About Robert Akers Photography

Robert Akers photography was born in 2003 after a 20 plus year career as WBOB mobile DJ Service.  However as far back as jr. high school I was beginning to enjoy photography and even job shadowed a professional photographer as a possible career.  Once Digital photography became viable, I was hooked and made the transition to photography becoming a career.   Within four years I had worked and studied my way to one of the top professionals in the state.  I was president of the Maine Professional Photographers Association and named Photographer of the year.  But I didn’t stop there, since then I have become a Certified Professional Photographer and earned a Master of Photography degree and a Photographic Craftsman degree.

Wait, this sounds kind of like bragging but the truth is, I love what I do and by creating beautiful images for my clients everything else just sorta happens.  Creating an image that makes people go wow is what I love.  Making a wall portrait that will hang on someones wall is like Christmas. Let me explain. We start with a Photo Session where I get to meet a family and make new friends.  Next I choose all of the best images to create a beautiful slide show of our wonderful time together.  Finally after the order has been made everything comes to life in: Beautiful Wall Portraits, Album,  cards. and prints.   Now the magic is when people come back and see there Portraits and their faces light up, just like seeing the tree on Christmas morning.

Tada, Robert the photographer.  But like all of us there is so much more of who we are.  I am a lover of music and dance.  Sports have been a great inspiration in my life.  But not as you might think.  I don’t follow baseball, football, hockey, basketball or golf.  The sports I played where soccer, track and gymnastics and for the most part I was not outstanding at any of them.  But I learned how sports build character, they teach us to work together for a greater good.  How trusting and being trustworthy were equally important and not just on the field.  Everyone has to work hard to better themselves even if the only reward is knowing you did your best.  So after earning a BS in Health and Fitness from Springfield College I spent many years coaching Soccer and Gymnastics.  My number one goal was to make a group of kids into a team and have fun with their sport.  Hard work and training is fun.  Sure at the time you would grumble and complain, but when you look back and what you have accomplished you realize how great it is.  And you have all of your friends who shared the experience with you for stories that get better every year.

Now you are probably wondering how all of this is going to relate to photography.  Well here is the answer.  Pictures help us remember all of the things we did.  They glorify all of the hard work and capture in a moment the drive to do your best, to be at your best.  Now you know why my sports portraits mean so much.  Each portrait I capture embodies all of the things I have just mentioned and that is what makes them special.

So that’s the sports guy, now what about the 20 years as a DJ.  Well in that time what I really did was people watch.  This gave me an understanding of group dynamics and personalities.  In some cases, I have played music at all of the big events in their lives,  sixteenth birthday party’s,  jr high and high school dances,  and then at their weddings and Family reunions.  The more you know about who a person is, the better you can compose and image of them that tells their story.

Now a proud father of 2 beautiful girls I know the importance of family portraits.  Watching them grow up has been a joy in my life.  Looking back at all of the beautiful pictures of them always makes me smile.  I love both kinds of pictures,  the goofy snap shots and the amazing portraits.  The snap shots we put in a drawer and pull them out every other year.  The are not well taken usually.  They have bad light bad composition, but I love them just because they are my kids.  The portraits we put up in bedrooms and the family room so that every day I am reminded how lucky I am.  The Portraits have great lighting and beautiful composition.  I guess you could call them “the art of my family”.  Friends love to see them and it always starts a conversation.

I hope you will allow me to create portraits of you and your loved ones that will stand the test of time and remind you how luck you are!