Right around 2009 is also when I noticed what seemed to be a new trend in photography, (at least I think it was new)… a movement of young artists who solely for the sake of fun and expression were creating an entirely original look of what I would call surrealist photography. Much of it focused on self-portraiture.

Artists such as Brooke Shaden and Joel Robinson  weren’t just capturing the world around them, they were creating new worlds with their photography.

Even though my photography journey took me down another path, I still love admiring the worlds these artists create.

I was absolutely thrilled to learn that one of those artists lives right here in Yorktown, less than 5 minutes away!

Carol of Carol Persons Photography has  a passion for for what she does.

She creates art with photography.

Her photography is influenced by both surrealism and fashion photography, but she is always thinking up new and interesting ways to be original.

She arrived at a beach on the York River at 6:30 in the morning to meet me.

As a personal exercise on an overcast day, I decided to shoot mainly film.

Shooting slower with film allowed for her to practice her passion.

She set up her camera on a tripod and using a remote shutter release and a timer took self-portrait after self-portrait.

I couldn’t help but admire that…

There I sat, next to my Pelican case filled with gear, two cameras in hand…

And watched her with one camera, one lens, one tripod, and one remote trigger, creating art.

That was really inspirational.

She inspired me to get back even more to the basics of what it is I love about photography, which can even be translated into wedding photography…

And that’s not snapping away… but looking for that one special image…

One that really captures your imagination.

Here’s one of Carol’s self-portraits taken in Yorktown, mixed with a little bit of Photoshop wizardry..

Thanks for inviting me to capture these portraits of you, Carol!

film: fuji400h // contax 645 // developed by Richard Photo Lab

As we walked around Ryan pointed out certain places.

“That’s where I asked her out for the first time…”

“That’s where I told her I loved her…”

This is an obviously gorgeous couple, but they’re so much more than that, too. They’re hard-working and they have set goals for themselves. Now, they have each other and make the perfect team, ready to take on the world.

They’re getting married next year at the Williamsburg Winery and although we won’t be there to document it as we will be away shooting a destination wedding, we wish them all the best and know that they are going to do great things together.

Ryan and Rosemary, it was an honor to get to know you and document one evening in your love story… we look forward to seeing you again!

film: fuji400h

developed by Richard Photo Lab

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

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

(these links return you to our homepage! 

(thanks for the pic, Tara!)

Hi guys, just making this blog post a short one but wanted to announce that (if we get enough responses to this) we will be doing Q & A Tuesdays on our blog!

We’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about our editing process, some about film, some about what blogging software we use…

We thought we could condense it all into weekly/bi-weekly blogposts and then we’d have more time to answer them in depth as much as we can!

Also if you have any questions about the fundamentals of photography, don’t hesitate to ask!

If you have a question you’d like to ask us, send it to info@www.michaelandcarina.com or message our Facebook page and we’ll select several questions each week to answer.

This is still in it’s baby-steps but we’ll see how it works and we’re excited to discuss anything that has to do with photography, especially wedding photography!

<3

Michael and Carina

They just got engaged in June… and they’re getting married this September… as in, correct you are, this month!!  

But, like us, they totally embraced the idea of still doing their engagement session before!

We loved the chance to get to know them a bit better.

And it was such a special day to celebrate…

Not only are they going to be married in just a few weeks…

Not only were we able to document their engagement…

But they also just purchased their first house!!

They were so happy and it just showed in every picture.

We met in Yorktown and showed them some of our favorite spots, where the light in the evening is just magical.

But they didn’t need any help posing… they were just naturals.

Even though Aaron is a little taller (okay, quite a bit taller) than Allie, they just knew exactly what to do to make their photos look gorgeous and natural.

Oh, and let’s just stop here and say:

We LOVE what they wore! 

Perfect photoshoot outfits!

We are so looking forward to your wedding, Allie and Aaron, and we are so happy that we could still book with you on such short notice – we’re the lucky ones!

Enjoy your engagement photos and we’ll be seeing you very soon!

We love it when we ask the guys to whisper “sweet nothings” in her ear, and he leans over and starts literally whispering “sweet nothing, sweet nothing, sweet nothing”… classic!

Don’t often end on a black and white photo but ahhh… just love this quiet moment between the two of them in b & w… just lovely <3

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

(these links return you to our homepage! 

We were so excited to send Julie and Tim their photos via PASS while they were still on their honeymoon! 

 As soon as we started off for Richmond to meet up with the inspirational Katelyn James and her husband Michael, along with other photographers from around Virginia, we knew it was going to be an awesome evening. The back of our little, delightfully fuel-efficient Prius was filled with other Tidewater area photographers who squeezed in to make the trek with us (making it all the more enjoyable in the process)… by the time we got to Richmond we were all good friends.

