Honestly, we don’t really do a lot for Halloween. Unless you count stuff like this with our photographer friends at 2 in the morning:

5D Mark II, 35mm L lens at f16, SINGLE 30 second exposure, flash: 580EXII, manual, 1/32nd power on Meagan’s “body” and 1/128th power on Meagan’s “ghost” – no photoshop

 Oh… the stuff we Virginia wedding photographers do for fun…

But even that’s not the reason why we are so happy right around Halloween time…

It’s because all of the candy in the world can’t take the place of Thanksgiving.

We are NUTS about Thanksgiving. Living in Germany for 4 years, and almost always having to work on the 4th of July (a holiday our German friends couldn’t really identify with like we could) it was the one big American celebration we could still celebrate and invite a lot of friends.

So this month, we’re going to be doing something different. We’re not the only ones doing it – but we love the idea.

Blogging every for the entire month of November about something, or someone, we’re thankful for.

And what better way to start it off than like this:

We’re thankful for each other.

(c) Tara Liebeck Photography

We’re each other’s best friends, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

xoxo, Michael and Carina Photography

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Virginia Beach Wedding Photographers

Maybe some day we can all fly to Munich together and go the Oktoberfest, that would make for some pretty cool pictures too! HAHA

xoxo, Carina

Last week, we were excited to be able to get a fantastic team of vendors together for a very special shoot (photos will be out next year, so it will be a while…)

And with every engagement or couple session we’ve been able to do, we are honored to get to know each couple and how unique their love story is.

Not only that we booked a wedding this weekend!! Andrew and Jessica’s Virginia Beach wedding next year is going to be amazing!!

Working with some of you guys has been awesome and has taken us on some adventures over the past few days, from North Carolina to the Shenandoah Valley.

We can’t get over how blessed we are to be able to help you tell your love stories.

So that’s why, this Thursday, we’re super excited to share something very special with all of you…

Something we’ve been working on for a while now…

Something that brought us together with some old friends, and introduced us to some new ones.

To find out what it is, “Like” our Facebook and check in with us Thursday.

Until then, here’s a couple of previews:

As well as a shot of us taken by our awesome assistant, Seth, at Keswick Vineyards:

Until then… trust us, we’re as excited as you are!!

XOXO Michael and Carina

Neither of us could imagine photographing a wedding without the other.

But not everyone knows exactly how WE met.. and why we do what we do.

It’s a fun story to tell.

And sometimes it’s tempting to say, “Oh, it’s a long story,” and leave it at that.

But we’re working on a project that will hopefully communicate our love story a little better, and why it is we love what we do and do what we do.

We want to get to know YOU for your wedding day… so we want you to know us, too.

Why do we love photographing couples so much anyway?

Why not also explain it a little more in a blog post…

We met as penpals in 2003. We were teenagers.. no exact numbers but we weren’t close to finishing high school, we’ll put it that way.

We wrote each other for 6 months and somehow became infatuated with one another…

And I mean write-a-letter-everyday-sometimes-twice-or-three-times-a-day infatuated!

To be fair, this infatuation was from the get-go… somewhat… impractical.

Carina was raised in a suburb of Munich, Germany, about 20 minutes from the center of the city but still “enough in the country” to be able to see the sun shining on the Alps from her house in the morning. She attended a prestigious German grammar school and was proficient in 4 languages by the time we started writing each other. I know, impressive, right? Throw in the fact that she traveled to a different country with her family what seemed like every other month…

Me on the other hand…

I was raised in a very tiny house in rural Virginia with my single mother who worked three jobs and my younger, disabled brother. My mom worked really hard to make ends meet but there were times… a lot of times… where we went without normal stuff other people take for granted. I was also “homeschooled” after the 7th grade but because my mom worked, I was kind of forced to teach myself.

Even if we lived a mere 4 miles apart, we’d probably not be voted the most likely of couples… now adjust the distance to roughly 4,000 miles and throw in a few different countries, continents and an ocean.

Maybe it’s obvious why I found her so interesting. She tells me she was always interested in America and wanted an American friend – still doesn’t explain how she ended up with me. Anywho..

