Posts Tagged: Family Photography
Small Business Love: Waggles Pet Supply
Pixels, like the rest of you fine folks, is quarantined and trying to remain patient, grateful, humbled and empathetic. We’re taking this thing seriously and that recently has taken the form of redoing one of the bathrooms in our house. More on that later…
We thought it would be appropriate, since we are a small business, to highlight some of the small businesses in our area that we love and support, with the hope that you will too. I’m starting with Waggles Pet Supply! Oh how we love these people.
We partnered with Waggles a few years back, and with the help of generous locals, were able to provide 560 lbs of pet food to the Wilkes Animal Shelter. We offered free pet portrait sessions to clients who donated a minimum 15 pound bag of dry pet food to the shelter, and during the two-day event, locals and clients from as far away as Charlotte, N.C., participated.
Pixels has also photographed owner Kim Hatfield and her family (Terri, Rayne, and Journey) for personal portraits on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Kim is a close friend of ours and we get all of our sweet dog Chelsea’s supplies from her and it’s her where she gets a bath. We were the very first to take advantage of her curb service during quarantine.
We hope you’ll go to their website and follow them on social media and support them with purchases for your fur babies. We have to take care of each other during this time! Wash your hands everyone and stay safe. We love you.
We love graphic design and commercial photography whether logo design, brochure design, head shot photos, architectural photography or product shots. At Pixels On Paper we pride ourselves in listening to a broad range of clients and customizing our photography and graphic design services to meet each individual request. Our skills, styles, and visions come together to be a permanent record that either reflects an identity or delivers a message that speaks to thousands. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your business needs. Email us at mail@pixelsonpaper.net or call 336.990.0080 to learn more, receive a quote or to let us know how we can put our skills to work for you.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
How We Escape
At some point in the last 3-4 years “Escape Rooms” became a group activity, a diversion if you will. Instead of dinner and a movie or a trip to the bowling alley or comedy show, small groups of friends or coworkers would gather to solve a series of puzzles. If done well, everyone would be freed at the end to go celebrate how deeply smart they are. Pretty fun.
But now the walls we want to escape are the very ones keeping us safe. And we cannot escape because the governor and the CDC and WHO tell us it’s dangerous to gather to do much of anything.
So we escape in other ways.
The Case family loves to read. I’m a big reader and the books we’ve amassed since Finley was born are a treasure trove of escapism. We leave our “sheltering in place” selves and are transported via stories, through using our imaginations (we’re sounding out words already!), and trying to get to know better the characters that are Finley’s newest friends.
And we picnic. It’s springtime and we love our yard and garden and relaxing and snacking in the sun. Our first child Chelsea is a shade girl mostly, but it’s another group activity that keeps us from worrying about the many things that we cannot control.
We’re still finding magic in our home, on our property, through “pretending” with our kid, letting him learn to do yard maintenance, and by slowing down.
Sheltering in place means gratitude for shelter itself. This has occurred to me more than once. I am grateful for our life, our health, our home, our community, for first responders and nurses and medical workers on the front lines. And I am grateful for the ability to identify moments of joy, hope, and grace right in those very moments as they are happening. I’m grateful that I’m able to explore those feelings during this mandated down time.
The image above comes with its own caption built right in. If in the right head space, hearts appear everywhere. This house and place have mine. Every blade and square foot is positively infused with love. Many of our memories can be re-enacted in my mind, just by casting my eyes around.
Of course there is art time – another chance to tell stories, to make it up as we go along (aren’t we all sort of doing that???) and to cook and taste and get super messy together. This little bundle of “Man in the Making” is as tactile and kinetic a learner as his parents. His eyes and surges of energy tell me daily, “I want to touch it, taste it, roll in it and write the Government Study for a Summer Grant about it. Now back up; you’re in my work space.”
And in the evenings, we breathe in the flavors of another day lived. If tempers flared and voices were raised we settle our differences with hugs and apologies and a desire to do better. And guys – some days are tough. Norman Rockwell it is not! It’s life.
