Akehursts Run Photography Business
Ric and Kay Akehurst of Anderson have owned Four Seasons Photography since 1985.
Ric and Kay Akehurst of Anderson have owned Four Seasons Photography since 1985.
They have been married for 46 years. Kay grew up in Anderson and graduated from McDonald County High School in 1974. Ric grew up in Idaho, Oregon and Arkansas and graduated from high school in Idaho in 1970. He has been living in McDonald County since 1971, except for a four-year stint when he served in the Navy. Ric went to Crowder College for three or four years.
While he was in the Navy, he served on two ships, one in the Mediterranean and one in San Diego. He got to see a lot of places, including Hawaii, Guam, Tahiti, Spain, the Vatican, Hong Kong and Greece.
Ric said he bought his first camera while in the Navy. Friends would want him to take photos and “it kind of snowballed,” he said.
“It was all word of mouth because I couldn’t afford advertising,” he said.
The couple closed in their garage and set up a little studio inside it in 1985, and their photography business was born. They did other jobs along the way to support themselves, but Ric always took photos. Kay kept the books.
Ric has all his negatives from the 1970s and 1980s, he said. He went digital in 2001.
He had a professor at Crowder College who was the father of photojournalism, Cliff Edom, he said. Edom would do a workshop in which he and students would choose a town, go there and take photos of the people who lived there. Ric and other students would go to Edom’s home in Forsythe and develop the negatives, he said.
In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, Ric photographed a lot of sports, weddings, senior portraits and family portraits.
“We tried to keep our prices where people could afford them,” Kay said.
These days, they don’t get as many calls for sports and senior portraits, but they have found ways to adapt. Ric bought a drone that he can use to take photos.
“The drone has opened up a whole other area where you can get a higher angle. It’s another aspect of photography,” he said.
“When you live in a small town, you know everyone,” Kay noted.
She said a lot of young people remember them from their sports photos when they were children and expect them to remember their faces despite the changes over the years.
Ric said he went to one of the business expos and all the teens asked, “How much do you make?”
Kay said, “If you want to make a lot of money, pick another profession.”
“I enjoy being out in nature, and I enjoy the excitement of capturing stuff on film,” Ric said. “Just the enjoyment of it, just the fun of it!”