Still, on December 16th 2003 I called up my penpal and with all the confidence of a teenager I asked her if she wanted to try a long distance relationship. She said yes.

I had not thought about how this would or could work out, I knew somehow it would if she just agreed to try it.

That night I asked my mother if I could go to Germany to visit my penpal…

Kudos to my mom. Really.

She could have laughed at me, or worse yet checked me into an institution.

She didn’t.

She said: “You can if you earn your own way.” As I remember it, she didn’t even pause before answering.

We wrote each other almost everyday the next year. And I mowed a lot of lawns and tilled a lot of gardens… did just about everything I could do…

And in December 2004, I boarded a flight in Philadelphia alone to fly to Munich.

Some photos from our first adventure

Looking back now, I did what a lot of teenagers do. A lot of teens get jobs, work hard, earn their right to a first car or something similar.

With me, instead of a first car it was just plane tickets to another country to see my crush.

But something about the experience did something for both of us, I think… it made us really aware, early on, that love isn’t just an emotion… it’s something active, a verb, and something that takes a lot of work.

I spent 12 days with her. They were the best, craziest, most wonderful days I’d ever lived in my life.

I asked Carina’s father if she could visit me the next summer (summer 2005), and he said, “I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough after 12 days to send my daughter to America.” (Understandable!) “If you love her, you’ll come again.”

I knew when I left that I’d met the girl I would marry and was already working out ways in my mind to earn my way back to Germany.

This continued over the next several years… working for months to save up enough money to spend two weeks together…

And throughout the times we spent apart, we wrote to each other. Almost every. single. day.

Before everything else, she was my friend.

My best friend.

These are just a small selection from a small box from the corner of my mother’s attic, where several other boxes still sit (we plan to get them when we have a place with a bit more room).

I wrote her once that if I could have her and be hers, I’d be content. And even if we didn’t do what we do now, working together telling other people’s love stories in photographs, I’d be happy.

But our relationship has taught us, especially in a very cynical world, that finding your true love is still something special.

It’s taught us not to concentrate on things that divide us… politics… religion… language…

But to be thankful for each other, to love one another, and not only “say it,” but to work at it.

The couples we work with… they each have their own love story. The proposal in the best friend’s basement due to bad weather… the high school sweethearts… the fireman who fell in love with the nurse. We know each love story is special.

And that’s why, I guess you could say, we are who we are and we do what we do.

Watch out for more in the next month or so…

Photo by Annamarie Akins

…we love taking walks in the woods with our little dog August…and I love getting love letters from my husband

<3, Carina

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Finally I could introduce my “little” brother to our new home here in Virginia.

He stayed with us for almost 4 weeks so that gave us plenty of time to do and see a lot of different things… pretty much almost everything we could find to do!

We went to Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown beach, the Jamestown settlement, spent days laying on the beach… the major thing was FOOD.

From donut breakfasts to steak brunches, been there, done that

At the end of his trip when we asked what his favorite part was, the answer was, without hesitation, “The FOOD!”

That might seem curious coming from a European to some Americans, but my brother is quite the carnivore and immediately fell in love with staples like burgers and barbecue (beef is extremely expensive in Germany, so it’s rarely eaten!).

He also loved the idea of being able to go shopping at 3am on a Sunday if so inspired. And we were inspired to do so, several times (see below).  

We made the most out of every day. Because even though Jonas stayed with us for a while, I never forgot how much I missed him all last year and how much I will miss him next year.

That might sound funny coming from a big sister, but Jonas has always been one of my closest friends and being an ocean apart is not easy. That’s why documenting our time together was so important to me. We had our cameras with us everywhere.

We shot both digital and old-school film (which as you know  Mike and I are head over heels in love with) – let’s see if you can tell which of the images where taken on which

He loved the American way of life, the BBQ-ing, the car-riding, the friendliness, the 24/7 opening times and all the adventure America offers.

I was really curious to see what Jonas’ thoughts on America are; how a “European” looked at our new home in the New World.

So we handed him our Contax film camera and asked him to take some shots of who he saw as being “typically American.”

You can see some of his images below.

