Posts Tagged: creative studio photography nc
15 Years of Pixels On Paper – Pt. 2 – The Big Move
As much as we enjoyed our chapter as a busy couple in Charlotte, running from wedding to wedding and meeting new clients, Ryan and I always wanted to live in a more rural community, be closer to family, and have a place where we could have a slower-paced life (I’ll let that sink in…. as those of you who follow us know, things have only gotten busier until recently). Our vision was of a small “Main Street” store front with a studio below and our home above it.
God had other plans and, as always, they were better than what we wanted for ourselves. We didn’t get a downtown business footprint, we found our forever home. We started looking in earnest in 2010 and by 2012 we were settled into our beautiful 160+ year old home.
And then the work began.
By this time, we were 7 years in and our once casual “hobby” was a fully formed entity. We had a brand, infrastructure, more and better equipment, schedules … we were legit ya’ll.
We transformed the house into a studio and showroom space and everywhere I turned, I found advantages, opportunities and ideas to make our business and our lives better. This took years, but it has all been worth it: the blood, sweat, tears, exhaustion and time.
I cannot say enough about how this place has enhanced our lives and made us even better at what we do. I could finally manage newborn portrait sessions the way I wanted: providing comfort, privacy, controlling the thermostat and of course the lighting and props. No more substitutions and “must” improvisation. We still improvise, but boy can I work better with all my resources around me and I love that we have spaces for clients to change outfits, relax, feed a newborn, experiment with theme, etc. We also added a vegetable garden (well, that is for us) and an Outdoor Portrait Garden – a favorite of families and perfect for first birthday cake smash portraits.
The more newborn and first year photos I took, the more I appreciated having a place like this. And we no longer relied solely on sending links to clients to preview their portraits. Brides and grooms, new parents and our growing list of commercial and business clients could come to our showroom, flop down on the sofa and see the images, discuss their options, if they needed wall treatments and frames and place their orders. It elevated us to full-fledged pros, not just amateurs schlepping our gear at the beginning of the process and laptops at the end.
This business, this home is so much more than a roof over our heads. It’s so much more than a studio space. We make memories and do life here, but it’s also a place of real creative magic. And it continues to be. I’ll share more in our third blog celebrating our 15th Anniversary in business. Keep your eyes peeled for the last installment.
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.
Merry Christmas, thanks & love from us
Christmas for us came when I learned I was pregnant. You take a breath, you say a prayer of thanks, you look at your body now as a vessel versus just your operating system. As a couple, you think, “Jesus, take the wheel.” We did all of those things. Being pregnant was exhausting at times, exhilarating when my energy returned, hilarious when I was photographing clients crawling on the ground with a belly and ultimately, it was the most profound transition in the world when Finley James arrived not long before Thanksgiving.
Photo ©Joy Davis Photography
As we said in other blogs and social media posts – and elsewhere – nothing turns your life upside down like adding another human to your day to day. We’re in love with him. He makes us guffaw in wonder, laugh out loud, say prayers of joy, thanks and prayers for help, and little Finley has reminded us how deeply important it is to say “Thank You” and “I’m Sorry” and “I appreciate you” and “Here’s what you mean to me.” Humbling is a word that comes to mind a lot lately, as does transformed.
For you – our sweet clients, collaborators, peers, family and friends – there aren’t enough words of love to convey the ways you’ve touched our lives, not just in 2017, but since we started this venture.
So as not to appear lazy and ungrateful – two things we are decidedly NOT, here is an attempt at naming a few:
Thank you for loving us unconditionally.
Thank you helping us through my pregnancy, for giving advice and for jumping in when he arrived.
Thanks for keeping us grounded when small to medium thoughts, issues and stressors ran the risk of becoming bigger worries than they really were.
Thanks for seeing us across deep waters when there WERE large issues.
Thanks for allowing us to indulge in the joy of YOUR families, milestones, and lives.
Thanks for letting us turn our lens on you to see the beauty of other journeys in our midst.
Thanks for doing life with us. We love your presence in the world and it magnifies our sense of scope at what really constitutes a full life.
Thanks for taking this journey with us. We learn from watching you, laughing with you, wringing our hands around you, breathing the same air as you and from the ways our lives overlap. Truly, these intersections are a God Thing and we absolutely thank Him too.
Merry Christmas to each of you!
With love,
Misty & Ryan
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 ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
5 Years of the Pixels Studio | A Tale of 3 Places (and dozens of stories)
From the day we found the property in 2011 to the day we celebrated our closing and received the keys on June 11, 2012.
This is where it all began. Not our business certainly, but the journey of the Pixels studio and the place we lay our heads each night. This place has three stories, if you will. One of them is ours. This home is our shelter and houses our personal lives and our day-to-day, holds many memories, celebrations and even more sweet, albeit mundane moments. Ryan, our sweet Chelsea and I love living here. You’ll see her in several of these images, by the way.
The second story is that of a living library. It contains the stories and moments of every newborn, every first birthday portrait, lots of teens dressed for prom or graduation, children and their parents, pet and holiday portraits and a hundred other stories that happen in a photography studio and outdoor portrait garden. This space houses our clients and friends. It houses all of you – in part. You show up at our studio to have a moment in time captured forever and you leave a little bit our yourselves behind for us to remember. It’s pretty awesome when you think about it.
After landscaping
The third story this place tells is that of an active, creative working business. It’s our portrait studio inside and portrait garden space outside and we worked hard to make this place inspiring for our clients while you’re here and inspiring for us when we’re setting up and after when we’re editing. “Place-making” is something that architects talk about a lot and we believe in many of those concepts. It’s important to us as creatives seeking inspiration and critical for our clients because we want comfort and ease for you. There was a lot of work, but it has really paid off.
