Posts in Category: Families
Spring Orchard Sessions are booking
A very funny Southern columnist – Lewis Grizzard – once penned, “Springtime is the land awakening.”
I know. Hilarious.
Meanwhile, I mention it because it’s true. We see it every year. We know it’s coming and still we are surprised when the smell of the air changes. Things of potential beauty below the soil stretch out. They crack their knuckles and when the time is right, little buds go to the garage – if you will – take a broom to the cobwebs attached to their 10-speed bicycles and get ready to launch like their lives depended on it. And we live for it because it’s fleeting and spectacular and we had ZERO to do with it. How is it somehow possible to feel simultaneously exhilarated by nature when it makes no reference to us whatsoever?
We have exclusive photography rights to one of the largest and most beautiful orchards in North Carolina and we’ve been capturing photos of children, families, couples and countless others over the years during the spring. It’s a heavenly place. Pink blooms dropping onto green grass, lovely thin tree limbs providing not so much shade as inspiration and lots of places to spread props and take images that will last long after the blooms are gone and the fruit arrives.
One of our favorite spots: an extravagantly beautiful orchard in bloom
Maybe I’m wrong and spring does make reference to us when we remember and cherish it. Maybe our own light and joy are reflected in what we see in places like this, in our beautiful part of the world.
Regardless, we hope you’ll get out in it and we absolutely hope you’ll meet us sometime the week of March 11 – 18th and let us capture you in the spring of 2017. The images will last a lifetime, but you need to schedule now. To book your session, mail@pixelsonpaper.biz.
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, engagements and weddings, brides, and 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.
celebrating sisters & their families ~ outdoor portraits
It’s always an honor to be asked to take portraits of people from my hometown or from my childhood. You think about where you are in life and remember how far you’ve come — how far we’ve all come over the years. It shouldn’t take a wedding, a funeral or a reunion to make you stop and breathe in that we’ve grown up, survived, are working to be better people and are continuing to grow and march forward into whatever is next.
I really was excited to be photographing these two sisters – Jennifer and Julie Huffman – who are now married and with sons and daughters of their own. You feel simultaneously mature and like a girl again when you get together and start gabbing and wandering, as we did on their family’s farm.
I grew up with the Huffman girls, but was truly friends with the younger sister Jenny. Oh my gosh you guys, there was this one time………….
just kidding! Jenny and I were friends all through elementary and high school. We were just one grade apart and we spent time at each others homes playing when we were little and then later we rode to school together and, as we got older, we’d go out together on Fridays and Saturdays to see friends or “cruise” around. Her older sister Julie, I’m sure, thought that we were insufferable, because that is sort of the job of siblings: be annoying right up to the point of driving someone crazy and then retreating.
These portraits were taken in the fall on family property with the idea of giving them as Christmas gifts and keeping them as heirlooms. My hope is that they will continue to look at them and smile as their own children grow up, see them as markers in time and certainly as great memories. Spring is coming fast and we’re booking our orchard sessions. Contact me via email (mail@pixelsonpaper.net) to reserve a spot from March 11 – 18.
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, engagements and weddings, brides, and 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.
Winter Outdoor Family Portraits ~ the Graybeals
It didn’t feel like 7 years had passed since we got to hang with Crystal and Adam. The fun, laughs and teasing seemed to pick back up right where we left off. This time we were able to make friends with the new “little Graybeals.” Colton was a little shy upon first meeting us. After a few clicks of the shutter though, Ryan took him on a little exploration adventure through the nature trails, and that kid was shy no more. We were now a part of his entourage. As for wee one Landon, he won us over with his drooling grins and very expressive eye brows.
We love a winter photo shoot and seeing the strength of good couple and their growing family out in it. Much love to burgeoning family units out there and forget the seven year itch! Love that works never gets old.
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, engagements and weddings, brides, and 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.
Christmas at Home | An Evening with a Young Family
Describing a family and what family symmetry is, as it turns out, much harder than capturing photos of the chaos that is actually very beautiful, symmetrical if you will. Does that make sense? I showed up at the Minick’s house to photograph a Day in the Life session – a holiday at home session – with this family I’ve been photographing for many years and through many seasons of life. And it was all there … all of that insanely beautiful chaos that makes family life so glorious.
We started photographing the Minicks’ Christmases in 2012, when daughter Amelia was brand new. Now, there are 4 in this family, as little Matthew was added just 6 months ago. When we discussed a Christmas at home session, mom Rachel said they weren’t organized and hadn’t decorated and weren’t sure how they would pull it off. My answer: don’t worry. It’s your life and your holiday too. It’ll look however it looks – most likely, it’ll look like love. 