But more often than not, we retell our day’s journey across the virtual field (or tablet/laptop in our case) with those we cannot hug at the moment. I saw a great ad that said something like, “we distance ourselves now precisely so that we can gather again later.” And that’s really it. While you can, if you can, soak in the gratitude while marveling at how vulnerable we all are. Ryan and I love you all. Stay home, stay safe, explore and if you can share your escapes with us on social media, we’d love to see them. We WILL escape these walls in due time, and then we can gather to congratulate ourselves not for how smart we were, but how wise we were and how grateful we are.
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 photographsnewborns 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.
A Change of Focus
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.”
Our Life Shifted
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.
Ryan and I want our son to be fully immersed in the world – to see and show love and empathy to other people, to experience all sorts of joys, challenges and triumphs.
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.
Our Professional Passions Shifted
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.
The Photography Landscape Shifted
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.
At Pixels we understood the mosaic of skills it took to shoot a wedding: the technical, the creative, and the personal.
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.
On average, we spent 134 hours per wedding. That is just over 3 work weeks in corporate America. From the first communication to the last bow tied around the final products delivered, we were committed to perfection, service and dreams delivered.
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.
Saying “I Will”
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
Family Time – Portraits Together, Part 2
Hi Gang,
Just continuing to encourage you all not only to think about your families and planning a family portrait session this year, but to consider where and when and why.
Location
The Senter family wanted a specific woodland fairy feel for baby Ava’s 6 month portraits. After we chatted, I knew just the spot. If you have an idea in mind, tell me! I’m all ears and have been a scout long before I was a professional photographer.
The Overby’s love and have a generational connection to the orchards and we’ve photographed their lovely and growing family there more than once. If it ain’t broke……
The When
Summer and winter photo sessions outdoors are not off limits. The Blue Ridge, family property, local parks and greenways are all perfect places for casual family sessions. These only require a change of outfits.
The Why
The why is up to you. Why schedule a family portrait session? Because deep down you’ve been wanting to and this is the year.
And here are a few more reasons…
Figure out your place, time and reason – your where, when and why – or let us help and let’s schedule your family portrait session. In the meantime, contact me if you want to discuss your thoughts and hug those you care about.
Love,
Misty
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.
Family Time
As I continue to ponder the priorities that Ryan and I have for 2020 and beyond, family keeps coming up.
As a family, we are focusing more on time together and making memories, especially with our extended family who all want time with Finley.
Why a Family Documentary Session?
Because you won’t regret it.
When we have a milestone, we hire our peers to photograph us with Finley, family and friends and we are also encouraging our client families to do the same. Let us capture your casual down time together. These are not stressful photo shoots. NONE of our photo shoots with families are unless there are last minute changes and even then, we know how to laugh and hug and say, “you’ll be telling this story decades from now.”
Some families plan a day in a special place like an orchard, a greenway, a park, beach or mountain retreat. For these, we get posed images for the archives, frames and scrapbooks, of course, but we also get the more casual shots of them just hugging, chatting and being together.
I know I sound like I’m giving a sermon, but family is important and some of the best pictures we take, those that the family members love the most, are caught off guard or of people just relaxing.
Things to Consider When Planning a Day in the Life or Family Photo Shoot:
+ How often do you ALL get together? Identify the time and start contacting your relatives and friends;
+ Is there a special place that your tribe loves? Can you visit, book it or plan to meet up there?
+ Do you all like to do something together? Do you ride bicycles or hike or ski or go bowling? Do you have a workshop where 3 generations can build something together? Do you love to cook or paint? You do not have to have an activity, but if your family is drawn to the water or to the garden, to your alma mater or family business, let’s include that.
If your priority this year is a photo session that is easy and casual and personal, think about a Day in the Life session. We can help with the details and planning and we’re ready! Contact us to discuss further.
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