Posts Tagged: creative nc family photography
Family Photos from the Porch | Welcome to the Community
The intersection of the Barnes family with the story of another young boy, Drake, who is battling cystic fibrosis can only happen when there is community. Ryan and I care very much about ours and we put our money where are mouths are as often as possible. For the 3rd consecutive year, we’ve donated a family portrait session to a silent auction for Drake, more specifically the Drives for Drake Charity. In 2014, the VanMeter family were the recipients and we shot photos of 3 generations on their horse farm. The Barnes were the winners from last fall’s auction and we took their photos in May of this year. Their young sons, coincidentally, are around the same age as Drake.
Trisa and Brandon, along with their sons Tristan and Tucker, just recently moved to Wilkesboro so both the area and their home were new to them. Trisa told us that her most memorable family portraits were taken on or around the family front porch over the years and their lovely new home had a perfect front porch where we could continue the tradition. The flag colored bunting helps, but between the house, the landscape and the boys’ scrubbed faces, it made for a fairly Rockwellian type of Americana. If you close your eyes, you can almost hear July 4th fireworks.
We wrapped up the session with a view of the sunset on the putting green at Oakwoods Country Club where “Drives Fore Drake” takes place, bringing the day and that sense of community full circle. While the Barneses are still new to Wilkes, we hope that inaugurating this chapter with photos, especially ones earned through charity, will make this place feel more like home for them. Welcome, you guys! We hope to see you around and take photos of your family as the boys grow and you all become more a part of the community.
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.
jaxon arrives just when we need something “BIG”
Below are your feet and they’re pretty perfect. That’s a good start.
Jaxon, you were born on July 21st and 6 days later, your sweet parents carried you into our studios where you were an absolute dream to photograph. You slept like a champ, took only a few little snack breaks and were as sweet as humanly possible. Your name, Jaxon, means “God has been gracious,” and He has been.
I would give my kingdom to know what you’re thinking about in this pic below. It’s the smile of a man who already knows something big is waiting just down the road.
There’s a great story about 2 brothers talking, both grown men, and one is getting ready for an important event in his life … a big, BIG day. His brother asks, “so are you ready?” And he responds, “Yep. It’s either going to be a HUGE success or a COMPLETE disaster,” and his brother smiles and says, “good!”
When the time comes, and you and Luke (and any other siblings who may come along in your tribe) are cheering each other on, remember that. Support the BIG gesture. I’m personally sick of the phrase “go big or go home,” but the sentiment is right on.
Dream big, succeed big, play big, reach out in big ways and if you’re going to fail, then fail trying to accomplish something that matters to you. Don’t just get by. Don’t phone it in. Look at that picture of you smirking knowingly and swing for the fences.
And good luck, dude. We’ll be watching with interest.
introducing “tiny bubbles” ~ Newborn Matthew Minick
Matthew Clark Minick is his official name, but he was known as “Bubbles” (by EVERYONE while in utero) and “Matthew Cutie Pants” (since his birth in mid-May) – both monikers given by his older sister, Amelia. At just 9 days old, we photographed Matthew in our Wilkesboro studio. His debut was just what we expected – sweet, loving, cuteness overload.
The Minicks are the family that we’ve photographed the most over our 11 years in business and they are now a part of our family. There are those people who show up outside of our family blood line and gene pool and feel like members of our tribe. Well the Minicks are these people for us and have been since we met Ryan and Rachel Minick 6 years ago for their engagement portraits. A quick check of our digital files show numbers of photos in the tens of thousands.
Matthew is the newest member to join their growing family – and ours – and we know he’s going to steal our hearts the way his sister has. The kind of longevity we have with the Minicks is, to us, a sign that we’re doing something right, both as business owners and people. Fostering relationships means more and more to us with each passing year. We love our clients and we love this family more than we can possibly say.
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.
happy father’s day 2016 ~ a little look back with humor and heart
We love our dads and Father’s Day is this Sunday, June 19th, so we want to celebrate fatherhood. The golf membership, neck tie, new leaf blower gift clichés were tired 40 years ago, so we’re skipping them.
