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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Photography info: all of these shots were taken with natural light, Contax 645 medium format film cameras, 80mm f2 Zeiss lenses, and 120mm film.

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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This was the first time we photographed with film in harsh light and we are pretty excited! Check out Elaine & Ryan’s digital engagement photos here.

They will make a stunning bride and groom this July!

More film scans from Indie Film Lab!

Thank you so much for assisting us, Seth! You are the best film-changer and reflector-holder ever!!!

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. 

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

(these links return you to our homepage!)

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. 

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

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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 info@www.michaelandcarina.com, or call 757-401-2551. 

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

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We adore all their ideas and plans and all the thought they’re putting into their wedding preparations. Today was like a little preview of their wedding and we LOVE it.

Although it was quite chilly, we had a blast taking engagement pictures together; they are such a fun couple!

Julie and Tim, we can hardly wait for your wedding! Until then, we hope you enjoy your engagement photos.

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. 

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

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She and her fiance Mark, both of Gloucester, Virginia, are getting married this year too!

She hadn’t originally planned on going “all out” for wedding photographers, but when she told us she had fallen in love with our work… we knew she was “our bride.”

She ordered 3 different dresses specifically for this shoot, sending two of them back – - – we think she picked the PERFECT one.

In fact, we loved both their outfits! They could write the books on what to wear to an e-session, lol!

Of all the days of February, our photoshoot happened to fall on the prettiest and warmest  day we could have hoped for.

We met in historic Yorktown, Virginia, just a mile or two across the river from where her wedding will take place this coming September.

After our shoot, we crossed the river together to tour the venue (her aunt’s home)… and wow… perfect view of the sunset… a beautiful old pier… lovely trees, rustic old houses, garden arches, a fantastic view of the river and the smell of salt in the air… we are SO EXCITED. Thanks, Mark and Morgan, for choosing us as your wedding photographers!!!!!!!!!!!!- Mike & Carina

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Yorktown Wedding Photographers | Newport News Wedding Photographers

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They are also a couple that are up for being adventurous – even if it means shooting on a cold and windy beach at 8 in the morning, in February! Samantha was so chilly – but it just gave them a reason to cuddle even closer together for a set of fantastic, loving, warm photos. What better Valentine’s gift could you ask for? Except for chocolates… especially German chocolates…

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Krystle & Robert’s dog, Tate

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They both grew up in rural Gloucester County, Virginia. Levi’s uncle’s farm, tucked away deep in Gloucester on one of it’s many back roads, was the perfect setting for our engagement shoot!

Karen and Levi are both volunteer firefighters and have been together for four years. They met at an oyster festival and four years later, that’s right where he proposed to her.

The golden glow the sun cast on the fields of the Gloucester farm really were just perfect for this shoot.

Karen and Levi, we are SUPER excited about shooting your Gloucester wedding this coming May! Thank you for making us a special part of your big day!

For inquiries, email us at info@www.michaelandcarina.com or give us a call at 757-401-2551. 

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

No, it’s not Thanksgiving, but we just wanted to take a moment to say “Thank you” to everyone who has been such a big part of inspiring us to create “Michael and Carina Photography.”

It was back in Munich, almost two years ago around this time of year, that we decided this was something we wanted to pursue together.

Back then, we didn’t know whether we’d be in Germany or the US. My (Mike’s) work as an English teacher was undergoing a lot of changes, Carina was trying to hold off on entering university to see whether or not she’d get her greencard, her family was going through a lot of difficulties… Our relationship was strong but a lot of things were uncertain. You guys probably know the feeling of going to sleep and waking up and all the time in between, feeling like a rock is on your chest.

The idea of pursuing this and working together came almost naturally, but the idea that we could succeed at making this our full time profession didn’t. I had a good job, and although it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, I loved working with children and I’d developed a good relationship with my co-workers.

I loved helping out my photographer friends and learning from them, and liked the idea of doing it on “our own.”

But full time?

In 2012 we moved to the USA and I left my full time job as a teacher, and Carina her part time job as a reporter/photojournalist, to work as photographers in Virginia…

We decided to work doing what we loved and to make a living off of it as well.

It was literally a flight of faith over the Atlantic Ocean.

I remember somewhere over Iceland I was begging God for answers, asking Him if this was the right way.

But we were on our way ; too late to ask if this was the right one..

Sometimes when I have a moment to myself I like to think about the “butterfly effect” and how one thing leads to another..

When I was growing up I had a lot of people in my life who believed in me – but I didn’t.

When I met Carina, that changed.. mostly.

I learned that if you really want something, you could achieve it if you work hard for it.

Loving her wasn’t just an emotion, and it certainly wasn’t always easy, (saying goodbye for a year is never easy) but an action.

There were people who ridiculed our relationship then… and there were people who encouraged us, strengthened us.Both of them got us to where we are today and I’m thankful for what I learned from both.

When we began our photography team, there were people at the beginning, a couple of years ago, who wrote us lengthy emails telling us to “keep our day jobs.”But there were also people who supported us and believed in us more than we thought they had reason to.

Michael and Carina Photography needed both of those sorts of people, because they both drove us, pushed us on. For that we’re thankful.

To the nameless French photographer who showed us in Paris how to take a picture in the dark (and lit up our entire lives in the process), thank you.

To Sonia and Cavell, who first told me what an aperture was and why I should just buy a cheap DSLR and a cheap 50mm to teach myself photography.

To “AG,” who stole thousands of euros from us when we were trying to invest in our equipment, thanks for teaching us a good lesson about the darker sides of human nature (we invested in several thousand dollars’ worth of equipment which never came; unfortunately, an Amazon scam artist who was never arrested is probably still out there doing this to other people).

To Marion, for answering my questions, giving me advice, for showing up at the door of the kindergarten and shoving a bag of your own gear in my hands to shoot “our” first wedding… thank you for believing in us and teaching us a lesson about the better sides of human nature.

To Carmen and Ingo for inspiring us to be a successful husband-wife team, thank you.

To Getty for buying our images… thanks!

To our families in Germany and in America for believing in us and praising us when no one else did, thank you. Dad, Oma, Opa were always especially there for us in Germany. Thank you. Mom(s), for encouraging us, believing in us, thank you.

To that photographer who wrote us that really long, mean, nasty email at the beginning of our photography journey, telling us to “keep our day jobs”, and that photography for people so lacking in talent was a waste of time… thanks for the encouragement

To the first couples, models, brides & grooms we photographed who believed in us… thank you.

To Kibiku, my old work, for pushing me, teaching me to be (slightly more) organized, and for allowing me to be the unofficial photographer. To Frank for teaching me to find more humor in life, to Avril for inspiring me to be more positive, to Gil for just being purely awesome, to Steffi for being Steffi… to Herr Kurzlechner who gave me a chance.. and everyone else… Andrea, Sarah, Judith, Ivana… Susi, Jan & Charlotte thanks!

(special place for) Katrin, for never for a second doubting that we could follow our dream; who told us over and over again to do it, to be photographers, and for always looking out for us like a sister. And for telling me to straighten up, iron out my shirt, and to keep my locker clean.

To the people who lost sleep over us when we moved to America and gave up our lives in Germany to live out the adventure that is immigrating to the New World, thanks for thinking of us..

To the Kim the Canon Man at Saturn for letting us play with “toys”…

To the editors of the Munich Mercury for hiring Carina as a photographer… Thank you!

To Jonas for carrying our stuff around, posing for us, practicing with us, learning with us, living with us, and being our trusty assistant in return for FIFA games, thank YOU! And thanks for all the fun times spending hours on the floor with Playmobile, legos and dinosaurs making time lapses!

To Chris & Lea for being friends and encouraging us AND critiquing us.. thank you.

Kirstie, for being a friend and giving us a chance! Sara, for being a friend… for giving us a chance! Angela, thanks for supporting us one business to another, always being there… Spring, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel (you read that correctly), Tori, Isabel, Kristina, Brandon, thank you guys! Megan for taking our pics! Crystal, Alice, Ivory, where would our images be without you? So many people I probably didn’t name, but thank you!

To the heroes I looked up to who turned out to be just really talented awesome nice people… Kristine, Sharon (you took our pics!!!!!!!!!), Will… thanks for giving us the time of day and supporting us, believing in us. Thanks to the HR Wedding Planner community for being amazing.

