Sheena :: Portraits

Last week, I had the privilege of meeting up with my college roommate, Sheena for a few headshots and some lunch. Sheena is...where do I start?

Sheena is the most beautiful person I have ever seen. How's that, Sheena?

In college, Sheena and I had weekly fast food lunch dates and talked about our strange interest in skinny white boys (Brad and Drew, respectively). It was a running joke in our apartment of 8 girls that Sheena was ridiculously beautiful and would tell you so. We even made a video about it.

Of course, I jumped at the chance to photograph her lovely face. Sheena is trying out to be a Redskins cheerleader and wanted some shots to give her a little edge.

Some of my favorites...

Girl's got some fierce eyes!

Good luck Sheena!

Too pretty not to post

My mom goes all out for the holidays. This Easter, she spoiled us all with cream cheese and strawberry stuffed cupcakes, complete with chocolate shavings.

It was just too pretty not to post.

Wishlist

While this blog is a platform for our growing portfolio, it is also an archive of our journey. It's therapeutic to write about experiences learned, frustrations endured and hurdles hurdled. Plus, it's really fun to be able to look back on these posts and remember all the experiences, frustrations and hurdles.

In this vein, today we are wishing. Stuff we want. Experiences we can't wait to have. Maybe in a year, we'll look back on this list and be able to cross everything off.

We wish for...

• New lenses. We can only go so far with one lens under a 2.8 f-stop. We reeealllly want a couple of zooms at 2.8, including a 24-70mm 2.8, and more primes, including a 24mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4 (or 1.2!), and a 85mm 1.8 (or 1.4). Any donations would be greatly appreciated and will be reimbursed in the form of a photo session. :)
• A website. Bludomain has some bangin' new sites and we want to get our hands on one!
• A custom blog. Prices for custom blogs are pretty intimidating...but we're trying to work something out. Blogger HTML can only do so much.
• A destination wedding. Someone make this dream come true! The only tropical vacations either of us have ever been on is our honeymoons. While they were terrific, it would be sweeeet to shoot a destination wedding. We'll do it for the price of airfare and lodging - no actual fee. You can't beat that!
• Shootsacs. If you are a photographer and you don't know about shootsacs you need to go check them out NOW. Shootsacs make great presents...even just a COVER would suffice :) If you are wondering what to get us as birthday/Christmas/anniversary/Memorial Day/First day of spring presents, please consider the shootsac and/or cute cover (are you listening husbands?!).
• An official name. We're working on it. :)
• Business cards. This one goes hand in hand with the official name. We've been stopped a couple of times while on shoots and asked for business cards. Since we don't have any, we've had to just rattle off our blog in hopes that the requester will remember, or unprofessionally jot our info on a scrap piece of paper.
• An album designer on our team. This one is technically already covered, but she is currently in China, so we're really wishing for her to hurry home! Oh yes friends, Emily may be joining us as an album designer and photographer when she returns. Get excited.
• In home studios. We are just dreaming of the day when we can both have ridiculous workspaces in our houses, complete with gallery wraps and giant Macs.

If you would like to provide any of these things for us, we would be forever grateful. Let's work out a deal, huh? :)

Get yourself a Renata

It was our dream. It was all we talked about in yearbook class. Going into business together. Renata and I caught the dream in high school; she was editor in chief of the yearbook, I was the photography editor. "What if this was our job?"

Well now, that dream is becoming a reality! I can definitely say that we are ready to go.

This week, I read all the way through this relatively short little blog, amazed at forgetting what it was like to not know the things I am learning now. I don't know how I ever thought I could survive without Renata, or how I really thought an 18-55mm 3.5 was sufficient.

I had a proud moment when I came to the ten New Year's resolutions, photography style. Renata and I are already halfway through these ten things, and it's only March! The updated list:

1. Take a Photoshop class.
2. Learn to shoot 100% manual. On our most recent shoot, Renata and I shot 100% manual - no AV mode here, baby!
3. Discuss accounting with someone who knows what they're doing. Maybe I'll even take a class for small businesses. We're setting up a meeting with a small business owner at our church to talk shop, plus we are signed up for a small business seminar at AACC and an accounting course.
4. Get a website.
5. Quit my full-time job. I go part-time in July! And let's just say that Renata may not be too far behind... :)
6. Shoot more than one wedding. Since finishing our first wedding in February, we have booked 2 more weddings on our own, plus some second shooting opportunities. Once we get an official name and website, we hope to book more!
7. Speed up my workflow. We are entering the world of batch post-processing with Capture NX! Eventually, we're going to switch over to RAW Bridge processing, but for now, we're getting a good working system in place!
8. Get a Shootsac or a 24-70, 2.8 lens, whichever comes first :)
9. Gain inspiration. With Renata on board, it's a lot easier to pour out idea after idea on photo shoots. We're getting good at working together and encouraging each other to get sweet shots.
10. Stop being scared. Fear? Gone. Well, almost. :) We're gaining confidence everyday and with every shoot.

Partnering has got to be one of the best decisions we have ever made. Seriously, Renata is the answer to all problems. Go get yourself one. :) (P.S. Yesterday was Renata's birthday, so send her some love! andrea.and.renata@gmail.com)

In closing, here are some pictures that are proof that Renata and I go waaaaaaay back. Please enjoy (and don't make fun of us).

Homecoming our sophomore year of high school.








Our first digital camera experience - bored in yearbook class.





Young Life weekend - Renata was actually freaking out due to
the fact that we were very high off the ground.

I can't believe I just blogged those.

The Ackermanns :: Westlawn Inn Headshots

Several weeks ago, Drew and his sisters were hired by The Westlawn Inn to perform some songs during the dinner rush on several Saturday nights. They were, of course, terrific.

Being family, they always get their headshots for free. :) Here are the "official" shots sent to the restaurant owner for his marketing purposes.

They ARE for hire, you know. Since they are family, I am absolutely plugging them - plus they are REALLY good! If you are looking for some musical entertainment (singing, piano or both), click here to email Drew.

Side note: We promise that wedding pictures are coming soon!

A little preview...

While Renata and I are not fancy schmancy, big time photographers (yet!), we are still taking our image and brand very seriously. We're planning an official launch in July, complete with a website, new blog and maybe even some letterhead. :)

We decided to take some pre-launch pictures to do a little marketing now. And who better than each other to do the work? We had a blast shooting each other and it was interesting to be on the other side of the camera. We think it's important to know what it's like to be in front of the other's lens and plan on doing more shoots just for fun.

Here's a little preview...

True personality.





We realize how cheesy this is. Don't hate.

Excited? Us, too.

Exciting news!

It is official - Renata and I are going into business together! We have been considering the option over the past several months and have made the decision.

Stay tuned for more to come on this...including a new blog, and perhaps a "name our business" contest!

Get excited!

P.S. Warning: This blog will undergo severe changes over the next few days to reflect change of management :) Please bear with us!