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MBI Builders – Lake Norman State Park Architectural Photos
There are seasonal campers, hard core orienteering types who are climbing rocks and frozen waterfalls, glampers who want to get out while being conveniently IN, and those who wouldn’t be caught dead in the woods. Most of us just want to get away and, with the spring and summer coming, there are places to retreat that look quite appealing no matter your stripes.
Introducing the upgraded amenities at Lake Norman State Park! Ryan was recently asked to shoot pro images for MBI Builders of this project of theirs. As usual, MBI delivered beautiful work for their clients with solid wood beam construction, and an eye to the end users.
Some details about the project, include:
- These are new cabins in the Family Camp Circle section of the park.
- MBI built around half a dozen 2-room cabins around the site. Each have heat and A/C as well as power and water hookups for RVs.
- These also feature a pad for parking, a picnic table and fire ring.
- MBI also built a large bath house that is a shared facility for all campers, as well as both men’s and women’s sides with restrooms and showers. All are handicap accessible. There is also a family restroom facility with the same amenities.
- There are additional tent sites or car camp sites around for those who prefer to be closer to Mother Earth.
We love commercial projects and have worked with MBI Builders for years. If you would like to know more about Lake Norman State Park’s new upgrades, check out this link.
We love graphic design, architectural photography and commercial photography whether logo design, brochure design, head shot photos, architectural photography or product shots. At Pixels On Paper we pride ourselves in listening to a broad range of clients and customizing our photography and graphic design services to meet each individual request. Our skills, styles, and visions come together to be a permanent record that either reflects an identity or delivers a message that speaks to thousands. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your business needs. Email us at mail@pixelsonpaper.net or call 336.990.0080 to learn more, receive a quote or to let us know how we can put our skills to work for you.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2021 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Hands in the cookie jar – photos at home
Let’s get real. I mean it – REAL, as in real life.
As a working mom, I am always weighing things: time against my task list, investment vs. return, risk vs. reward. You with me? There are a finite number of minutes in a day and days in a year. What about moments in a lifetime? We’re always weighing. Now add a career as a pro photographer and a three year old to your calculations…
How do I protect my need for clarity and cleanliness over chaos while still living a big life? And – for those of you who know me – how do I advocate publicly for capturing memories as your photographer and friend if I, Misty Case, am not willing to get a little dirty myself in my own space with my own kid?
Recently, I weighed the memories I could make with my Finley over the inevitable mess that my tired OCD self was going to have to clean up later. [NOTE: if you don’t think you’ll find sprinkles in the most outlandish places, you haven’t baked with a toddler lately.]
But then I weigh The Great Sprinkle Search against that face above.
Day in the Life (DITL) photo shoots are fun. They allow us to capture a slice of a moment, a micro-shot of an activity, in what I hope is a long life with this little human. Finley will never again be this age, with that hair and with those dirty hands and so many questions spilling out of him ever again. Worth it?
I decided that it absolutely was. Just like the Christmas advent calendar, the gingerbread houses, the glitter and craft times and the mud that comes in after he’s been “adventuring” in our yard, wrecking the most popular room in the house was worth it. Finley gets 18-ish years to be a kid. That’s it. After that he can chat with me about the mortgage rate he got, the job opportunity, the big and small life events, etc. He has the rest of his life to be a grown up. This is it. That’s what I say to myself. Right now: it’s about sugar cookies.
The downside for me on this day was that you couldn’t see me “in there” with Finley as I usually am, but I was in my element behind the lens. I was a relaxed documentarian, if not a fudge-covered co-conspirator.
When we shoot DITL (Day In The Life) images for families, we allow you to just create an event out of something you enjoy doing and you can be fully present while we handle the lighting, the angles and grabbing those moments before they are gone.
Picture perfect? Yes.
Mom approved, in that “I am IN CONTROL of the sugar intake?” No. Not even close.
And Finley was a bit hyper afterward, icing was in places icing shouldn’t go, but that part passed. Remember that, Fellow Mamas: a good sponge, a deep breath, the right playlist playing while you gather debris, and you’ll be glad you made the time.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs newborns and families, special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States LicenseAll photos are ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Taking Things to Heart
“We are saved only by love — love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.” – Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams….. sigh. He nailed it – and by “it” I mean life – in so many of his plays. And he certainly captured the feelings and perceptions of love, something we need more of.
A blog that focuses on love as Valentine’s Day approaches – when it is truly already the foundation of every photo shoot we do – seems like overkill. If you’ve been following us for the last 15 years, you know that we start with curiosity, work with clients to create and achieve a vision and then apply our skills and experience. But ultimately, it’s always about love.
We love what we do. We love capturing people’s love for each other. I would urge you, if you haven’t recently, to check out our blog categories, most particularly Families, Babies, Engagement and Maternity. You’ll see love baked right in.
During a year when we cannot hug everyone we love, and during Valentine’s Day, I hope you’ll call your mom, hug your nearest and dearest and take to heart what you are most grateful for.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs newborns and families, special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States LicenseAll photos are ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Styers Family Portraits
We could call this blog “When the Ends Meet and Something Beautiful Happens.” For years, Pixels has been participating in a local fundraiser for a child named Drake. Drake has cystic fibrosis and for the last decade or so we’ve been providing a photo session to the silent auction that raises money for Drake and for cystic fibrosis. There is also a golf tourney to raise money and I encourage any of you who are interested to learn more at Drives Fore Drake. We love to give and are happy to help raise money for a good cause.
Being a part of Drives fore Drake is one side of the story. The other side is that our child Finley has developed a real affection and friendship (we all have actually) with a lady named MarySallie Steyers. She SHOWERS him with attention, humor, and snuggles and was until recently one of the teachers at his Play2Learn. MarySallie just happens to be Drake’s grandmother. So after years of supporting his cause, we were actually able to meet the Drake behind the cause. MarySallie said she wanted a photo session with the entire clan and that’s just what we did!
At the end of 2020, MarySallie, her husband Rick, their children Sallie and Sammy along with their spouses and children all gathered for portraits. We’ve photographed members of this family before, when we met up with Emily VanMeter Styers and part of her clan at the VanMeter family farm. Emily married into the Steyers family and well – let’s just say, it’s a small world.
MarySallie has been so generous with her hugs to Finley (see beginning of blog) that we wanted an image of her with all of her grandkids heaping hugs and love on her. Mission accomplished.
This mom and grandmother knew it was going to be difficult getting everyone together so she and I have been planning a portrait gallery for her home not only with these images, but with others we’ve taken of their family in groupings. I cannot wait to see it completed.
Not only did Finley have his photo taken with MarySallie, he took a few of his own with his camera.
Easter and Mother’s Day are coming up, gang. What mom wants more than anything besides time with you are photographs. So let’s talk!
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs newborn and baby portraits, engagements and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2021 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Pixels on Paper – An Intro
“Please allow me to introduce myself.” A great Rolling Stones song begins that way and I’m running with it. The doldrums of January and February need tweaking into shape.
The more I watch the world shift and watch social media bind us together (and tear us apart ….), I see how some of us are working to find each other – maybe even find each other again – through simple introductions. Introductions are a beautiful thing. So consider this a brief online How Do You Do.
For those of you who may not know, there we are – on our wedding day in fact, August 2, 2003. Ryan Case is my husband, my best friend, my houseman, my baby-daddy, my darling, my co-conspirator and the man I run this business with. Pixels was born of shared interests and talents and a desire to work for myself. Want to know a little more about what fuels us? Here you go!
Ryan is a fabulous and skilled photographer, graphic designer and work horse. Great with tools, remodeling our century old house, and not at all shabby in the kitchen, he’s a keeper. I am a photographer, book lover, soft touch, explorer of moods and lighting, gardener, and always down for a newborn baby portrait session, and a nap (in no particular order). I believe in prayer and outdoor concerts.
Together, we are Pixels on Paper Photography and Graphic Design and have been since 2005. We love to work and play, travel and camp. We celebrate creativity, sound and music (c’mon MERLEFEST!!), families and their specific milestones and we are dedicated to being a part of our community.
In 2015, we threw a big 10th Anniversary Party with friends and family, something that we were unable to do in 2020 for our 15th. But we’ve been so pleased that over the last 15 years, our business has grown and changed.
Newborns and One Year Packages
For parents-to-be, the one year package allows us to capture images during the first two weeks, at 6 months and the first birthday portraits. These have become our favorites and families love them too. That first year flies by.
a milk bath at 6 months 
a cake smash at one year
Families
From Day in the Life sessions to family reunions to gatherings to mark special occasions, we embrace family photography. I would encourage you to search our blog under family to see the breadth of our work over the years.
Commercial Work
We cover the commercial side of photography as well as the more personal and Ryan handles graphic design too. We love supporting small businesses and local ventures.
photography for a favorite brewery 
Local business photos and head shots
Personal Growth
The addition of our son Finley changed so much for us and if you need a fix of cute pics of a pretty adorable ginger, follow us on social media. This little boy manages to keep us young.
More than anything, our goal is to capture forever those moments in our own lives, the moments in the life of a business, a community, and those fleeting moments in a family. As our business has changed (we only do very special requested weddings these days), these values continue to be a guiding light. If you have a milestone or just a notion for a photo shoot and would like to discuss it, we would be honored. We’re always for a bigger party, a full table and lots of connections.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs newborn and baby portraits, engagements and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2021 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.