During the first couple of months of 2020, I’ve been sharing the types of images, events, projects and portrait sessions that Ryan and I will be focusing on in the coming year and years to come. We are moving away from being working wedding photographers, something that we’ve done for nearly 2 decades and the part of our business that put us on the map. It was and wasn’t an easy decision, but I thought I would speak from the heart about it briefly – because that is how “I do.”
A mere two years ago, we had a child added to our lives and he deserves not only our attention, but our guidance. We are not bubble baby people. Finley is out in the community with us, he meets many of our clients, he is sweet to his young peers having their photos taken in our studio and we haul him to Merlefest. This kid GETS DIRTY with his grandparents and helping around our property.
That is OUR responsibility as his mom and dad and it means making time that would have otherwise been spent photographing, organizing and editing weddings.
When we began to focus more on Day in the Life and personal documentary style photography, families and babies it was ON. I enjoy it more than I can describe. I couldn’t be more proud of our 15 years as successful wedding photographers and remember many times having to double book weekends and turn potential clients away. Wedding portraiture and wedding day photography require not only extensive amounts of time, creative skills, lighting expertise and flexibility, these types of projects require an enormous amount of technical know-how and our work speaks for itself.
But personal documentary portraits are calling to me and the more we take – during all seasons and with all types of families – the more I know that it’s where I want to really “play at work” as a pro.
Andy Warhol……. how did you know? In 1968, he said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”
You all don’t need me to tell you that there has been a democratization of creativity over the last decade. If you have a smart phone, you can be writer, photographer, philosopher, curator, documentary film-maker and archivist, regardless of your age, socio-economics, gender or race. Capture every aspect of your life, publish it to social media and in your circle you’re seen and known. I’m not even remotely “mad at this.” Expression is one of life’s most important and even most healing joys.
What I have found, however, is a disintegration in our concepts of and respect for experience, skill and professionalism. Companies like Voice Bunny, Fivver and even Craig’s List allow pretty much anyone – untested – to have a hand in what used to be professional work that people trained and worked to be good at. Again, if it’s lightening in a bottle, fabulous!
But when I saw a poorly dressed person (ripped jeans and tee shirt) show up as the hired photographer for a wedding, I began to wonder. She was not a close family friend. She was hired to capture what most of us agree is one of life’s biggest days. Her backup equipment was a single smart phone.
We knew how to adjust the light at the right time to get the shot that a bride dreamt of all her life. We knew timing, gentle coaxing, coordination of personalities and spatial relations. We never photographed a wedding hoping to “get lucky” with lighting, weather, relatives, or venue. We were always ready. Always.
Now if you know me, you know that I’m not an elitist, but I do believe in expecting that people will pay for experience, decorum, knowledge, cultivated creativity and true expertise. If the marketplace no longer values these things, that’s sad, but I’m cool with it. It’s time to take a break and reevaluate.
While Ryan and I are focusing professionally on photographing more community events, more babies, more family portraiture, more Day in the Life and commercial photography, we are saying “We Will” to some weddings, but are no longer promoting ourselves as working wedding photographers. At least for the foreseeable future. If you are what we define as a “legacy client” (ie: we’ve photographed you, your immediate family, best friend, or you have a strong recommendation from a client) we will consider photographing your wedding. If you want to reach out about your wedding, we can chat, but we aren’t actively seeking that business.
Thanks for listening and understanding. This blog may not have been the hike you were looking for – the quickie 1.5 mile loop – and you ended up on Mount Pisgah. My apologies. I simply love you all and wanted to be as transparent about the future as I am thoroughly excited about it.
Love,
Misty
Atticus Ford belongs to Micala & Tyler and mom Micala shared with us that this session was particularly special because it was their “first official moment as a family of three.”
A great deal of thought and planning went into the theme and backdrop of his session prior to his birth. Micala had a vision and Pinterest board, but her true inspiration was her grandfather, someone she’s incredibly close to. She wanted to dress Atticus in the clothes and surround him with items that would convey the man that she hopes he’ll be some day. His hat was chosen because it’s so like one that his grandfather wears. She found his outfit on Etsy and I had all the props to create the scene. Thank goodness for my love of antiquing, reading and thrifting. Between us, we pulled it all together.
Is Atticus going to be an attorney who shines the light on injustice, even when it’s not easy for him and his family? His name would certainly suggest that. Will he join the ministry and spread the gospel? Or is he a writer of fiction who illuminates the lives of the common man? These pictures make you wonder, but there is no mystery surrounding his parents’ love for him.
For additional images for their home and for giving to others, I stuck with classic neutral / earthy tones and textures to highlight his beautiful dark red hair and coordinate with his nursery. His mom thoughtfully shared their home interior and colors through photos. On the day they came to the studio, we were more than ready.
