Virginia Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg | Hampton | Virginia Beach » headshots

Hampton Roads Photographers | Film Shoot | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:26:27 +0000

A few weeks ago we got to hang out with Jennifer of Warthan Farms Photography for an all-film shootout at the famous Warthan Farms cottage.

We were hoping for a bigger turnout, but it ended up being Carina, myself, Jennifer, and our gorgeous model, Kimberly.

We ended up having such good fun together!

Getting there in our little blue Prius was an adventure!

Our GPS decided that Jennifer’s house was not where she told us it was…

Being children of the 21st century, we decided to trust it…

… and almost ended up stuck in the mud in the middle of a cotton field.

Waverly is gorgeous, and there’s so much cotton! There are also plenty of roads through those cotton fields not designed with little hybrid cars in mind.

But we made it there safely to find Jennifer and Kimberly waiting for us in a cottage which is dedicated to making beautiful images.

We walked around outside for a bit but the best part came inside-

The living room has huge windows. We also put Kimberly in a lacy dress and had her pose against a canvas backdrop.

Who says you can’t shoot indoors with natural light and a few rolls of film?

All of these were shot on film, either on Portra 400 or Portra 800, and for the indoor shots we shot mainly handheld at 1/30th – 1/60th of a second.

Thanks so much to Jennifer for inviting us out to the cottage! Hopefully we can have another film get-together and maybe get some more photographers involved!

Mentoring Session | Brittany Marie | Virginia Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:48:33 +0000

Brittany Marie is a beautiful girl inside and out, a talented photographer from Northern Virginia and officially part of our 2013 mentoring-session-family!
There is so much more to mentoring sessions than talking about technical specs and branding. What it is all about is encouragement and inspiration. Brittany has big dreams and lots of personality, we just had a blast talking about her goals!
Finding “your style” and what makes “your brand” is one of the hardest puzzles for photographers – especially in a saturated industry. But when you realize that what makes your photography unique is YOU, good things just start happening!
You don’t need to emulate anybody else or any other style. And it is not all about equipment either. Brittany is so talented, natural and simply loveable, we have no doubt she will go very far! We can already see a big change! She took amazing photographs at our session and dared to step outside of the box!
We also shot with a fantastic model couple (hello, how much better does it get? a beautiful girl and a BOW TIE!) at around sunset. Different backgrounds, different lighting situations, different poses…we had it all. This hands-on exercise gave us the chance to demonstrate and experiment, without the pressure of a “real” engagement session!
Afterwards we went to a little bistro in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg, slurping smoothies and talking goals for the next year.
This is not the end of our session, this is the beginning of an inspired year and a lasting friendship.

Check out Brittany’s fantastic shots as well as her review of her experience here!

Part I

Part II

xoxo, Carina (and Mike)

This is Part I of our mentoring session with Brittany. Part II (all film) will follow tomorrow!

Virginia Film Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography | Monica Senior Session

michaelandcarina — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 20:33:05 +0000

A few weeks ago Alicia and Josh, one of the first couples to book us when we moved to America in 2012, (whose wedding we will be photographing in a few weeks), asked us to photograph the senior portraits for Josh’s LOVELY daughter Monica.

This falls into the category of something we don’t often do, except on the rare occassion…

And Alicia and Josh are very special to us for booking with us back when most people thought we were crazy for moving to the US and going full-time photographers at the same time.

Monica is an absolutely beautiful young lady who’s full of big ambitions.

She loves video games (something we have in common), especially The Sims. She doesn’t just like to play them, she finds them inspirational as a creative outlet…

She wants to design them and develop them, too.

Her big dream is to work in California at a video game company.

She was perfect in front of the camera and Alicia did a fantastic job on her makeup, too!

Monica, hope you enjoy your all-film senior session and Alicia and Josh… see you soon at your wedding!

These were photographed on Fuji400h film and developed by Richard Photo Lab.

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Portraits of Christopher | Yorktown Virginia Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 07:37:45 +0000

Portraits of a good friend & brother.

He’s been through a lot.

His whole life he’s been moving from place to place.

His whole life he’s been following others…

Going through a lot right now…

He’s slowly finding his own way…

And he’ll get there.

fuji 400h, developed and scanned by Indie Film Lab.

Virginia Beach Photographers | 35mm Practice | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 18:56:19 +0000

When I went down to Virginia Beach a week ago and had some time on my hands (Carina was busy helping our friend Amanda Hedgepeth), I decided to use the time to practice a bit…

Photographers have to keep “in shape” even between shooting weddings and engagements, too!

A lot of people ask me for tips on improving their photography…

The biggest tip would be to push yourself to shoot… and to shoot often…

To set new challenges for yourself whenever you feel like you’re getting stuck in a rut…

Really, that’s one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given.

And it’s that simple!

Feel like your composition is getting boring?

Go grab a friend and take pictures!

If you can’t find a friend, take a lawn gnome!

A potted plant!

Just keep shooting though.

You can get creative…

If you shoot only with digital, imagine it was a film camera.

Give yourself 30 shots- no more! And here’s a challenge for you brave souls out there…

No chimping (ie, no looking on the back of your camera!). Try and get the exposure right by estimating or using your in camera meter.

But just keep shooting…

Take me for instance…

I mainly stick with a 50mm lens… in fact, I think I could shoot a whole wedding with just that lens…

It’s a lens a lot of photographers use, true… but there’s definitely a reason for that.