And now we’re coming to a close… from the bottom of our hearts, thank you, SO much, to the brides and grooms who invested in us as we’d just arrived from Germany. You believing in us made us believe in ourselves. It’s not only us, but because of you that after 2 years from dreaming it into existence Michael and Carina Photography exists, even if we are just REALLY getting started, and we will never stop being thankful for it. Thank you to all of our clients who have invested not only in us, but in our style and the value of what we provide. So many people I didn’t name but yea… already way too long… Anyways, I don’t know what the next two years will bring but the rock is off our chests and we are both very excited to see… God bless and thank you guys.. :*humbled & blessed*

Here are some old pics from our first year where we teamed up as photographers and did just about everything we could do, from weddings to model ports; from attempts at art and playing in Photoshop to jobs for newspapers.

^us joking around^

After a few years experience and numerous weddings, here’s a list of tips for brides and grooms to help you in your wedding planning process.

1. Invest in Style

Make sure when you book your photographer you are happy with their style. Personality, professionalism, contracts are all very important and highly recommended (see No. 3), but you should invest in a photographer whose style you are familiar with beforehand. Good photographers are artists with a signature style.

Wedding photography styles vary; find a style that you LOVE! 

The wedding photography industry is a big one and there a lot of photographers out there. Some photographers shoot with a lot of strobes and studio lights for a clean, crisp, traditional look. Others edit their photos to resemble classic film styles; a lot of photographers are even returning to film altogether. Others shoot only mainly with natural and ambient light, but make sure they are prepared to handle low light receptions.

To shamelessly plug ourselves: our style is classic and elegant meets fun. We try to imagine how you will feel when you look at your images in 10, 20, 30 years. We don’t only want you to say, “Oh, remember when…” We want you to fall in love all over again! K, plug over.

Your wedding photos will last a LONG time. They will most likely outlast you and us together! It doesn’t matter if you’re hiring a professional, your cousin, or your cousin’s cousin, your photos shouldn’t just be “acceptable.” You should be happy with how your wedding photos look.

2. Have a plan

Your wedding day should be the most perfect day for both of you. Unfortunately, a lot of the stress associated with weddings could easily be avoided with a well-organized schedule as well as a few Plan A’s, B’s and C’s. If you don’t have a wedding planner, perhaps organize a point of contact such as your maid of honor who can organize things on the day of. Make sure that your photographer(s) are in touch with your wedding planner or person in charge so that if they/we have questions, we don’t need to bother you. Also, make sure to sit down with your wedding photographers beforehand and discuss a schedule to allow for time for your wedding day portraits.

3. Benefits of a Professional

Hiring a professional photographer means the added security of not only a contract, but also of having someone there who knows what they are doing. Photographing a wedding is a high-pressure job. Lighting environments are constantly changing and there are moments which can’t be missed or repeated. Photographers need to be discreet but still get all the shots they need while competing with a crowd full of cell phones and flashing point-and-shoots. We might know the bride and groom, but it’s also up to us to capture touching portraits and candids of guests – people we barely know.

We not only need to have the equipment to photograph your day but we need to know the ins and outs of how to use it. Plus, a machine is a machine and sometimes equipment malfunctions. Professionals have backups and are prepared for any situation. For example, we come to a wedding with 3+ camera bodies and multiple lenses, enough batteries to get us through a week for our cameras and flashes, and 3-5 flash units. We also come equipped with 150GB of memory to store your photos on professional memory cards, and on top of it, all of our bodies are insured.

Hiring a professional might mean that you are paying premium prices, but like anything in life, and this is certainly true of photography, “you get what you pay for.” When we hear of someone offering a full day wedding with all images included for $1000, we kind of have to scratch our heads and wonder how they can make a living. A professional photographer’s pricing accounts for not only his or her experience and creativity, but tens of thousands of dollars worth of professional equipment, insurance, printing costs, professional associations, advertising, not to mention things like health insurance, taxes, “self employment tax,” groceries and maybe even a little left over to save.

A serious professional takes all of this into account with pricing, and naturally prices are a bit higher. But with the higher price, whether with us or someone else, the payoff is even having to worry about your photos. IE, this situation is avoided. When hiring a serious professional, you don’t need to “worry” about how your wedding pictures will look. Also, there’s no pressure on your cousin or risk of awkward family get-togethers should something go wrong. The most important benefit of hiring a professional is just to enjoy your wedding day and trusting, knowing your images will be wonderful. And you know what? They’ll still be wonderful even when you’ve forgotten who took them and how much money you spent on them.

 4. Make It Your Own

One thing that helps your wedding images stand out is to make your wedding “your own.” Your wedding day should be all about you (plural). The style you invest in should reflect what you love, the way you planned out your day should make you feel excited, and the vendors you hired should help bring together your vision. In love with vintage? Let your love of old things influence the decorations. Your favorite color is purple? Show everyone! Be creative. From personalized invites and one-of-a-kind reception decorations to “your style of wedding photos”, there is a lot you can customize.

 This German couple began their rural Bavarian reception by symbolically sawing a log together. 

While hiring the right vendors can certainly help, a lot of couples also opt for a more DIY approach. Recently we photographed a wedding where the groom had put together the rustic table baskets himself and the mother-of-the-bride had emptied the cupboards of mason jars for table decoration. Simple, easy, and beautiful. The little things really stand out and make for outstanding photos. You don’t want your wedding to be like a thousand others, you want it to be unique and represent you.

This DIY wedding featured mason jars and homemade baskets, a red and white Christmas theme, and a whole lot of line-dancing and country music!

It is easy to get lost in all the organization and decisions of a wedding, but in the end you should remember that this is your day. The more you make it your own, the more it will mean to you. It will also help your wedding album stand out not only as a book of memories but as something artistic. When you look back at your wedding, looking at all the photographs, you will remember all the little things that were so important to you. It will mean the world.

5. Be Informed

Interviewing a photographer means you already know something of their style and reputation.  But still, being informed is always a good thing. Most reputable photographers will be informative and upfront with you, but if you have any questions, ask, ask, ask.

For example, ask about experience. Liking the style of your photographer is important, but the natural-light-only photographer you like so much might not be as comfortable or experienced shooting candle-lit receptions at night. That doesn’t mean that you have to find a different photographer, you might just have to rearrange your reception plans!

This reception was a blast, but would have been very difficult to capture without flash. Off camera lighting was a must!

Ask if the photographer shoots alone or with a second shooter – with us, it’s kind of a given! J Not only do you get two perspectives, but you get two people who can be in different places at the same time. If you don’t hire a team (like us!), just ask who the second shooter will be.

Being a team allowed us to be in two places at once at this wedding. While one of us photographed the rings, the other covered the action on the dance floor.

Also, and this is very important – make sure you know about your churches opinion on wedding photography. Some churches allow little to no photography during the ceremony and it’s happened that the bride only found out about it day-of. Not an ideal situation, to say the least! Just make sure you know and your wedding photographer knows too.

6. Book Early!

As soon as your venue is booked, find a wedding photographer. If your wedding photography is super-important to you, you might consider booking your venue around the wedding photographer’s availability. We tend to get most of our inquiries 8 months in advance; May and June are booked the fastest. The earlier the better!

Also, photographers usually have a lot of “connections” in the wedding industry. We work on a regular basis with makeup artists, hair stylists, cake designers, boutiques, venues, caterers, event planners, florists, videographers, etc. We even know several – okay, A LOT of -great photographers we can recommend to you if we are unable to shoot on your wedding date. We can usually help your planning process by recommending trusted vendors to fit your needs.

7. Engagement Shoot

Ask about an engagement shoot. After doing this for a couple of years, we find engagement shoots are important to our wedding photography process. Not only do you get nice images for your invitations, announcements, wedding websites/blogs, etc., but we get to “break the ice.” We include engagement shoots in all of our collections as a free bonus (travel excluded) so that we can get to know you and you can get to know us. By the time your wedding rolls around, we’d like for you to personally be familiar with our style of shooting. An engagement shoot means a shoot which is completely about you and with an open schedule; no rushing to get to the reception on time. They’re loads of fun, and feel free to be creative with yours!

Whether you are getting married in a cathedral in Europe or a quaint little manor house in Williamsburg, Virginia, everyone deserves a beautiful wedding day.

