Posts Tagged: day in the life photography
Day in the Life – Finley & His KeKe at the Pumpkin Patch
Day in the life portraits are where the future belongs for some professional photographers if you ask me. I love these kinds of sessions. We’ll always need formal family and baby portraits, orchestrated weddings and milestone celebrations, but the juice for me these days is found in capturing the every day little moments. I love watching a day unfold around even mundane activities and allowing families to be present in those moments while I do the work of capturing them.
I carry my smart phone with “crazy awesome high end” camera too, but for this particular adventure, I brought what I call my real camera. I’m not throwing shade, ya’ll, but sometimes you need the right tool for the job.
My almost 2 year old loves nothing more than to be outside with his grandmother KeKe (my amazing mom) and if you add tractors, the ability to run and play – this kid is living his best life. On this particular day, when we visited Howard’s Family Farm in Harmony NC, he most definitely was in heaven.
Moms out there will understand how fortunate you feel when you’ve found a group of other Moms who’ll encourage, support, and entertain each other. I am happy to have such a group. We have a bible study together and outings such as this one with our kids. I loved being able to shoot specific images of them with their kids as well.
What do you get when you have a handful of towhead babies and fields of green? A documentary photographer’s dream. This day we had great weather and the cutest subjects.
Together with our kids, we had a hay ride, picked pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, played in a ball pit and the largest sand box Finley has ever seen. They all slid down a combine slide and rode in a cow train. I was able to capture completely candid moments, a whole day of adventure, and all of us doing life together.
My Mom, Finley and myself ended the day by sitting next to a field of Zinnias sharing a picnic lunch of ham sandwiches, tomatoes, goldfish and apple slices. I don’t care if it’s PB&J or salmon en croute, everything tastes better eaten outside.
I have already printed photos of Finley with my Mom that I will treasure as well as photos of Finley just being Finley. That day is already in the history books, but I have proof of it. I have proof of three generations of us exploring, eating and laughing, images that will remind me of what Finley was like just before he turned two, and I have images of our time with friends, that carefree day when our little tribe wandered around together celebrating each other and simple pleasures.
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.
Day in the Life Photography
The longer that I’m in this business of being a photographer, the more I’m interested in the non-posed sides of life. In fact, while I still love portraiture that is structured and more formal, documentary style photography that allows the mundane, the small moments and the realities of life to shine through has captured me.
If you follow Pixels on Instagram, you’ll know that I share our work and our lives in a kind of story mesh that feels authentic to me, and that is by choice. It’s silly, it’s real and it’s who we are as we do what we do as professionals. And, of course, it celebrates our clients and friends and our adventures too. Posting allows for more sharing of our lives and values.
A summer family picnic or images of Finley playing or asleep or dressing up are current faves. We’re just doing our thing and other families deserve this to, but with an eye to quality. So for today’s blog, I thought I’d share a few of the images I’ve taken that are favorites in this area of people just “doing life.”
Nothing would make me happier as a photographer and as a human than to be asked to do more day in the life images. I’m not talking about the stuff you get with a cell phone, or even the stuff you get with an expensive camera and an untrained eye. A professional photographer brings more to the table than her tools. I bring the experience of all my work, my trained eye and a quality that snapshot photographers cannot.
Day in life portraits have another equally important advantage: they let you be present. We’re busy and over-scheduled so being present for our kids and partners is a tall enough order. And people may sometimes resent being asked to be the designated photographer during a day out, a family reunion or holiday season. It falls to someone and that someone is missing from nearly EVERY photo. Having a photographer document the day allows you to focus on what’s happening instead of on composing images, trying to get people’s “good side” or chasing the day light.
I hope more families will consider day in the life photo shoots. You should enjoy the moment and let us capture the memories.
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.
Celebrating Dads | Father’s day photography
For this blog, we chatted with friends who are dads and they shared some of the things that they love most about being fathers. Seemed appropriate to go straight to the source.
I let Ryan kick us off! “Watching Finley’s curiosity with everything he experiences, makes me see things again in a whole new light. And that excites me again about exploring things around me, even the once-mundane things we take/took for granted.”
“Watching my 3 year old develop a sense of humor and timing when trying to get a laugh is one of my favorite things. She’s been working on her dramatic pause with “this little pig went to market” that just kills me. Also when she tells us that she loves us – it is pretty amazing.”
“Watching my kids become kind, compassionate adults.”
“Always being there for them but also strong enough to carry them when they need carrying and wise enough to let them fly when they need to soar.” (His eldest just got married!!)
“What I love most about being a dad (of two young ladies) is the way my children have challenged me to communicate from a place of self awareness and honesty! That and that I LOVE hanging out with them and hearing the many ways they are sorting through life! They are just amazing.”
“Empowering your kids to discover and become who God created them to be. As a dad, you’re not a bystander. You can enable them to really figure out who they are and support that vision.”
Happy Fathers Day to ALL of the Dads out there. We appreciate you so much more than we can ever 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, 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.
Day in the Life photography
We love the real real. Not the online consignment enterprise, although I know it’s fab – but rather, the sense that life is not airbrushed. Our Day in the Life sessions were born from that desire to capture families doing what they do without unnecessary makeup and wardrobe changes. We just blogged about how much we’re diving into this part of our business and how much we love living the real and photographing the real. Here are a few of our favorites.
Keeping it Real! Meet this little goof-ball who joined our tribe last year. Mercurial? Yup!
Here’s the baby of one of our favorite families just enjoying the tree most of us haven’t for decades.
Our photographer pals and peers, the Guerrants with their kiddos hanging out in a park was another favorite day. There was no major holiday – no one got married (pretty sure…. the kids are still under age) and they just fished and picnic’d and spent time together.
We’ve loved holiday portraits sessions, especially when kids are jazzed about Christmas.
Day in the Life and documentary style photo shoots are something to consider if you want to capture images of your family, but not worry about the posing or any stress some may feel around a portrait session. This is just fun – with photo reminders that don’t look dumb. Repeat that to yourself and call us.
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.
Exploring Family in Photos
Ryan and I love being parents and so much has shifted in our brains, lives and focus since the day our son arrived. It started earlier than that of course, when we knew we were pregnant, but the amount of time and effort needed to be present definitely caused a pivot – and it has been a beautiful one. We’ve always thought of our clients in totality – seen them in chapters once we’ve gotten to know them. They fall in love and become engaged, they marry, some start families and at each juncture, we hope to be there with our cameras.
More recently, we’re seeing The Cycle of Family, as I’m calling it today, with more clarity and joy, and the result is that we would like to spend even more time capturing YOUR FAMILY on film. Not just special monumental occasions, but doing life. We want to focus more on the babies and dogs together, the outdoor play, family in casual settings, you guys in the middle of being together, raising kids, enjoying the community of family and friends – cradle to retirement and everything in between.
99.2% of life is not set-up, well-lit and complete with wardrobe changes and while I totally made up that statistic, I feel pretty good about it. Life isn’t always getting to wear the new shoes or have your hair cut and curled. It’s just life and what we love so much about that fact is that daily life is actually gorgeous. Maybe not the oil changes or diaper changes, but I promise that if you spend it with those you love, the results on film will speak for themselves.
One option – bring your family together for a reunion.
Plan a Day in the Life session or two.
Invite us to your home during the holidays.
More than anything, we’re finding that the details, the fun little off moments are what make the stories. And what goes better with stories than pictures.
Consider a “just because” or Day in the Life photo session this year. We’d love to make it happen 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 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.