The purpose of the meeting was officially the first of its kind in Virginia, and one we were happy to be a part of.

Photographers from Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Norva and Hampton Roads came together because of the common idea of how their businesses should be run… to embrace a business ethic based on service rather than selling products, and to support each other with that goal in mind.

It also gave us reason to kind of “announce” on our blog something about our business which has in fact been true of it ever since we started.

Basically before we knew the term, we were “shoot + share” photographers.

When we were still spending long nights burning DVDs, before we’d been introduced to PASS, (well, before PASS existed) we were kind of scratching our heads at the idea of selling 8x10s for $50.

Now that’s not to say that it can’t work for some people, but… It’s not how we want it to work for us.

We are thrilled not when we’re selling individual images after you’ve booked us, but when we can deliver your completed wedding images before you ever expected!

We love it when our clients share our photos on Facebook… and we’re really not sticklers about logos.

Our clients know who took their pictures and our clients love their pictures.

If anyone asks who took them, they tell them!

Simple enough for us, right? Isn’t word of mouth the best advertisement there is?

That’s what we’re about. That’s what we’ve always been about… to be called a “shoot and share” photographer… if the shoe fits, right?!

What we’re not saying is that products are bad.

We still sell albums, etc., and you can still order prints with us. Professional photos are meant to be printed.

Albums and canvas prints especially take hours of extra work & preparation and can naturally mean an investment.

But that’s not what we concentrate on.

50% of your experience with us will not mean sitting down and going over which images you can afford to buy.

It’s our dream that when you book with us, you’re booking us for an all-encompassing experience, one that includes all of your images, and that you’re free to share your photos with your friends.

It’s an idea that’s still new to the industry…

Photographer Trevor Daley, one of the leading “shoot + share” photographers in the United States, described it as a “disruptive innovation.” 

…and we’re still new to the industry.

And this certainly isn’t to challenge any other photography models out there.

It’s just what we love.

Our clients love it too.

And lastly, it works for us.

Thanks so much to all of our clients and fans for embracing this idea with us!

And thanks to Justin, Amanda and Ashley for keeping us company on our trip!

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

(these links return you to our homepage! 

]]> http://www.michaelandcarina.com/virginia-wedding-photographers-shooting-and-sharing-what-that-means-to-us/feed/ 0 http://www.michaelandcarina.com/personal-end-of-jonass-summer-in-america-virginia-photographers-michael-and-carina-photography/ http://www.michaelandcarina.com/personal-end-of-jonass-summer-in-america-virginia-photographers-michael-and-carina-photography/#comments Wed, 04 Sep 2013 12:50:52 +0000 michaelandcarina http://www.michaelandcarina.com/?p=6501 The past month has been such an adventure!

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

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

These links return you to our homepage!

We had shot some film at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens before… but on this particular day the clouds rolled in so we got some really beautiful dramatic light, almost spotlighting our gorgeous couple in the middle of the idyllic gardens (seriously, if you’re reading this and are debating whether or not to shoot there, let’s shoot there!).

Morgan is a meteorologist and Wade is a proud member of the military.

We loved how natural and relaxed they were in front of the camera, exchanging little secret jokes and keeping it romantic but fun.

That’s the secret behind photos like this… we like to describe our work as natural. And Morgan and Wade just fit that description perfectly!

These were shot on a mix of Kodak Portra 160 and Fujipro400h and developed by Indie Film Lab!

Couple sessions begin at $550 and are included for *free* in wedding collections!

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

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

These links return you to our homepage!

Sarah and Jeff have been inseparable for years. They love the outdoors, their dog Bailey and hanging out with friends. They are also business partners! And we think they are also secretly models.

Yorktown Beach is one of our favorite spots in Virginia for engagement sessions. And when the light is right, it’s just magic!
<3

All film. Fuji 400H. Developed by Indie Film Lab.

Yorktown Wedding Photographers | Virginia Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

(these links return you to our homepage!)

Virginia | Richmond | Williamsburg | VA Beach | Yorktown | Hampton Roads | Engagement + Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

We wanted to wait until we got their film scans back to share these with you…

But… *sigh*

We couldn’t.

These are just too gorgeous!! Just can’t keep them to ourselves any longer!

Enjoy! <3

Richmond Wedding Photographers | Virginia Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

(these links return you to our homepage!)

Virginia | Richmond | Williamsburg | VA Beach | Yorktown | Hampton Roads | Engagement + Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography