Having completed students in painting and sculpture at the School of Visual Arts, Akers began to explore the world of filmmaking after completing his fine arts education. Akers has previously worked as a camera operator, cinematographer, producer and director. Akers was the cinematographer of the awarding winning documentary film Lemon, which explores the life of poet Lemon Andersen. He has also worked on numerous feature documentaries for HBO and PBS. He is the director and cinematographer of Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present. The film’s world premier was held at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012, and was later aired on HBO the same year. The film is now available on DVD.