First of all, I was really impressed with my brother’s photographic talent.

I also had to smile a bit when considering his subject choices: a guy with an American football, a fisherman, a Walmart worker/Vietnam veteran, a motorcycle enthusiast, an American flag…

I think he described his impression of the United States so well without saying anything. There is diversity and adventure, pride and individuality. If he could pick a word to accompany his American holiday, it would be “stark”. That is German for “strong”/”awesome”.

We also took Jonas’ senior portraits! Isn’t he a handsome young man? I can hardly believe that he will be graduating from the German grammar school next summer!  These were all on Fuji400h film, developed by Richard Photo Lab.

To wrap  up our epic time together, we watched The Lord of The Rings, the most epic movie ever - extended addition on Blu-ray Blue Ray! A must!

About to go on one of the early morning shopping sprees in the land of possibilities…

Jonas became really attached to our Maine Coon kitty, Jefferson…

He came here excited and he left excited about what he experienced. And after saying good-bye and sending him through the check-in for the first time, we had another unexpected adventure together. His flight was cancelled. We of course found out about this right as we pulled up into our driveway in Yorktown…

So we of course immediately left and we went back up to D.C. (arrived at about 4:30 AM) and got to spend an extra fun day together! So thankful to have a wonderful hubby who drove us safely through the night!!

Kudos to August for being the best ninja-doggie ever! Totally snuck him into this hotel!

 ——

Goodbyes aren’t easy and despite all the years in a long-distance relationship with Michael I never got used to them. But we have spent the most exciting “American summer” together, we have made memories that will last a lifetime, we have finally had time to catch up and make up for all the days spent apart.

We laughed our hearts out and probably gained about 5 pounds each

These photographs mean more to me than “just a blog post”, these pictures are memories that will carry me through the next years, thinking of my little brother.

I am so thankful for the wonderful time we could spend together. I am so thankful to have this wonderful little family.

And I can’t wait to have him back here with us next year!

<3 Carina

Virginia | Richmond | Williamsburg | VA Beach | Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

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I have been looking forward to this time for an entire year. My “little” brother, Jonas, has been a big part of my life ever since I was seven years old. We traveled together, studied together, went through thick and thin… now he is 16 years old and actually taller than me.

It was the hardest thing for me to hug him good-bye in August 2012 when Michael and I moved to the United States after living in Europe for 4 years. I knew I would miss him the most. That’s why as soon as we found a good deal, we got a ticket for Jonas to come visit us this summer. He has been working towards this vacation all year too…he will actually graduate from German high school next summer… *so proud*

After a few more “car adventures” (yeah…that is “positive-talk” for expensive repairs), Michael and I got a rental car to pick up Jonas from Dulles airport. We ate rice cakes on the way – a family tradition And I was so excited to finally see my brother again. I was wondering how he would like our new home, what he would think of our apartment, our job, our new “American way of life”. I couldn’t wait to introduce him to all of it.

Then…Thursday night he finally arrived. First thing we did was buy him some Starbucks. Yup, welcome to America, bro!

We spent all Friday discovering D.C. – the gorgeous marble city that I think is pretty similar to Rome. We saw all the monuments and two museums; the Air and Space Museum and the Natural Science Museum. We loved seeing the dinosaur bones. My brother was blown away; after all he used to be a HUGE dino fan! We also saw the White House, the Capitol,…we walked from place to place – by foot. It was great! At any given opportunity, we hung our feet in the water/pools. My brother was impressed by it all. One of our last stops on our D.C. tour was the Lincoln Memorial. That place is really special to Michael and I. Yes, it has a lot of history etc. but it also has a special meaning for our love story. In August 2007, when I was 17 years old (yikes, just 1 year older than my little brother now!!!), Michael asked me to be his wife on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after a romantic summer day spent in D.C. Being there brought back a lot of memories and I am super excited to have nice pictures of us there now (thank you, Jo! he has become a pro at photography!). It was also really great making new memories there with my brother.  This place will always be special to me.

