Sibling Love – Part 1

It’s hard not to notice the kids, and especially the siblings, when scrolling through our library of images, as I want to do. We’ve been professional photographers since 2005 and when I’m organizing portrait galleries or brainstorming for our business, the faces of these munchkins jump off the screen. So I’m showcasing some pretty cute ones for you guys. We all can use a little pick-me-up.

“A sibling is the lens through which you see your childhood.” – Ann Hood

“Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring – quite often the hard way.” – Pamela Dugdale

“You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. – George R.R. Martin

“Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there.” – Amy Li

“Be nice to your siblings, they’re your best link to your past and the most likely to stay with you in the future.” – Baz Luhrmann


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

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.

Spring Outdoor Portraits

Yes, it’s January and yes, it’s a little brisk out, but as night follows day, spring follows winter, so let’s get ready for outdoor photo sessions.

Families have told me more times than I can count that they wish they had made time to gather everyone in one spot for portraits, if not each year then every couple of years. Time passes quickly.

Milestones are important but “just because” photo sessions with a photographer, one who knows how to pose, use light and equipment appropriately and can retouch and package your images is ALWAYS a good idea. I live to make the wishes of moms and grandmas come true. They know that photos today become heirlooms tomorrow.

Parks, mountain trails, private home backyards and porches, and certainly the Pixels outdoor portrait garden – all make great locations for family portraits.

We are ready when you are and can help plan the place, date and time. If you begin letting your family factions know that it’s time for a group photo session, they will be ready when the temperatures are premium.


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

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.

Family Photo Albums

Dear Kids: Many years ago, people would gather at the houses of relatives and occasionally flip through books of images. Members would point to pictures and tell stories about individual moments, people or places. Other times, whole pages could tell a story all by themselves. We called these books albums.

Ok, all light generational teasing aside, I am grateful for our technology that allows us to share with a click, I’m grateful for digital picture frames, and for the Cloud. We use these in our lives and for our business too. But there is just something about an album that encapsulates a time period, something you can hold in your hand and put on your shelf that is priceless.

Every year of our son’s life, we’ve created visual retrospectives of the year – in photos of course – to give as gifts to our family. We create one large album for ourselves and smaller replica albums for the Grandparents. These contain images of the big times, milestones and trips, but more importantly these pages showcase little moments that might have been missed as well as the “regular, day-to-day” that some family members were absent for.

This year, I want to encourage clients to consider having us create an album for them from previous photo shoots with Pixels. More than a few of you (most in fact) have hired us for a variety of shoots over the years. A one year or multi-year album that tells the story of that time in your life, the birth of your kids and the addition of siblings, maybe high school portraits through college graduation images, a series of family reunions or yearly fall portrait sessions would make a perfect album to keep or give. Every time we’ve created one of these for a family, we’re called later to receive an extra thank you. Talk about priceless!

Contact me if you have been a client of ours and let’s discuss the possibilities. ALL PIXELS CLIENTS: if you would like for me to reload an expired gallery for you to review, just contact me. You can revisit those special images and consider adding to your collection of memories at home or plan gifts for the future. We would love to take this time to design albums for you.


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

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.

Newborn Annabelle

In my many years of photographing newborns with their brothers and sisters, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a sibling so great in this context. These two little snugglers below are Penelope and her new sister Annabelle. Parents Whitney and Preston are long time clients of ours (and yes, have become our friends) and we loved welcoming them to our place for Annabelle’s first portrait session.

Penelope was so teeny when she arrived that we could fold her easily into her father Preston’s law enforcement hat! The same was not true of new Annabelle, who is so squishy and squeezable. She’s just a big bundle, it’s no wonder her big sister loved getting to pose with and cradle her.

We love watching these families grow, especially when we’ve seen the very beginnings. For us the beginning was 2015, when we photographed Whitney and Preston’s engagement session. We also were their wedding photographers, and captured little Penelope’s newborn portraits in 2017. We feel like this family’s Milestone Documentarians and love it. It’s an honor that Ryan and I do not take for granted.

Above Left: Newborn Penelope 2017. Above Right: Newborn Annabelle 2020

Hosting this wonderful family we love and respect so much at our place to grab outdoor family portraits and studio newborn photos was an absolute pleasure, and we cannot wait to watch these girls grow up (not too quickly) in the shadow of their loving mom and dad and the village that supports them. Welcome to the world, Annabelle.


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License

All photos are ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Holiday Portraits 2020

As we await 2021, we’re still relishing the time we were able to create Christmas portraits with our holiday loving clients! We built an outdoor set up with Christmas decorations this year. They came, they smiled and we photographed it. Below are some favorite photos.

Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 York Family Christmas Photo
Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 Shumate Family Christmas Photo
Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 Minick Family Christmas Photo
Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 Shumate Family Christmas Photo
Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 York Family Christmas Photo
Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 Parsons Family Christmas Photo
Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 York Family Christmas Photo
Wilkesboro NC Photographers Pixels On Paper 2020 Shumate Family Christmas Photo

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 weddingsbrides, 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.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States LicenseAll photos are ©2019 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.