Posts in Category: Maternity
Love Your Mama! | Celebrating Motherhood
No matter what it looks like, motherhood is profound. Mothers declare – with this first amazing act of carrying a child and then giving birth to it – that they will forever share their food, put their immediate needs aside, hold their child’s head above the rising water, look for sacred lost things, and provide comfort, perspective, structure, laughter, physical and emotional affection, joy and support till the very end.
– Sylvia Plath
woodland fairies portraits – expecting mom and young daughter
Come fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind
and dance upon the mountains like a flame. – W. B. Yeats
This was a special session for us with expectant mom (and dancer) Rachel Minick and her daughter Amelia (learning to dance). And they do not have a dull life, by the way. What growing family is dull? But, we were going for the woodland fairy and bohemian vibe and we got it. Mother and daughter were so mellow and happy walking around and dancing barefooted together through streams, hills and spring grass. The whole session felt serene and incredibly cool.
We’ve been photographing little sprite Amelia since she was teeny and (we’ve said this before, but….) this family feels like family to US. We love them and love being a part of their journey. We started photographing them when Rachel and husband Ryan were engaged. Amelia is going to be an amazing big sister, but on this day in April, she was the only game in town. Just mama and daughter, senior and junior fairies. 
We shot this session with Rachel and Amelia in our favorite apple orchards and the wooded creek in mid-April and my favorite photos are the truly candid ones with them together. Amelia is just beginning the more girlie aspects of her childhood and in other portraits, it’s clear that Rachel is thinking about the next little creature to hit the earth and join their family.
The natural beauty of this day was such an important feature and honestly, most if not all of our sessions with this couple-now-family have taken place outside. It’s a fit. We look forward to seeing the next Minick.
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 babies and kids, 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.
~ Amanda, Rich & Madelyn Terpstra ~ love, marriage, baby, love, life, us, yes!
We know we took this photo, but is it copacetic for us to say that we love it? Not so much our part, but because it’s one of those that speaks volumes about a couple. He’s so happy that he got THE Girl. And he’s probably relieved that the ceremony is behind him (who’re we kidding…. relief is part of getting married….. that moment of “phew!! DONE. HONEYMOON!”). And SHE is drop dead gorgeous. Not only was she a bride that day, she became a wife.
Amanda and Rich made great photo subjects, but now, after 6 years of knowing them and seeing changes in their lives — they are a great family.
Because along came Madelyn.
The maternity shots were taken in our outdoor portrait garden and sweet Madelyn’s photos were taken at their home in Rock Hill, SC. We have to say – having families travel to work with us is such an honor and pleasure, but we also love capturing families in their homes, among the things they love. The Terpstra’s come to us twice a year for shoots and we love seeing them roll up in the driveway. Here are some faves.
Look at that little bright light – foot kicked out – styling in her jeans, gesturing and talking (she had a lot on her mind that day…) and ready for the world.
At Pixels, our greatest joy is being a part of your lives. And we mean that. Whether it’s newborn or baby portraits, engagement, bridal and wedding photos, your kids or family story, we’re in. Can’t wait to meet you!
catching dreams with Holden
“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. If they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.”
– Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The catcher. The saver. There are heroes in fiction and Holden Caulfield is one of the greatest. Care-taking, tender, filled with contradictions, incredibly quirky and loving while questioning life. The Holden (below) who belongs to Traci and Andy Pierce is surely made of all of those things; they’re just brewing under that sweet exterior. We defy you to look at this face and tell us he’s not conspiring to do something and be someone special – even in his sleep.
The best among us usually sleep soundly and well.
We were asked to create the Pierce’s baby announcement to alert friends and family that this little person was going to join the world. We created a Christmas card to drop the baby bomb and Traci’s sister wrote a poem to accompany it.
Holden’s father Andy is a pilot, so Traci set up Holden’s nursery in the colors, icons and theme that would allow Holden to dream of travels and get a sense of his dad.
We also took Holden’s 6 month photos and loved watching him with Traci, as they snuggled. Traci chose the all white theme and it turned out to be so pure and sweet. The Pierce’s bought our full-year baby plan, and we love being able to watch the growth over these shoots, not just in the babies, but in the families … how they orbit around each other, how they show their love for one other, what makes them light up. Capturing all of that makes our job the absolute best.
And coming full circle, we loved taking the Christmas photo for them following Holden’s birth in our outdoor studio.
Holden Caulfield said, “Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.” We know that Traci and Andy feel this way about their boy.
Stay young, Holden. Take your time. But as you grow…. grow up into a man who makes a difference. In the meantime, messing with your toes is a fine idea. There’s time for that now.
the huffmans ~ when you actually get what you pray for
When we met with Nikki Huffman for the first time, she asked that we capture as many moments as possible of her pregnancy because she wasn’t certain that she and Chris would be parents more than this one time. They struggled to conceive, as so many couples do, but with the help of smart medicine, they found themselves pregnant, elated and eager to conspire with us. We knew the Huffman’s were expecting before many of their friends and family. They wanted Pixels to create photographs for an announcement card (both above), so we happily plotted with them.
After following and documenting Nikki and Chris through the various stages of anticipation, there she was.
It’s always amazing when a new creature joins us on this little marble, but suddenly there was Harper … the longed-for baby and new member of planet earth.
The Huffman’s participated in our full year baby package, so we got to photograph, marvel, crack up and capture them all as Harper started to grow and move beyond mushy cute to curious cute to “she’s mobile!! look OUT!” cute.
A note: It’s rare that Dad’s speak up with a request. Chris shared with me that he had seen a huge close up image of a baby’s face during one of their many doctor’s visits. He wanted an image like that of Harper to hang in their house. Because of this, we created a beautiful 24×36 canvas portrait in sepia tones that was a close up of Harper’s face when she was sleeping in Nikki’s arms. We also created a keepsake photo album that included images from all of Harpers first year sessions.
We’d be lying if we didn’t say how awesome an experience it is to photograph a peaceful sleeping newborn and then watch her grow in front of our camera lens to a one year old who’d rather run through the yard than sit still for photos.
The Nikki, Chris and Harper Story has a happy ending. It also has a new beginning. Nikki is now expecting twins.