Entrance foyer before and after.
Portrait studio lobby before and after.
The lobby walls and throughout the studio display wall art collections, canvas wraps and our full selection of frames.
With a house that is over 100 years old, there were plenty of renovations and we had a vision for our home spaces and certainly for the Pixels spaces. Rooms were remodeled, re-envisioned and repurposed and our equipment was housed and our work – and the possibilities for clients – were showcased. Looking back, it was a lot of labor done with a lot of love. We created an elegant space for client consultations and photo previews, a dressing room & bathroom (wardrobe changes happen, people) with a baby-changing station, and we transformed a large room into our portrait studio itself.
Client bathroom, changing room, and baby changing area.
The indoor portrait studio and shooting space underwent a major transformation.
The indoor portrait photography studio contains 3-4 hand-crafted photo backdrops that rotate seasonally.
Before and after transformation of our client preview and consultation room.
Our clients can see their images projected during their PreView sessions along with useful size aids to help during their ordering process.
The Pixels On Paper office work stations before and after.
And that is just some of how we transformed the inside of Pixels. We also have amazing outdoor spaces and getting them synced up with our vision took some doing. Seriously. Cutting, pruning, planting, mowing, sewing seeds: you name it, it happened. The best part is that we have captured some of the most memorable moments of families, babies and kids in these spots. And we celebrated our 10 Year Anniversary out here too.
Landscape cleanup was a huge effort in order to create the outdoor portrait garden
Summer sunflower portrait garden from start to finish
Our colorful outdoor portrait wall changes with every season
Unique outdoor garden spaces are ever-changing and being created for new photography backdrops.
At the risk of bragging, Ryan and I have created an amazing business space separate from but housed within this glorious old manse. It’s like no other portrait studio we’ve ever seen. It’s where modern work and technology meets a century of memories lodged in every board and room… with some updates.
NOTHING happens overnight and we were never on our own during this transformation journey. I could never name everyone in and outside of our families who’s worked tirelessly with us these last 5 years. There’s just no way. The boards inside and the dirt surrounding our home have been touched and trod on by so many. We’ve been blessed beyond expression and we love that we get to live in this place and that we are able to share it with all of you – even for a few hours during a session. It’s a magic spot where love and creativity lives, where laughter is encouraged, and where everyone is welcome.
Family portraits ~ 3 generations sustaining each other
When the late poet (and part-time North Carolinian) Maya Angelou said, “I sustain myself with the love of family,” she was speaking for pretty much all of us. There are exceptions of course, but even when you run away like another NC native, Asheville author Thomas Wolfe, you find that your dreams are always tied to home and family. How do we pull together? How do we sustain ourselves? The Johnsons are an example of what that pulling together looks like. They are tied together and holding on to each other through welcoming new lives and encountering new struggles.
Mary Jane Johnson, seated in the center and surrounded by her family.
Recently, we photographed Kristen Andrew’s newborn son Jaxon with his big brother Luke. They were delicious. New brothers. New besties. Then Kristen contacted me with news that her Mom Mary Jane’s cancer had changed. Despite the early radiation treatment in the Spring of this year, Mary Jane was going to need chemotherapy in less than a week.
Their family had literally just grown by two with Jaxon’s birth in July and Kristen’s sister Lindsay’s son arriving soon after. Mary Jane’s chemo would begin on the 28th and I got the call on Thursday the week before giving me the update. We all know that chemo and hair loss are wedded, but I promised Kristen that I’d find a way to get the entire family photographed on the Monday before chemo began.
“Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.” – Brad Henry
Monday arrived and it was pouring rain. Our plans for an outdoor session fell through, but with no time to spare I arranged the indoor studio with a backdrop that would suit what I knew about this fun-loving, country-inspired family of 10 and we made Mary Jane’s wish for family photos come true. She couldn’t have been more in her element surrounded by her husband Steve, daughters Kristen and Lindsey, and their husbands and their sons.
Chemo has been brutal and Mary Jane has already spent days in the hospital recovering from her first cycle of treatment. When the family returned to the studio last week to view all the photos, they were thrilled to have captured these memories. I hope that these images give Mary Jane a renewed energy and strength before she goes into treatment #2. Nothing will make you fight harder than love and she loves her family first.
“The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.” – Dodie Smith
The Johnsons are strong in their faith and prayer is going to be a big part of them holding together as they move forward. As we love them and pray for them, we hope that ALL of our clients know how completely loved they are. Chemo is tough. It throws everything and the kitchen sink at cancer. We throw everything we’ve got toward making our clients happy. If Ryan and I can be there for you and help you create a memory of a moment, we’ll do it.
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.
Sweet newborn portraits | Sawyer surfs in
“I meant to behave, but there were too many other options.” – Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
And it looks like he explored every single one of them before crashing.
The Pierce’s have a knack for naming baby boys, especially if you’re a book lover. Their first son, Holden, brought to mind J.D. Salinger’s hero from The Catcher in the Rye. And now they welcome little brother, Sawyer. Above is the Pierce’s Christmas card, where Holden announced that he was moving from solo to big bro in a mere 6 months. For Holden’s first session, he was dressed in a pilot theme as a nod to his father Andy. For Sawyer, the themes were both fun and summery, as he’s a June baby and we gave a little wink to his mom, Traci’s career as a pharmacist – with the wooden box we “cozed” him up in.
While Sawyer is snoozing in most of these shots, he ratified our experience that photographers do not control the schedule at newborn baby portrait sessions. This little lamb wanted to be fed every 20 minutes and was extremely happy and very alert during our time with him and his mom.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” (Mark Twain).
One down, one to go, little man.
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.