Name: Tanya and Bil Vahrenkamp

Studio: Albertex Photography Ltd.

Website: www.albertexphoto.com

How long have you been a photographer:

Bill, 27 years; Tanya, 20 years.

Camera that you use:

We both shoot with Nikon D700s (although we just bought a Leica M7 to get back into shooting film)

 Your favorite lens:

That changes quite often, but right now we are both favoring the Nikon 85mm 1.4

 Besides loving photography, what other hobbies do you have?

Cooking, wine, movies and travel.  Our perfect day off is a trip to Central Market then dinner at home with friends.

 How has working together strengthened your marriage?

We were both photographers when we met at a photography convention in Las Vegas, so we went through quite an adjustment period when I moved from Canada to Texas.  We had already established our own way of doing things (and we are both a little stubborn), so it took a while to mesh our styles together. For us, it is important to really listen to each other’s ideas and opinions and not take anything personally if we don’t agree. We had to learn a completely different way of communicating with each other and that has carried over to our marriage.

 How did you first know that you two want to own a business and work together?

I’m not sure that we ever had a discussion about starting a company together, it was just a natural progression in our life together.  When we met I had a studio in Canada and Bill worked for a company that operated studios across the country. Bill had always known he wanted to be a photographer (he has a BA in photography) and he loved doing his own work on the side while he had that regular paycheck from his day job. I had always known I wanted to own a business, so when I had an opportunity to purchase a partnership in the studio that had been my part-time job through university; I went for it and learned more about photography along the way. When I moved from Canada to Texas, we had both been in the industry for a long time, but had completely different backgrounds so it just made sense to combine our strengths into a company that would allow us to grow artistically and technically in the directions we both wanted

 What do you consider the defining characteristic of your studio’s photography?

One of the things we hear over and over again from our clients is that they love the fact that we do more than just weddings.  We have two distinctly different styles that we have worked within for many years – we take a documentary approach for all weddings and portrait sessions, but we know when it is time to pull out the traditional studio work for the formals and for most of our corporate events. Our corporate clients like that we have such diverse experience and are capable of dealing with any situation and our wedding clients like that we can provide them the best of both worlds – we are unobtrusive and capture their wedding day as it unfolds, but we get the formals done very quickly and with studio quality.

What advice would you give to the first time buyers of Forbeyon albums?

Pick a great photo (or 2 or 3 photos) for the metal cameo or photo wrap cover before you begin your design. We also offer an upgraded package that includes a deluxe guest signature book with a metal cameo or photo wrap cover so that both albums will match.

How do Forbeyon albums compare to others you've seen or used?

We love the quality of Forbeyon’s albums and the variety of album sizes and styles they offer. That combined with their superior customer service makes Forbeyon our first choice for albums.

 What inspired you to use Forbeyon?

We have both worked with various tintype processes in the past, so the metal cameo had us hooked the first time we saw it. The fact that they are based in Dallas was an extra bonus for us because we like to support local companies whenever possible.

 As a photographer, what is your most important objective when shooting?

Alfred Eisenstadt summed it up best, “It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.” Without that connection it is hard to capture genuine expressions and emotions.

How do you prepare for your events?

Before the event, we try to gather as much information as we can about the event, the people involved and the location.  If it is a local venue that we haven’t been to before we try to visit it before the event.  For our brides and grooms, we have an online “Getting to Know You” form that the bride and groom can fill out.  This is extremely helpful in planning their engagement and bridal session and it gives us some insight into what is most important to them about their wedding day.  The day before any event, we check all of our equipment, clean lenses, charge batteries and go through our checklist.  The equipment required for weddings or portrait sessions is very different from the equipment we need for corporate events, so we actually have 4 different checklists to use based on the type of event.

 Can you elaborate on your involvement in Special Event and Amusement Photography?

Weddings and corporate events are all events, but one of the things we specialize in outside of weddings is green screen photography and themed events where we print photos onsite. For example, we’re contracted to the Dallas Cowboys this year to do green screen photos of fans at home games – they gave us 7 different background photos and people can choose which background they want to be in. We take their photo, print it on the spot and they walk away with a photo.  We also have a wide variety of costumes and props so we can set up to do old time photos, pirate photos, etc.

How did you become involved?

We have both worked with old time photo studios in the past and love anything nostalgic, so the first time someone contacted us to ask if we could do old time photos at their company Christmas party, we put together a set of costumes and props and did it!  Printing onsite was also a no-brainer for us, we had both done corporate events for years - long before the days of digital.  I did my first event over 15 years ago and I used a Polaroid land camera and gave peel-apart polaroids to attendees. Now we shoot digitally and use dye-sub printers for onsite printing that can produce a high quality 4x6 in 7 seconds!

 What draws you to this type of photography?

There are several things about it that really appeal to us. First, it gets us back to more traditional studio lighting and posing which is a very important knowledge base for all photographers, regardless of their style of shooting.  Another thing we like about corporate events is that while there is a lot of work involved in booking the event and leading up to it, we leave there is nothing left to do except send a note to the event organizer to thank them for involving us in their event.  With weddings, the work goes on for months or even years after the event.

 What aspects of photography do you enjoy most?

Whether it is a wedding or a corporate event, nothing can beat the look on the someone’s face when they see their photo and love it.

 If you weren’t a photographer what would you be?

Bill – I would be in cinematography, which was my second career choice.

Tanya – I’d probably be an accountant struggling to bring out my artistic side.

 What was/is your most memorable photographic session or event? What made it so?

Last week we had the opportunity to donate our services to the Snowball Express event that was hosted in Dallas and our involvement with that organization has made a tremendous impact on us.  Snowball Express is a charity that is dedicated to providing new hope and memories for the children of our fallen military heroes, and it was both uplifting and humbling to know what these families have gone through and to see people wearing memorial t-shirts and dog tags of the parent they lost. We did pirate-themed photos which were a huge hit and we hope we can be involved again in next year’s event.