Megan had been following us on Pinterest for weeks, and we followed her, exchanging ideas for her wedding photos.

Like her mother Sara of Courthouse Cake Company, LLC, she has an eye for design and we each knew exactly the kinds of photos we wanted to make.

“I’m as excited about the photos as I am about the wedding itself,” she said when she arrived.

Jeremy is a quiet guy with a good sense of humor.

He said he wasn’t nervous, but even he got a twinkle in his eye as he waited for his bride to descend the staircase.

There we were – the bride, groom, their parents, the officiant, and us. For Jeremy and Megan, that was perfect.

Jeremy and Megan, thanks for having us at your special day.

Jeremy, as you go off to serve your country, and Megan, as you bid him farewell, we hope these photos will help get you through the rough times ahead.

Stay strong and your love will grow even more!

The venue is the fantastic Williamsburg Manor located at 600 Richmond Rd, downtown Williamsburg. The light there just seemed to be PERFECT for wedding photography at all times of day.

Bouquet and boutonnierre was provided by Events in Bloom of Williamsburg, VA. We loved the way these reds POPPED out of the January landscape.




Mike’s favorite ringshot- everrrr…. hard to go wrong with a vintage phone…

Cake provided by – who else? The bride’s mother at Courthouse Cake Company, LLC.


The fabulous Kirstie Fals makes a cameo in our blog! We’re always happy when we can work with one of the very best! Not pictured is Kirstie’s partner-in-crime Spring Wiley who did Megan’s hair.

“Awww… my boy’s all grown up!”

Seeing her for the again, as if for the first time…

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photography

Coming soon… Jeremiah & Alexandria’s wedding photography blog!

The only catch?

Because we wanted to avoid crowds and came to Lee Hall on a Tuesday, when they are normally closed, we were given about one hour for makeup and hair, and basically what amounted to LESS than an hour of shooting time.

Kristine and Crystal did an AMAZING job in a short amount of time and Hannah and Charles were fantastic.

The light was just perfect (considering it was the middle of December) and despite the short amount of time, we took some great images which will appear in our ad in the Hampton Roads Wedding Planner Magazine.

The dress, tux, and hairpieces were provided by the wonderful Angela at the Bridal Boutique of Gloucester.

Thanks to Crystal and Kristine who provided such wonderful support not only for hair and makeup but also during the shoot. Makeup artists and stylists are so often left holding reflectors, speedlites, and umbrellas on photoshoots and we are so thankful and appreciative for the people we have been blessed to work with – and that they are as patient and supportive as they are!

This is actually how Crystal’s (High Voltage Hair’s) work looked after the hour of shooting in windy, cold conditions. Held up beautifully!

Pilar and Jarad approached us in the last week of November with a request you don’t get every day. After 7 years of being together, loving each other, and traveling the world, they wanted to give their families (and themselves) a special Christmas present by eloping this weekend! We were especially honored because not only were we the photographers, as they told us the day of, we were two of only three other people (the third being the officiant, Ivory Morgan Burton of Storybook Events) who were in on their plans!

We met in beautiful, historic Williamsburg for the wedding which was held at an amphitheater on the College of William and Mary campus. The weather was perfect and we had the most gorgeous natural light you could hope for at an outdoor wedding. We captured Pilar and Jarad’s bridal portraits in and around Colonial Williamsburg.

Pilar, Jarad, thank you so much for making us a part of your very intimate ceremony. We hope as you share these photos with your friends and family, they can get a sense of just how beautiful your special day was.You guys are a fantastic couple! – Michael and Carina

Carina at work (this bride made it easy!)










technical info: we photographed this wedding using Canon 5D Mark IIs w/ 50mm, 16-35mm, and 100mm L lenses, and natural light only.

April at the Wedmore Place in Williamsburg, VA. Kirstie Fals Makeup Artistry and Spring Wiley styling really took this bridal photography session to the next level!

These  bridal portraits were taken last month (October 2012) at the beautiful Williamsburg Winery. Kirstie Fals Makeup Artistry and Spring Wiley provided makeup and styling,  flowers were provided by Williamsburg Floral, cake was provided by Sara at the Courthouse Cake Company.