s bedtime stories. I would even convince mom to let me sing you your lullaby sometimes.

Eventually, when our mom and dad couldn’t stay together anymore, we were there for each other. You, Mike and I. I am so thankful for this time we could spend together.

Especially since we knew that we were going to move to America soon..

I cherished every moment with you, Jonas. I had the best of times walking to the ice cream shop with you at night and having you help us out on weddings and photo shoots. You are the best assistant ever.

On August 19^th, 2012 the day had come to say good-bye, for a while. We had pushed it back as far as we could. But we knew this was the right path for us at the time. Hugging you goodbye was the hardest part about leaving.

The pictures of our last holiday together in Rome are shuffling on our computer desktop here, on the other side of the world. I miss you and I’m so proud at the same time.

You are one of my best friends. I know you’re “just” my “baby brother”, but to me you still mean the world.

And even though I doubt you would want me to sing “Alle meine Entchen (All my little duckies)” to you, build sandcastles with you or show you off to my classmates, I want you to always remember, that I am very, very proud to be your sister! I can hardly wait for this August to come when you will visit us here in the U.S.

Your sister, Carina.

PS. I hope you plan on also being our assistant again when you’re here! Trololo))))

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at [email protected], or call 757-401-2551.

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

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Tags: blog,Carina,Michael and Carina Photography,photographers,virginia,williamsburg,yorktown

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Julie + Tim | Charlottesville Engagement Photography | Keswick Vineyard | Michael and Carina | Virginia Wedding Photographers

March 24, 2013

Julie and Tim are getting married at the beautiful Kewick Vineyards this May. There will be lots of candy, music, dance and lights – which are some of our favorite things! During our engagement session at the same location we could already picture their wedding (although it was really cold!)…we are so excited. These images were taken on our Contax 645 on Fuji Pro 400 film. You can view their digitally captured engagement photos here. Congratulations, Julie and Tim!

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at [email protected], or call 757-401-2551.

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Tags: 80mm 2.0,blog,bridal,Carina,charlottesville,contax,contax 645,couple,E-Session,engagement,fine art,hampton,images,keswick vineyards,kiss,light,love,Michael and Carina Photography,newport news,norfolk,photographer,photographers,photography,photos,portraits,RAW,richmond,southern,virginia,virginian,wedding,williamsburg,winery,Winter,yorktown,Zeiss,Zeiss 80mm

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Williamsburg Wedding and Engagement Photographers | Nic + Aicha + | Contax 645 Film

March 23, 2013

contax 645/80mm lens f2/fujifilmpro ASA400

You guys already know the lovely Nic & Aicha, our old friends from Germany who made the trip across the water around the same time as us last year. They invited us down to Florida recently for a photoshoot. You can read more about them here and here.

We photographed them with our 5D Mark II digital SLRs and then edited the photos to where we wanted them to be in terms of color, contrast, etc.

We also photographed them with a Contax 645 medium format film camera on 120mm Fujipro 400 film.

And then sent the film off to be developed by the fantastic people over at Indie Film Lab.

And waited.

Now, we didn’t shoot that much… you just can’t with film, it’s too expensive to… but what we got back… well, we really like it…

We are SO blessed to know this couple and to be able to call them our friends!

Enjoy, Nic & Aicha! Hope to see you up in Virginia soon!

<3

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First Spring in the USA | Personal Video + Blog | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

March 21, 2013

(song from Youtube| best viewed 1080p)

This Spring marks the beginning of the first Spring we’ve spent together in the United States since moving here in August 2012.

It’s not a perfect place, but we’re happy. And we’re together.

It’s sometimes too easy to forget about the years we spent apart, separated by thousands and thousands of miles for months on end…

And all the time we spent waiting, waiting, waiting, not knowing if we’d be approved for a greencard or not, not knowing where we’d be in 3 or 6 months…

But it’s over now. We’re together.

And we have a wonderful new place to call home.

I promise not to take it for granted.

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at [email protected], or call 757-401-2551.

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

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amateurish home video taken by michael |5D Mk 2 with 100mm L macro lens

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Williamsburg Wedding and Engagement Photographers | Jasmine + Damian | Michael and Carina Photography

March 15, 2013

We met Jasmine when we visited the Hampton Roads Seventh-Day Adventist Church a few months ago. She approached us immediately and made us feel so at home, by the end of the afternoon it was like we were old friends.

She and her USAF-hubby Damian have been together for nine years and they’re still in SO-in-love.

Exactly how it should be.

They had only one problem:

After nine years, they STILL didn’t have any awesome lovey-dovey pictures to celebrate their marriage!

Enter Michael and Carina, and our trusty assistant Seth, to the rescue!

But seriously, it wasn’t that hard.

Damian proposed to her on a beach over 9 years ago… so what better place to celebrate the continuing success of their marriage with a photoshoot?

beautiful couple + beach + awesome bridge + beautiful sunset + awesome support & a great team = EPIC photos <3

Damian and Jasmine, thank you so much for your friendship, your kindness, and the inspirational way you love each other!

(film photos have been sent off to Indie Film Labs and are coming soon!)

(here Damian re-enacted his proposal by telling Jasmine about when he first knew he wanted to marry her – - – husbands, take note! a great idea to practice on more occasions than just photoshoots)

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at [email protected], or call 757-401-2551.

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

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Tags: blog,couple,destination,diy,engagement,hampton,light,love,newport news,norfolk,photographers,photography,richmond,virginia,wedding,weddings,williamsburg,yorktown

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Personal Florida Photos | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

March 14, 2013

Man, palm trees, exotic fruits and animals, the beach. The sweet smell of oranges in the air, sunshine everyday. FLORIDA!!! What more could one want? We had such a good time shooting with our friends, whirlpool-ing and disney-ing. August, our dog, had a blast too. He grew really fond of our friend’s dog, Emma, and quickly fell in love with the neighbor shi-tzu. He is still depressed…he misses his friends. We really miss Florida already too. But I guess it’s more the “green” and the sunshine we’re longing for. Spring, we hope you’re just around the corner! And we’re more than ready to get back to work, working with all of our 2013 couples!Here are some of our personal travel snapshots from our Orlando trip: