Posts in Category: Portraits
baby’s one year portrait ……. AND CAKE SMASH!!
The Prevettes are lifers with us… at least so far and we hope for the next 30 years. We photographed Lindsay and Seth Prevette’s wedding in 2008 and later their first born, daughter Macanna, as well as son Walker as a new born. This session, however, is in celebration of Walker’s first birthday, so we invited them to the Pixels’ studio and outdoor portrait garden in August of this year.
Remember when you were so small that your parents could fit your bum into a baseball glove? He won’t either, but he’s so stinking cute and now there’s proof of it. Walker’s newborn portraits were delicious because he was and at 1 year, he still is. The love of baseball was a major theme in both sessions.
I look at the newborn photo below and those fingers especially and wonder if he’s dreaming about music and thinking, “I’m playing guitar. I’m the band’s Front Man…. making brilliant chord changes that no one saw coming.”
BUT. Walker may be scratching his chest and trying to decide between throwing a slider, a cutter or a change-up and hoping to impress some cute girl sitting in the stands just behind home plate.
Walker’s mom, Lindsey is very laid back. She makes appointments for portraits and always says “just do what you do best and I know I’ll love it.” That kind of confidence and faith is humbling, so we pull out the stops. Lindsay mentioned that she loved the red wagon because it reminded her of her own childhood, and we definitely love props with kids; they help distract and promote creativity at the same time.
Unfortunately, nostalgia about wagons and creative props do not stave off fussiness with toddlers and after Walker got tired of posing for photos, he decided to give us the “You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me” speech in his own made up language that consisted of pulling faces, tears, and some squawking.
And then [harp music] the clouds parted.
And there was cake.
CAKE!
Beautiful, perfect, resplendent, decadent cake.
SWEET SUSTAINER OF LIFE!!!!!
After that I think we could have left him alone with it and he would not have missed us.
There were claw marks in the cake for sure, but Walker managed to limit the smearing to his cheeks, mouth, nose, chest, hands, knees, legs and feet. Success.
Autumn portraits for ALL ~ for your albums, photo galleries, holiday gifts and as heirlooms
We gear up for Spring and the end of the school year, especially if we’re parents, along with prom preparation, graduation, spring cleaning and shedding the winter stuff. Then we gear up for Summer — vacations, travel, summer camps, weddings and family reunions. And now fall is licking at our heels and this means a lovely, but limited, time for outdoor portraits with our sweethearts, our children, family and friends. It marks the seasonal change when the sleeveless clothes are put up – like the last of summer fruits and veggies into cans – and we prepare for the turn from warmth outside to fires inside.
At Pixels, we love all the seasons (or we’d live in Santa Barbara, CA …. no offense to you all out there, by the way), but fall has a different light in it and in North Carolina, it always surprises us. Whether our dear clients come to our outdoor studio in Wilkesboro, meet us on a greenway or at a park in Charlotte, in Boone near ASU, in the Asheville mountains or anywhere along the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway, the light is different each time, just like our subjects. It’s all new again.
We anticipate that the peek color in the mountains will be October 6-18th (that’s 2 weeks and then some) and closer to the end of October will be perfect for our fans and clients in and around the Charlotte area. We have props we can include and encourage you to bring anything that makes you think of fall with family.
Photos like these make great albums, calendars (the holidays are coming!), and gifts. Schedule your date with us as soon as you can. We look forward to seeing you and photographing you in mother nature! Contact us online or call 704.641.1131 or 336-990-0080.
family fall portraits – book your appointment today!
Albert Camus wrote, “Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower.”
[here is some space where you can ponder that wistfully…. ]
In North Carolina, particularly during the fall, it’s hard to take a bad photo outdoors. Everyone says it about their home state, but it’s true for us. NC is take-your-breath-away beautiful this time of year. Just ask the Chambers of Commerce and many tourist-based businesses.
At Pixels, we pride ourselves on taking photos that are well-composed and that capture the life in our subjects, both human and in mother nature. But Camus really nailed it. With every turn of your head, there is another angle of beauty, another bit of God’s magic on display. True to form, when we scheduled a family shoot last October off the Blue Ridge Parkway, this was the case. It was gorgeous out. The idea for this shoot was to get pictures of Kristy Parker, her sister Lorri and their respective college-aged “babies” to give as Christmas presents for their parents. So on the weekend of an Appalachian State University football game, the sisters drove from Raleigh to Boone to meet up with us.
These guys are a happy bunch and in the crisp air, under a blue sky, they were excited to see each other, goofing and chatting between shots. Kristy confided that this would be the first picture of her with Lorri since they were children and of all of them together in many years.
Outdoor portraits can be especially striking and memorable. And of course you get the pictures of the experience – proof that you were there!!! – to share and laugh about later.
We’re scheduling autumn sessions now and encourage you to book yours ASAP. Weekends fill up quickly and we want to make sure that we can accommodate everyone before all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey (name that tune).
Call us at 704.641.1131 or 336.990.0080 and we’ll get it on the books.
piccard fall family portraits – goodbye summer, helloooooooo autumn
Some of us mourn when it starts creeping toward us.
“Wait, what? We just got settled in and then it was the 4th of July and now you’re telling me to change out my closet and garage?!?!” “I barely used that new floaty, those new grill tongs, that umbrella for the deck, that swimsuit and visor I got for Christmas!” “We were going to go to the beach twice!” “We were going to cook out more with the neighbors.”
Others of us crave it … we anticipate it, rubbing our hands together like we’re practicing for that first bonfire.
But like it or not, summer is rounding the corner y’all; it’s time for Autumn – capital A Autumn. Since we’re making yet another trip around the sun, and summer will return, let’s focus on the good of this coming season – the gorgeous leaves, brisk mornings, fire wood, scarves, heated car seats, football, soups and stews and snuggling with those we love.
And seriously – NO ONE wants to snuggle someone in a sweaty tank top. And if you do, no judgement, but we don’t want to hear about it.
The Piccards were ALL about the snuggling in October of 2014 when we met up and photographed them along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It started raining when we arrived, but the delay gave us time to grab lunch and bond and when the weather cleared, we were able to grab shots of this family of 4 with wet leaves beneath them and mountain fog surrounding them.
We’ve got spirit, yes we do, and boots and blue nails, HOW ‘BOUT YOU?
We’ve know mom, Brandii McCoy for many years, since we’ve worked with many Charlotte, NC sports teams and Brandii is the dance and cheer coach for the Charlotte Checkers, the former NBA Bobcats, and now the Charlotte Hornets. She’s used to being in front of the camera, so we knew we’d get great shots of her and her lovely family looking pulled together. We also wanted photos of them just being themselves, relaxed and silly and goofing. During conversations, we learned that Brandii and her husband had never had formal portraits of themselves taken, so this session and our lunch with them made for a lot of fun for all of us.
The girls, Karsen and Adler, knew how to work it, by the way. Check out the crossed legs and ankles, the subtle head tilting and, of course, there was the unscripted cuteness. 
We look forward to many Autumn shoots in 2015 and now is the time to book your fall portrait session. Pixels has openings, but they fill up quickly, especially the weekends. We’ll want to capture the best pics of you (and yours) during the height of the season. Call us at 704.641.1131 or 336.990.0080 and let’s make a plan!!
fotos de una familia amorosa que celebran su miembro más reciente (photos of a loving family celebrating their newest member) photographing newborn baby Isabelle
Spaniard Diego Velazquez painted many, many portraits in the 17th century, but Las Meninas (The Bridesmaids) may be his most famous. It’s a painting of a painting and Velazquez even painted himself painting in it. It’s smart and layered, playful and beautiful, but it’s interesting to us because it’s not a portrait of the bride – but of all the others that surround a big event. It’s about the community of family.
Now flash forward 400 years or so and Pixels gets a call from the Castillio family asking us to take photos of their precious new daughter Isabelle. You know how much we love newborn photo sessions….. the babies are so snuggly and cute (and pliable! remember we often fold them into baskets, buckets, pots, etc.), so we were ready with all of the goods in our studio to show off Isabelle’s sweetness. The Castillios place a higher value on family though, so a coterie of loving family arrived with mom Vanessa and dad Henry. In tow were big sister Jasmine, 3 grandparents and 2 uncles. Family reunion meets celebration meets new baby portrait session.
We so admire these cultural differences, all the while knowing that family is universal, regardless of continent, language, or century. It just seems easy to forget during our busy current lives until it spills happily into your studio. The entire time we were behind the camera, there was constant conversation (all in Spanish), laughing, smiling, and hugging . They never stopped and while we understood little, it was easy to see that they were two families brought together as one, celebrating their newest edition. Our studio was awash in their joy.
There is no doubt that this little bundle will be surrounded by love every day. Her portrait session ended up including many of those who will love her and have her back for the most important moments of her life. Just look up and you can see that they all have eyes for her, are already grateful for her and making plans to celebrate, protect and cherish her. The pic of Isabelle with her big sister Jasmine snuggling her and grinning really touched us. How many stories will they share? How many late night laughs will they have? How will they lift each other up, store the others secrets and make each other better?
For the millionth time, we’re grateful for the ways we get to envision and capture families and what the word family means.
Dios bendiga a las familias que rodean unos a otros con amor. (God bless families who surround each other with love.)