The next day (after a few more “car adventures”), we drove through the Virginian countryside towards our new home listening to John Denver and Johnny Cash. We made a few stops on the way, taking pictures by awesome signs and cars, feeding some hungry stray cats and eventually hitting up a superstore. We really wanted Jonas to experience it all

He is having a great time here in America, noticing all the little differences between the two countries, Germany and America. He loves American hospitality, music and BBQ and he is excited to dive even deeper within the next weeks.

I am over the moon. Within these few weeks, I want to show my brother why we love living here and savor every moment together. These memories will last forever. That’s why I am so thankful for these photos…they are much more than travel snapshots…they will remind us of these wonderful times spent together.

Here are some highlights from the past few days…more to come soon!

Can’t believe that in just a few hours Jonas will be here.

 We’ve been looking forward to having Carina’s little brother (little – I remember him when he was 6, now he’s 16) come visit us all year.

You can expect a lot of personal blog posts throughout the month of August as we travel around, showing him all the great local culture Virginia has to offer.

And yes, we are most certainly going shopping, at midnight, on a Sunday, followed by a 1 a.m. stop by IHOP… culture shock for any European.

That’s going to be a fun blog post.

Next month also marks the one year mark since our big move.

Our big leap of faith.

Hard to believe.

We’ve lost count of all the wonderful people we’ve been able to work with since last August…

New photographer friends…

New wedding professional friends…

But most of all, our wonderful couples.

We’ve said it before and will say it a million times again…

We are so thankful for all of you.

We have learned lessons over the past year.

Learned some about photography.

Learned a lot about our business.

Learned even more about ourselves.

Some lessons were harder than others.

But everything we have seen as working towards making us better at what we do.

Now we have a new year in the United States to look forward to.

New goals to achieve, new things we’d like to do.

New ideas for photoshoots.

We’re looking forward to refining our style, brand,  and workflow even more.

Aside from that,  in 2013-2014, some of the things we’d like to do:

1. Build More Relationships

Whether you’re  a client or a fellow photographer, an event planner or a makeup artist, we really want to make more time to meet with you and build long lasting relationships.

This is a business, but our work is all about connecting with other people. We want to meet new friends and grow closer to friends we’ve made.

We want to help build you up positively in any way we can.

2. Shoot More Film 

This is something you have probably guessed.

If you’ve been following our work, you know since January we’ve been shooting more and more film.

We’d like to continue this into the coming year, and when we are not shooting film, we want to shoot digital as if it is film.

Even more carefully, considerately, thoughtfully… this is especially what film has brought into our lives.

The medium itself is not a magic fix, but it changes one’s approach to photography… and that’s what we’d like to work into our hybrid workflow more.

3. Get Out More

Like most people (I guess), too often we find ourselves swamped at the computer with stuff that just has to get done that we neglect to go outside and take a walk in the fresh air…

It’s just not healthy and we miss walking around outside everywhere in Germany!

Okay, it wasn’t cool not having a car there when it rained (which was often)… but still!

It would be great to get out more with the camera and just shoot for ourselves. I think we’re going to try to do that. So you guys help keep us in line!

4. More Creative Projects

A friend of ours remarked how a lot of wedding photographers call the time after “wedding season” down – time… he calls it his “creative – time…”

He constantly pushes himself… and it shows in his work.

He’s not one of the most sought after photographers in the area for nothing!

We’d like to push our creative limits too, this coming year.

And trust me, we’ve already got some amazing things in the works!

5. Redo Pricing Structure 

We love our clients, and we love telling their stories in photographs that are elegant, classic and natural.

And every one of our clients has a special story.

The proposal in the best friend’s basement after the rest of the plans went awry…

How he is still trying to convince her to let him fly the ring into the ceremony on a remote control airplane.

How she ordered six different dresses for her engagement shoot before finally deciding on the right one.

How they waited for each other and stayed faithful to each other when they were stationed on opposite ends of the country.

That is where the true value of what we do is.

It’s not all about “Michael and Carina Photography,” it’s about telling those beautiful love stories through three main types of photographs… the details, the portraits, and the candids.

We’ve never doubted in the value of what we do.

Nor have our clients.

We recently photographed, in the space of about 10 months, a wedding – a maternity session – and a newborn family portrait, all for the same couple. 