The 35mm f1.4 L lens from Canon… it’s another great lens, just not one I’m as used to…

So for this portrait session with Kristine DeCillis, I decided not only to limit myself to it, but also to shoot only wide open with it (that means shooting the whole time at f1.4 – IE, having an extremely shallow depth of field).

It was actually SO much fun.

We met up in Virginia Beach and Kristine and I went to a park… I’m not sure exactly what the name of it was, but it was strangely right next to a cornfield, right in the middle of Virginia Beach…

We braved snakes and ticks and one random deer to hike deep into the long grass for a few portraits…

And I’m pleased with the results. Using back-button focusing made focusing a breeze and I hardly had an out of focus shot (an achievement on a 5DMark II shooting on a wide open prime!).

Thanks so much for coming out with me Kristine! Be sure to check her out!

PS. After this shoot, I found 14 ticks on me!! Haha, the lengths we will go to for a few photographs!

So in addition to my tip on pushing yourself and to just keep shooting, be sure to take proper precautions when shooting in grassy Virginian fields at the height of tick season! lol

-Mike

Check out that DIY camera strap!! She made it herself!

Yes, the image on the left was shot wide open, too, focused on infinity and with a very fast shutter speed. There was some vignetting, but that is easy to correct in Lightroom.

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Hampton Roads Model Headshots | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:55:33 +0000

In the midst of all of our wonderful weddings, I (Mike) got to hang out with Natalie B. last week in Newport News Park, where I met up with her and our assistant Seth for a mentoring session.

Seth did an excellent job!

It’s great to see someone you’ve worked with a long time grow creatively. Seth mainly shot 35mm film… I’m looking forward to seeing his shots!

Natalie is an aspiring model from New York who lives in Virginia Beach. She’s really energetic and loves to play with the camera.

It was all about having fun.

Seth was also nice enough to hold some off camera lighting behind Natalie towards the end and I got a chance to practice the AMAZING capabilities of Canon’s relatively new 600EXs.

Thanks to both of you for coming out!!

-Michael

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Yorktown Virginia Photographers | Portraits of Justin | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:49:50 +0000

Recently I (Mike) got to hang out with our friend Justin.
Justin is not only a super-cool CNU graduate who plays softball, the guitar, and can sing, but he’s also a photographer!
He’s currently in the process of rebranding his business and needed some portraits done.
We took these in downtown Yorktown. Thanks for hanging out with me, Justin! It was a lot of fun!

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at info@www.michaelandcarina.com, or call 757-401-2551.

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Portraits of Catie | Williamsburg Portrait and Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:32:57 +0000

It’s always special when we get the chance to photograph family. Catie is my (Mike’s) second cousin, but just a few years younger.

When I moved to Germany with Carina in late 2008, she had just started high school.

Now, she’s an ambitious student currently in college. She’s bright and hard-working, and has a sparkling smile that just melts your heart.

She came out bright and early to Yorktown for a small portrait session with us last week.

When we were finished, she left, went to Starbucks and came back with coffee for us!

I think I’ve got the best cousins… must be something in the genes…

For photogs: shot the entire session wide open on a 50mm prime and the mighty, mighty 85mm f1.2 L lens from Canon.

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at info@www.michaelandcarina.com, or call 757-401-2551.

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Portraits of Louis | Virginia Wedding & Portrait Photographer

michaelandcarina — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:33:34 +0000

When we moved to Virginia in August 2012, Carina and I moved with the intention to be an independent photography team. It was the beginning of a huge new chapter for us, one that was crazy-exciting, but nerve-wrecking and terrifying at the same time.

After years of following in other photographers footsteps, when we stepped off the plane here it was like I was a stranger in the land I grew up in.

I was totally out of my element and felt I needed guidance.

I reached out to an established local portrait and wedding photographer in Newport News. To my surprise, he was kind enough to reach out to me and helped me to get my head on straight.

Louis Fronkier has been photographing people since the early 90s.

He is a quiet, humble fellow with a good-natured sense of humor.

He constantly displays sincere devotion to his family of four homeschooled children and his wife, Esther.

He helped push me, and push us, forward into making good decisions not only from a wise business perspective, but from a Christian one.

2013 has gotten off to a busy start with some twists and turns, but overall we are positive and thankful for the wonderful people we are blessed to know. I was honored when Louis sat down and let me take a few portraits of him in his studio and outside.

You can check out his work at http://www.artlouis.com.

This isn’t Louis posing, this is Louis talking about a concept of the pricing of photo albums.

Thanks for these shots of me, too! By Louis Fronkier:

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at info@www.michaelandcarina.com, or call 757-401-2551.

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One Lens, Natural Light | Virginia Portrait Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

michaelandcarina — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 05:39:33 +0000

Cherie met us at Yorktown Beach in freezing weather for a quick, 30-minute shoot in the mists of a January morning. Sometimes we like setting rules for ourselves – for this shoot, we used only one lens (100mm), and no lighting modifiers- not even a reflector. And let’s get a series of portraits before we get frostbite, shall we?

Cherie is American but she’s fluent in Japanese, having studied in Japan for the past several years. She still bows her head when you compliment her or when she says thank you, just like they do “over there.” She resides in Virginia and in addition to improving her Japanese, she is interested in commercial and artistic modeling. Thanks for choosing us to take your portraits, Cherie!