May 5th was a fun day! For Aryan’s first birthday, her guardians and co-moms, Stacy and Becky brought this little cutie pie to our studio and portrait garden to celebrate with a milk bath and a cake smash. Aryan’s family members are long time clients and friends of ours, and their family has loads of boys, so this was a chance to have a little girl time with their youngest member.
Aryan’s birthday theme was all about the color yellow and bumblebees, and Stacy sent over a bunch of items that were right on brand! She asked that I work my magic in our studio and I had a blast setting up the studio first. We’re all about boy stuff around here, so all of the cute elements combined in the space were an absolute treat and Aryan completed the picture. I just loved watching her little ruffled fanny crawling around! We let her nibble on frosting and cake, and Stacy even brought Honeycombs cereal to sprinkle around so that Aryan could graze as she played.
Then, we headed out into the portrait gardens, for her post-cake milk bath. The yellow theme carried from bumblebees to lemons and this little girl splashed around and cracked herself up. The whole scene was delicious, just like Aryan. I’m always so honored to have families trust us with their babies. Newborns, six-month olds, and first birthday parties are favorites for us. They mark time and allow us to tell the stories of individuals and families. I treasure that.
I am just so honored to be documenting this amazing family and cannot wait to see Aryan grow into a toddler next. To see more of our time with this sweet family, check out Aryan’s newborn and family portraits.
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 License All photos are ©2021 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
There is cute and there’s cute and then there’s Tinleigh. If you’re having a wretched day, get a load of this little nugget.
While we haven’t had our usual number of summer sessions this year, we have been able to meet the needs of families who want to celebrate milestones, most particularly those of their children. It’s funny, but some of these taken in June of this year feel like my best. I think it’s due in part to a combination of things including having more rest, desperately needing an outlet for my creativity, the children are more attentive in part to not being out socially as often, and all involved being more focused. The latest three sessions have all been photographed in our portrait garden under our favorite chestnut tree. Yet I’ve striven to make each unique and individual.
Mom Lindsey wanted to incorporate strawberries into Tinleigh’s one year cake smash. The only definite plan she had was a dress, and the cake. We attempted to locate a field of strawberries for our location but due to Covid those fields weren’t available.
No problem! I had a miniature produce stand and coordinating props that I used to create our own little strawberry farm stand. I do this stuff for a living, people!! I was ready! All we had to do was insert an adorable girl who was full of toothy grins and the results were one of my favorite one year cake smash sessions.
She’s adorable, and it feels like an age ago since we shot her newborn portraits and 6 month photos. She arrived cute and nothing has changed.
Our family and the York family have become great friends. Our son Finley loves playing with the older two, Turner and Tate. One of the cutest behind-the-scenes moments was when Finley, Turner, Tate and Tinleigh were all digging into her cake with their hands and eating icing together.
Older brother Tate had a little milestone of his own to celebrate: kindergarten graduation! Mom Lindsey was disappointed that she would have no photos when schools were closed in early Spring. We couldn’t dare let this moment go unphotographed.
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.
Some photo shoot themes have to be crafted and developed out of thin air. And others are a natural because of family hobbies, vocations, passions, whatever. For Barrett Spillman’s one year portraits and cake smash, the choice of baseball was a home run….. I know. I’m ducking as I type, but this stuff writes itself, you guys!
Mom Elisabeth told me her idea of “MVP of the Year” and to “run with it” and that’s exactly what I did. Both her father and her husband Isaac, play baseball, so this theme felt like a fitting tribute to them and a fun way to celebrate their one year old.
I love doing an outdoor cake smash but rarely get to because many parents prefer to photograph them indoors. Fortunately, these parents weren’t at all worried about their little rookie getting dirty.
We adore Elisabeth and Isaac and have photographed their engagement, bridal, wedding, Barrett’s newborn portraits and At Home Christmas. So it’s nice to feel relaxed and ready to play with faces we know well. This family is one of those who’ve hired us from the beginning and appreciate the continuity we capture through photo sessions over the years.
Now for some baseball! Thanks to our Parks and Rec director here in Wilkesboro who met with me and gave me full access to newly refurbished baseball fields that were otherwise locked down for the season. It’s hard to have a baseball shoot without the right setting. And thanks to my dear friend Ashley Shumate, the busiest baseball Mom I know. She let me borrow all the baseball gear to bring my vision to life for the Spillmans.
Barrett loved being outside, in the dug out, and on home plate and played the role of MVP as if he were born to it! His first birthday cake was a reward, so he was game for just about anything we needed from him. He was a good sport!
Those expressions during the first taste of icing are always priceless and rewarding.
We also photographed some studio portraits where Barrett wore an outfit that was a family heirloom. It’s been passed down and worn by other babies in the family turning one before him. Hence the need for these shots to be indoors. I wanted to preserve and protect it for future generations. That and it was 100% wool! To hot for outside.
Happy Birthday, Young Man!! We’ll see you soon, I hope – whether you’re a sports star or not, we’re fans of yours.
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.
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.
“I just completed my first trip around the sun. Time to start my memoirs.”
If only we could record even the obtuse, undefined, blurry world of a one year old, what an interesting document that would be. What would we glean about ourselves, our sensory experiences and most especially our developing soul? I would love to be tasked with being the documentarian of the Life of the Mind – Year One Project. Here’s more of our son Finley (above) and his first birthday cake smash.
Instead, we at Pixels document the first year from the outside and it culminates with a first birthday cake smash and/or photo session. See more of Sawyer – above – on his first birthday.
Gavin’s birthday party took place at our favorite orchard. Here’s even more from that day!
But it’s not all about the sweets and the mess that follows. We ask our client parents to bring other props or take advantage of ours and if possible, we love to take the session from our studio into our portrait garden and yard.
See a little more of Ivy’s first birthday and lemonade stand.
What we cannot provide in an internal monologue for your one year olds, we can provide in photography. See some of our other favorites.
And this little man below is Barrett. You’ll see more of his first birthday cake smash any minute now!
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2019 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
America’s beloved Walt Disney said, “I think of a child’s mind as a blank book. During the first years of his life, much will be written on the pages. The quality of that writing will affect his life profoundly.”
I don’t know what was more profound this last year of our lives and the first of Finley’s. Everything he poured out, we soaked up… some of it we consumed lovingly with no sense of what the heck was going on, but more of it with the greediness of parents who understand that time is flying. I hope we filled the pages of his blank little being with the imprints of love, care, tickles, laughter, confidence and some unspoken knowledge that we have his back till our last breaths.
That’s heavy. I know, but I’m his Mama and I get a pass. Want the sweet stuff? See below. We celebrated his first birthday with the traditional cake smash and he did not disappoint.
I’m amazed at the amount of growth and change I saw in Finley in just 12 months. We opted to photograph his cake smash portraits during his birthday celebration while he was surrounded by family. A few days prior, Ryan and I sat in the middle of the floor creating his one year backdrop while he played around us in the balloons. I made his birthday cake, following a tradition where my Mom always made my birthday cakes while growing up. When he is able, he will be able to request what kind of cake he wants just like I did. Traditions run thick in our blood! It’s what memories are made of.
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.