Part 2 of 2 in our Best of Father’s Day blogs continues with a look at images we adore of dads and their kids and families. There’s just something about the scale of fathers and their children. I love it.
“I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.” – Sigmund Freud
“Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you, they are understating it.” – Mike Myers
“Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice.” – Charles Kettering
“One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.” –George Herbert
“Some dads liken the impending birth of a child to the beginning of a great journey.” –Marcus Jacob Goldman
Happy Father’s Day to all of the Dads out there. We love and appreciate all that you do, the big and the small, the tender and mighty, and how much we translate that into love for 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 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.
As a follow-up to our “Why Print Your Portraits” blog, I wanted to let you all know that now is a great time to return to the portrait sessions you’ve had with Pixels over the years. Since you cannot receive visitors at your home, why not revisit those days, events and milestones from your past.
You know that we can create cards, canvases, custom in-house framing and other items, but you may have never thought that some of the images that AREN’T milestones deserve their place of glory too.
Above is a gorgeous mom and daughter, but there is also another narrative that goes from maternity to newborn to outdoor family shoot to their 2 children during the holiday season. Consider an arrangement of portraits or canvases that tells that particular story.
Another option we created before and would love to create again: engagement to the early parent years. The Arnold family below are a photogenic bunch, but before they were a party of 4, there was a love story.
Undergraduate love at UNC-Chapel and an engagement portrait session.
Fairy tale wedding filled with joy and glamour…
Welcome to the family little Miss Berklee! And man, was she a cutie pie.
For baby number 2, a boy, husband Jeremy surprised his wife Meghan with a “formal” outdoor maternity portrait session. He even chose the wardrobe for everyone.
And then they were 4. Wyatt joined the tribe in late spring, 2018.
A little over a year ago, we captured them all in a fall outdoor picnic setting.
Yes, time flies, but that doesn’t mean we cannot mark it, rememeber it, relish it and surround ourselves with its best moments.
ALL PIXELS CLIENTS: if you would like for me to reload an expired gallery for you to review, just contact me. You can revisit those special images and consider adding to your collection of memories at home or plan gifts for the future. We would love to take this time to design albums 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 LicenseAll photos are ©2019 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
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
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.
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……
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 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.
If this is our 2019 Year in Review, then little Riley above has perfectly summed up how we felt at the end of the year. Contented and tired! We did it! I wanted to share the visual breadth and depth of what our year looked like, but that would be volumes… volumes of images, stories, back-stories, comedy segments, prayers and all of the rewards that come with this gig. It’s a full life.
So instead: enjoy some of the highlights. There are plenty more, but here’s a sampling of people and places we had in our lens last year!
Above: on the commercial side – we took headshots for Krusch Divorce Resolution – a wonderful firm out of Charlotte. The cozy plaid, attic bedroom was captured to promote a real estate project from Kathryn Lily of Kathryn Lily Interiors in Cornelius.
Below: Spring in the orchard, included prom portraits, the Overby family’s return to the orchard, baby Ava checking herself out in a mirror, the expecting Orozco family of 3 about-to-be-4, and finally little Miss Paisley in a fabulous tulle skirt. The blooms and trees provided the backdrop, but the people made the experience and results perfect.
Late spring, early summer is the mix we always hope it will be.
Below: senior portraits (gorgeous McKenzie on the left), several delicious babies, kids and pets, some commercial work for the Wilkesboro Town Council and, of course, Merlefest!!
Above: more commercial photo sessions for MBI Builders, Wilkes Community College’s new Culinary Building, architectural exteriors and real estate projects, the chef and owner of the elegant Craft Bistro in West Jefferson, and a special trip to the Touch-a-Truck event.
Below: more prom images of high school besties dressed “to the nines,” and the full-on summer portraits of families with new babies, those expecting babies, family reunions at mountain homes, and a couple getting married at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.
And finally, a round-up of faces we’ve known and watch grow for years, some very, very new faces, a celebration of high school and college grads and a destination wedding at The Biltmore Estate.
It seems fitting to start and end with babies. They are our symbols of hope, our reminder that life keeps moving no matter what and, let’s face it, they are cute as heck. Again, we want to thank the families and businesses we worked with last year. What a blast and a privilege and your commitment to working with professional does not go unnoticed. We’re looking forward to seeing all the highlights that 2020 is going to bring.
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.