“Roman is ‘pure joy and his smile will light up a room.'” Thus saith the mother of three boys. So either he’s pretty delicious or she has become inured to any type of baby behavior that isn’t precious. I’m guessing that it’s the former.
Traci Pierce admits that her third little man is her most mild-mannered, even keeled, and easiest baby. As the photographer of all her sons’ newborn, 6-month and first birthday portraits, I think it’s safe to say that she may have one of each kind of boy. All different and all yummy little individuals.
Traci went with the all white dress code and theme – a choice that is elegant, much like Traci herself. We kept it simple, fun and easy. What mother of three needs extra tasks? You’re right, sweet reader…. NONE!
Older brothers Holden (4 years) and Sawyer (3 years) had basically the same palette for their photo sessions back in the day. The similarities in their faces is uncanny, so I encourage you to check out those blogs featuring them.
The little video packages we create are such a fun way for parents to share the photos from our session with family, keep for posterity, watch and re-watch, and of course use later as bribes.
Roman: you have a cool name, like your brothers’ names. You are already a classic. And like them, you have a sweet face, and some pretty awesome parents. Go get ’em, young man! We love 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 ©2019 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
This lovely new graduate is McKenzie Goff and she just wrapped up high school at Wilkes Central. This time of year is heady for new graduates, because they are smack in the middle of so much transition, change, and possibility. Milestones seem to happen weekly and for McKenzie, this includes acceptance to the University of Tennessee.
We’ve been friends with and photographing the Goff family for a very long time, including capturing their Christmas card images and portraits of their two daughters – both of whom have grown into the most sensitive, beautiful and interesting young women.
We’re so excited to watch McKenzie head to Knoxville to become a full-fledged Volunteer and begin her next chapter: the nursing program! Girl: you got this and we’re rooting 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.
Back to our favorite orchards we went on April 6th to photograph Mom Meghan and her daughter Paisley (nicknamed “P”). “P” got dressed UP for the occasion in purple tulle and a big floral bow and sash. The dress’s skirt alone would turn any girl green with envy. It was full and she wore it, not the other way around. The dress was a gift from friend and mother of 5 (FIVE) boys, Stacy Eldridge. Stacy is a long time client and friend of ours and made the referral to Meghan. I have to say, it is SO fun watching her with Paisley after being surrounded by and raising boys for so long. Stacey is Paisley’s biggest fan.
Meghan is a single Mom, who works two full time jobs and manages to hold down the fort and make ends meet and while filling the roles of both Mom & Dad.
I think I’m probably the biggest fan of single parents, because at the end of the day, what they are doing is what we’re all trying to do – create a healthy happy family. And this mother-daughter duo is only about a year old, but there’s no mistaking that they are a family.
Single moms blow my mind. I can only imagine their level of stress and exhaustion as they navigate everything parents navigate, but as a solo act. I really wanted this photo shoot to be about spoiling them both, so we made sure that Meghan felt beautiful, loved and supported while the divine Miss P got to run around like a princess in her own kingdom of peach blossoms. The ultimate goal though was to capture images that Meghan would treasure for the rest of her life. The results are glorious, vibrant and beautiful.
The afternoon and evening of shooting were a complete blast. Stacy and her partner Michael were on the scene to help wrangle the almost one-year-old, so there was a lot of laughter between shots. The weather was gorgeous and there was so much love in the air. This goes in my book as a favorite session and I hope to have Paisley in front of my lens often as we watch her grow into the beautiful strong woman I know she’s going to be.
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.
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.
So a couple of things stuck with me after this recent photo session (read: party). One, I love it when people understand the true value of a printed photo. It’s not because it’s my profession to take pictures, it’s because I feel like I’ve met a landsman… someone from “my homeland or country” who appreciates what I appreciate. I value printed images. I love seeing framed photos at people’s homes when I’m there. I love thinking of them deciding that that particular image was so wonderful, they printed it, framed it and put it on a mantel, office desk or bedside table. They thought, “I want to see this as often as possible and to be reminded.”
Two, it stuck with me that lovers of printed photos know that images are not only daily pieces of joy, they can last longer than a life.
When Ryan photographed the celebration of 50 years of marriage for Kate and Otis McNeil, Kate said “Not to be morbid, but truly a complement to your work: These are the photos we are proud to have displayed at our funeral whenever that day comes.” And she wasn’t morbid, or sad or even wistful. She meant it and that means the world to us.
Kate & Otis McNeil celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on December 8th of 2018 (their actual anniversary is December 22, 1968) with a massive party at The Event Center at Summit Square in Winston Salem, NC. So much thought, effort, preparation, coordination and love went into making this a special evening.
Family and friends came from all of the US to reunite and celebrate.
In speaking with Kate during the months leading up to the event to coordinate the photos it was obvious what a momentous occasion this was for her and Otis. We loved that it was not lost on them how important marriage is and what a triumph of love, commitment and fortitude 50 years is.
Kate wanted to make sure that we captured the party atmosphere, but she was especially keen that Ryan took plenty of posed and candid images of all their family that would be in attendance. So we coordinated family members photos prior to the event start time, much like a wedding.
After the event, Kate and Otis ordered images of their kids, grandkids and themselves and many members of their extended families have also ordered photos of themselves with their children’s families. It fills me up thinking of all those family members, spread out all over the country, seeing the same images from that day hanging somewhere in their homes.
If you take the time to celebrate a life, a marriage, a graduation, a birth – and you plan a gathering or party around it with guests and family, really make it an event – we encourage you to hire a photographer to capture those images that you’ll want to see on your desk and look at daily and those you’ll want people to remember you by later.
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 ©2019 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.