Posts Tagged: NC maternity photography
My love of details in photography
As we straddle the seasons (what North Carolinians know as “my new daffodils invited the last snow” season), I’m noticing the details everywhere. It got me thinking about the details I love to capture in my photographs. There is always a subject – always a story being told – but it’s the details that we hover over.
In that vein – here are some favorites. Happy Spring, gang! Don’t worry – you’ll get that hour back one way or another.
Engagements
Engagement portraits speak to love and the anticipation of your public union. But for me, these images are transformed when I can capture the small glances, the body English, the closeness between the almost married. These images take my breath away still.
Maternity
Maternity portraits are some of my favorites. Mothers in that mode of nesting and at their most happy, full and ripe. But I always encourage the father or father-to-be to take part in front of the camera. The union of the parents always comes through in the images and the details of care and excitement come through.
Newborns
There aren’t enough blog posts to contain my favorite images of babies being …………. babies.
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 License All photos are ©2022 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Oh, Dear Moms – Maternity photos
Currently, our son is testing me as much as delighting me. If you know, you know. They go from soft little bundles to opinionated, frustrated, little testers. I laugh, smile and pray some days, and cry, search for my sanity, and pray others. But I stay the course. Discipline, repetition, consistency, guidance, cuddles, consequences, and did I mentioned prayer? Those are all part of this child-rearing season for me.
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I wanted to revisit some favorite maternity portraits I’ve taken and remind myself that the journey is not one chapter. And so much of motherhood is a series of miracles. Enjoy!
Outdoor maternity portraits – including those with gowns, siblings, flowers, vistas, whatever – are an elegant way to capture motherhood. I know from the ladies you see in these images, that many of the portraits became gifts.
These mamas are perfect. They are all on this motherhood journey at the moment, and while the days are long and the years are short, there’s no better role to play than that of Mom.
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 License All photos are ©2021 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Expecting Baby Driver
This is not a reference to the 2017 film with Ansel Elgort and Lily James. Rather, this is a recent maternity shoot of a lovely couple in the NC Mountains. Macy & Jesse are expecting their first child, a girl, any day now. They called the pregnancy their honeymoon surprise, but will probably name the child something entirely different. 😉 They are the cutest couple.
The couple came to us when Macy was at 34 weeks and we met up in a special mountain spot, because this mama-to-be loves the mountains, loves vistas and scenery.
Despite mentioning that they are not particularly into public displays of affection, the pair were so touchy and sweet together and this helped me capture images that will become keepsakes for this family.
They say that the best gift you can give a child is a set of parents that love each other and show it. I feel good about the future for this baby girl.
Once again, during this session, I realized how absolutely ratified I feel about what I do and why. Maternity photo shoots give me such joy and every setting, especially these outdoor portrait sessions in the mountains – with Macy in her especially chosen blue dress, are just the magic.
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.
Expecting baby Triplett
If you follow this blog with any regularity, you’ve heard my sermons about the importance of capturing milestones because once they are gone, they are gone for good. Here’s another story from the file folder and it happened recently.
Tabitha, a school mate of mine, called me about her daughter Caitlin who is expecting a baby. She wanted to make sure that she had maternity portraits taken. In the past few months, Tabitha lost several family members and was feeling the sadness that comes from loss and the passage of time. She was determined that memories and milestones, especially for her own child, would not be missed. So at 34 weeks, this gorgeous mom to be, her husband and Tabitha herself all met me for an outdoor maternity photo session.
We met at a park where we could socially distance while taking advantage of the natural elements. I LOVE these photos. They invigorate me. I love the light, their smiles, and the sense of expectation and hope in a year that has been largely about challenges and worry about the future.
Expecting mothers have loads of fears and now there are even more. They want their own moms to be present during the birth and that is difficult during a pandemic. The new restrictions, on top of the usual anxiety, make pregnancy even harder. These photo shoots are a time to put them at ease and allow me to be an “encourager” as well as a photographer.
It won’t be long now before Caitlin and Matthew are holding their new baby and feeling like the world is shifting toward the light. A new baby is a blessing, even during the toughest times and I’m so delighted that Tabitha was so adamant about making this happen for her daughter and son-in-law. The images are gorgeous.
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.
Maternity Portraits to Come
If there was ever a time when an enormous dose of hope would come in handy, it would be about now. I see hope in the natural world which just cannot help itself. Spring follows Winter and the poets get busy. We suddenly remember that renewal, rebirth, letting go of the past and embracing what is next is good for us – body and soul, good for the individual and for the community.
Motherhood
I hesitate to project my silver linings on other people during a pandemic. There has been loss and struggle and heartache enough in every direction, but I TRY to deploy gratitude at least in equal measure to anxiety. We’ve been joking in our circles that there may be a spike in the curve when it comes to new faces on the planet. Quarantine has made time to – ahem – get reacquainted. If in 2021, we see babies born of a pandemic (please, let’s all agree not to call them “Covid Babies”), that would be just fine with me. Babies mean motherhood and parenthood, and I know what a gift that is.
Maternity sessions are perfect opportunities for using props, adding a theme or exploring a character. I have seen more than one mom-to-be dress up, don flowers, wade into springs, etc. They never disappoint.
Growing Families
One of the best parts of the gig: watching families add to their sweet ranks. Getting siblings involved before the new baby and after is a blast for this mom/photographer. I love it.
… and then babies
They arrive and nothing is ever the same.
And that, my friends, is a good thing.
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.