Atticus was good throughout the entire session. No crying, awake when he needed to be with great eye contact, and asleep when it was picture perfect. I kept taking pictures long after I’d gotten more than we needed.
As wedding clients, the Rash’s took advantage of our packages and received their newborn session free. We also shot their wonderful engagement session when Tyler surprised Micala with a song before proposing. This couple is really about making memories with a purpose and being present during the entire photo process. We encourage others to adopt this attitude and let a pro handle your milestone portraits … hint hint!
Atticus: we love you little man! Cannot wait to see you soon!
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
This perfectly pink bundle is Anna Sophia. She’s the second born of our dear clients Ashley and Oscar and we go way back with them. We photographed their engagement and wedding portraits, as well as the newborn portraits of their first born baby boy – Leo – who is so stinking cute it hurts.
We also met them in our favorite orchard to get springtime family portraits and to announce that mom Ashley was pregnant with baby number two.
Miss Anna Sophia finally arrived and she is – according to her mom – already an easier baby. She was easier to carry during pregnancy, easier to deliver, and now compared to her brother, she is easier to get to eat and sleep. Let’s just say she has loads of chill.
We’re not knocking little Leo, though. During this newborn portrait session with his new little sister, he was very concerned and Ashley caught a great shot of him watching to make sure that all was well.
On a couple of occasions, if baby Anna began to cry, Leo would run to her side to pet her and make sure that she was ok. I love that instinct in kids. Sometimes they just ooze empathy. Sometimes they bang each other on the head with metal toys …… but this is not that blog.
She’s plump and pretty and even grinned in her sleep and we are dying to get more images of her, her brother and this family in the coming months and years. Because Oscar and Ashley are wedding clients, they were able to take advantage of our free baby session and we hope they will make capturing milestone portraits a priority. All the families who have taken advantage of this continue to thank us over the years.
For now – g’nite little princess. We love 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 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.
This little bundle wrapped in hunter green is Bowman and he was born to a wildlife enthusiast and sportsman father and outdoor loving mom. His name has special meaning and we’re pretty confident that he will grow into it. Our recent shoot with this family was unique and a lot of fun. Put a teeny new creature in the midst of outdoor gear and elements and the juxtaposition is magic.
We photographed parents Kendall and Nathan’s engagement portraits, her bridal session and their wedding, so when they called to talk about the birth of their first child, we jumped into action.
Knowing his name in advance (yes, I can keep a secret) allowed us to plan his shoot as Kendall was busy creating his nursery. She was keen to have browns, blues, grays and other earth tones in his nursery and at our shoot and we all worked to make that happen. The results are epic, creating a sense of the 19th century West, Teddy Roosevelt, hunting lodges, campfires and the wildness of being outdoors.
His delivery was a fairly easy one, so at one week old, he came with his hunting gear and his parents. Mom and Dad brought antlers, but also a nod to their ASU alma mater. We love a shoot with a theme, even subtle, but this one was truly about this kid and his parents love of the great outdoors.
Sweet Bowman, we hope to capture some images of you in years to come with a bow and quiver of arrows. Or just come by our studio and tell us about your adventures. We’re all ears and love you already.
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.
Sweet little Ava enjoyed this one year birthday portrait session almost as much as we did. She toddled with her Mom and Dad all over an Ashe County NC pumpkin patch, with more wardrobe changes than a pop icon on tour. Great facial expressions – check. Cuteness on cue – yup. She loved sharing Zinnias from the fields, laughed at squatting on pumpkins, eagerly tugged on her dad’s beard while giving him Eskimo kisses, and jabbered away in her special language with her Mama. This year has been filled with so much joy in her presence. I’m excited to watch and photograph her in all the years ahead. We LOVE you, Miss Ava.
It’s hard for me to believe that it has been a year since we took her first photos, even though I’ve quite literally watched this child grow. Her parents are close friends of ours. We photographed mom Judy’s maternity portraits, Ava’s newborn portraits, an outdoor orchard session in blooms and a 6-month portrait session where this little nugget looks like a fairy in every image.
During the last 12 months, I’ve given Ava some of my very own clothes, some hand made and others hand-me-downs from when I was a child. My son, Finley, has shown no interest in girlie fashions, and to be honest, I’ve found it hard to resist shopping for frills for her while I’m thrift store shopping. So many options sing out to be hers, even though often I find that she’s going to outgrow them 10 minutes after I drop them off! I’m not even her mom, but the pull is strong ya’ll. I just adore this kid.
I also love her doting, attentive and thoughtful parents. I’m so looking forward to her next year ahead and all the fun, silliness and growth we can expect to see for her.
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.