Those aren’t just “sessions” – the photographs tell the story of a new family.

Reworking our prices will just be to better reflect the value of what it is we do and will better enable us to do it even better.

We love you guys and thank you for continuing to be so supportive of what we do.

 That’s about it for now… but we’ll try to keep you updated on things as they develop… gah! Wish we could say more…

-Michael (& Carina)

PS. We’re not having a baby (yet)!

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Love me tender,
Love me sweet,
Never let me go.
You have made my life complete,
And I love you so.

Love me tender,
Love me true,
All my dreams fulfilled.
For my darling I love you,
And I always will.

Love me tender,
Love me long,
Take me to your heart.
For it’s there that I belong,
And well never part.

Love me tender,
Love me dear,
Tell me you are mine.
I’ll be yours through all the years,
Till the end of time.

You know, every once in a while, this goofy picture of you at the airshow still comes to my mind… that first picture I ever saw of you.

And this cute smile grinning at me through a flimsy webcam from across the ocean.

Sometimes I have to remember these very first letters from you that I received in the mailbox.

Every now and then I still see your silhouette behind my parent’s glass door and smell the cologne you used to wear.

And sometimes I catch myself looking at our phone, just like I used to look at my phone at home, waiting for your call.

Promise, that you’ll never let me forget. Never let me forget, no matter how busy we get…

Never let me forget your dedication in the race of time.

Never let me take for granted what I never thought possible.

Every moment with you is a miracle, a testament to love. Every moment with you is what life is all about.

-

There has never been a doubt in your mind that we are meant to be.I am not quite sure how you knew. But you surely convinced me of it. You showed me that no one could ever love me the way you do. You filled my youth with excitement and happiness. I was never happier than when talking to you. 

When you walked into the Munich Airport Terminal for the first time, you made me a believer in the impossible. When you kissed me good-bye twelve days later, I knew that I could never be happy without you by my side.

Do you remember dancing to “Wise Men Say” the night before and whispering the words to “Love Me Tender” in my ear?  Do you remember hearing my voice from half a world away one day later? Do you remember touching the computer screen, wishing I could feel your hand on my cheek? Do you remember seeing me again? Never forget…. because we have it now.

Elvis’ “Love Me Tender” is playing right now, here in our apartment in the United States. I am writing you a love letter, but this time I won’t send it with the mailmen to be flown to you. This time I will wake you up with a kiss on your cheek. This time I will read you my letter, whispering the words in your ear. This time I will look in your eyes and we’ll remember our story together, holding hands.

Today, ten years ago, luck, or God or destiny or whatever one might call it, brought us together. Today, ten years ago, you asked me what my name was. Today, ten years ago, we embarked on the greatest adventure of our lives. Today, ten years ago, everything changed.

Today, five years ago, you made me your wife. Our last name may have become the same that day in 2008, but our hearts have been one for almost half my life. This is what we were made for. This world needs to know that true love does exist. You are not just the voice on the phone or the author of all these letters, you are the love of my life. You love me tender, you love me sweet, you never let me go, you have made my life complete and I love you so.

Your not-anymore-future-wife (what I always used to write…remember?), but your wife of five years,

<3 Carina

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When clients turn into friends.

Our friends & former bride and groom, Jeremy and Megan, recently welcomed a new addition to the family – Baby Jacob.

We… don’t really photograph babies often. In fact, being completely, totally 100% honest, I think we’ve done it twice in three years.

But for a former bride and groom… we definitely make an exception.

Hey, go easy on us… we definitely don’t claim to be newborn photographers…

We don’t know how to pose them all fancy in baskets and with hats…

But we do know how to capture natural, intimate moments…

And there were plenty of those to go around<3

Megan’s mother, Sara of Courthouse Cake Company, and Megan’s grandmother who flew in from England, also stepped in front of the camera for a little  few shots.

We photographed their wedding..

Megan’s maternity photos…

And now this…

It’s such a blessing to know this family.. we look forward to getting to know them better in the coming years!

These were almost all shot on Fuji 400h film and developed by Indie Film Lab

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