I think people believe that holiday photos, any photo sessions for that matter, have to be buttoned up and the house has to be spotless and everything is ironed and there’s no nonsense or pets racing around, or dust or ……reality. I promise that I couldn’t care less as a photographer documenting a day in your lives. When I arrived at their house, husband and father Ryan was just pulling into the drive with Amelia and they did what families do: they all greeted each after being separated all day and dumped bags and removed shoes and picked up where they left off: doing life together.
Amelia (4 years) loves to be in the kitchen cooking with her mom and wanted to do breakfast for dinner. Who doesn’t want breakfast for dinner???!!! But I digress. They prepped the table and food, cutting strawberries and Amelia made the perfect little sous chef, although she took the time to taunt little brother Matthew who was in charge of banging bowls and being cute. 
After dinner and chatter came pajamas and, on this day, tree decorating. Like MANY busy couples who work and have young kids, they don’t get the tree up the day after thanksgiving nor do they try to have IT all pulled together. After reading stories and pulling out ornaments, they decorated and all of the day — all of the chaos that wasn’t really chaos melted into beloved family time. At one point, Rachel turned to me and said, “this is what our ‘real life’ looks like!” To me, it was gorgeous. The dishes, the kitchen noise, the constant chatter and love, the diapers and pullups, tree stand and step stool, glitter and magic, just all of it. It was beautiful. 
I want people to see the beauty in the every day. We say this all the time and then we go running right passed the park, if you know what I mean. Amelia in her pjs putting the star on top and Matthew lying in the floor like, “what is this crazy ritual I just walked into?” So much love and perfect symmetry. 
I hope families who feel that every photo shoot has to be crisp and perfect and clutter-free will call us. I can assure you that those gorgeous and sacred family moments happen all the time and our job is to capture them for you. There is symmetry in the chaos of family. Our job as documentarians is to help point it out so that you can celebrate and remember it.
I want to thank the Minicks and other families who’ve said “come over. This is our home.” We get it and appreciate it and couldn’t love you more.
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, engagements and weddings, brides, and 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.
Christmas Portraits at Home | The Pierce family
We believed, when we proposed the idea of taking Christmas portraits at client’s homes vs. set dressing our Pixels studio, that it would be a success. It would be fun, if not funny, magical and tender and, most critically, it would WORK. Well, the proof is in the pudding. We discovered this at the Pierce’s home earlier this month. 
Traci and Andy Pierce have let us photograph them numerous times over the years, most especially their sweet boys Holden and Sawyer. But on December 2nd, I went to their house to shoot Christmas portraits more as a documentarian than a portraitist and I loved every sweet little second of it. You never know what’s going to happen in the studio or on locations and I certainly wondered about this “big idea” of mine as well, but it was everything I hoped for.
The best part for me was being eyewitness to little moments and conversations that would seem mundane if not overheard by someone who cares and is tuned in. Holden wanted to zip his Dad’s shirt and read him a story. Traci and Holden had a conversation about their new house and why they left their old house. The whole family wrestled together and little Sawyer watched his big brother dance around pointing out ornaments on the Christmas tree. They were just little moments, but it’s exactly the “slice of life” I was hoping to get as the onsite historian. 
I’ve always wondered with this style of photography if the subjects could completely relax and be natural… ignore that I was there. It turns out, they can! After a half hour, they all go on about their lives and are naturally interacting with each other. I got to breathe, watch, aim, shoot and solidify moments that would have been lost otherwise. It’s a photographers dream and so rewarding. Even after many years in the profession, it felt wonderful.
Our lives aren’t perfect. Often they’re perfectly messy. They’re filled with clutter, unmade beds, scattered toys, half empty cups, to do lists, don’t want to lists, nose prints on windows and tooth paste on mirrors. But all these things make up our lives. It’s real, it’s us, it’s family, it’s life. Having that picture perfect family portrait is great. But having photos of real life also has it’s place in our lives and our memories. 
These recent photos amid the trees and holiday lights are the precursor to something bigger for Pixels On Paper Photography. Starting in 2017 we’ll be photographing A Day In The Life sessions. Documentary style photos of you and your family in your environment and every day life. I want you to see your life, your family and the everyday moments you share in a whole new light. We all need a different perspective and we all could use a little more reason to appreciate the lives we have been given no matter how messy they may be in real life.
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, engagements and weddings, brides, and 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.