And you’re welcome.
Instead of pablum, how about some photos we took of dads being dads with quotes that convey the depth and humor of fatherhood?
Here you go……
“There should be a children’s song: ‘If you’re happy and you know it, keep it to yourself and let your dad sleep.’” – Jim Gaffigan
“Having a kid is like falling in love for the first time when you’re 12, but every day.” — Mike Myers
“Be a dad. Don’t be ‘Mom’s assistant.’ Fathers have skills that they never use at home. You run a landscaping business and you can’t dress and feed a 4-year-old? Take it on. Spend time with your kids and have your own ideas about what they need. It won’t take away your manhood; it will give it to you. I did that. I spent more time with my kids. And I found out that I’m a pretty bad father. I make a lot of mistakes and I don’t know what I’m doing. But my kids love me. Go figure.” – Louis C.K.
“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” — Harry S. Truman
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” — Umberto Eco
“You can tell what was the best year of your father’s life, because they seem to freeze that clothing style and ride it out.” – Jerry Seinfeld
“It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” — Friedrich Schiller
“The only way I can describe [fatherhood]—it sounds stupid, but—at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you know how his heart grows like five times? Everything is full; It’s just full all the time.” — Matt Damon
“I gave my father $100 and said, ‘Buy yourself something that will make your life easier.’ So he went out and bought a present for my mother.” – Rita Rudner
“My daughter got me a ‘World’s Best Dad’ mug. So we know she’s sarcastic.” – Bob Odenkirk
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant, I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” – Mark Twain
“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.” — Jim Valvano
“Having children is like living in a frathouse – nobody sleeps, everything is broken and there’s a lot of throwing up.” – Ray Romano
“Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.” –Red Buttons
“When you have kids, there’s no such thing as quality time. There’s just time. There’s no ‘Ooh, his graduation is better than going to the mall.’ It’s all kind of equal. Changing her diaper and her winning a contest – – it’s all good.” – Chris Rock
“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” – Billy Graham.
We agree. Looking through these photos was a walk down memory lane as we thought about our clients and friends with kids – – – just how much these dads feel the responsibility of their children’s futures resting on their shoulders at the same time they want to enjoy every micro-second. This fathering thing is not for boys and we celebrate you men.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!
fresh, delicious & Irish family photos ~ soaking up the outdoors and each other
Something very freeing has happened during this past month behind the camera. We’ve always been focused on capturing moments, of course, but for some reason and maybe it’s the winter break, it feels like this is a fresh start. The moments seem more real, vivid and convey such emotion. Is it just me? Anyone else out there feeling a rebirth this spring?
We have loved Meghan and Jeremy Arnold from “Go.” In fact, we’ve featured them on social media quite a bit and if things continue as they have been, you haven’t seen the last of this sweet, loving and exuberant family. It started with one of the best weddings – Charlotte, 2012 and then daughter Berklee came along. They’ve traveled from Virginia to have us shoot photos of them and we’re so flattered and grateful. We wrote in a blog about their growing family that we were in for whatever was next. From her newborn photos laying in tulle with her mom’s celtic wedding headpiece, to her bright-eyed “WHAT’S UP?!” expression at 6 months (seriously, you owe it to yourself to have a look at both sets) Berklee has been a delight to photograph. Her face is so expressive and she is so smiley and wide-eyed and appears so joyous. She’s hard not to grab and nibble on.
We sometimes ask parents of kids this young and this insanely adorable how they haven’t just eaten them and they all look at us with these helpless expressions, as if to say, “it’s touch and go” or “we’re doing ALL we can do.” Meghan and Jeremy are no different.
From the bagpipes that played at their wedding to the Catholic ceremony to the Celtic details and finally to the little ginger Berklee, the Arnolds are Irish all the way. It’s been wonderful seeing them grow and as we consider spring portraits and the weddings to come we hope that this feeling of rebirth continues not just for us but for all those we’re going to photograph. To everyone: Sláinte!
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.