Posts Tagged: original baby photography
Newborn Tucker’s First Portraits | Courage, Strength & Heart
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” -Lao Tzu
Mom Shanna had the courage to endure weeks of bed rest, 6 weeks in the hospital, including being inverted to prevent going into early labor and all after losing one of the twins she was carrying in the first trimester. All because of and for this little creature.
She and her husband Ethan, (revisit their wedding photos here) were certain that they couldn’t have children after Shanna had to have surgery to remove a very large tumor from her ovaries. But then she became pregnant and a whole new series of challenges were laid at their feet. Her time, pain and trials were not without an excess show of strength, love and bravery though, and that included a village of prayer warriors, friends and people who didn’t even know the couple. I remember being astonished and heartened as social media kept everyone in the loop about her progress, health, and concerns. 
At just over 20 weeks, Shanna was admitted to the hospital and put on strict bed rest. At 27.6 weeks, on August 2, she gave birth to Tucker Clayton Matherly – a little fighter in his own right. He weighed 3 lbs. 2 oz and spent 66 days in the NICU. Thanks to the Ronald McDonald House, his mom was able to stay close during the evenings while he was in there and watch him gain strength. Tucker visited our studio with his proud parents at 12 weeks old. His first 10 were spent in the hospital.
Shanna and Ethan’s deep love for each other gave them strength, if Lao Tzu is correct, and their deep love for their unborn son gave them immense courage to make sure he made it home.
I remember thinking after Shanna had been in the hospital for 6 weeks straight that if I had been in her shoes I don’t think that I could have done it. A small sterile room, the same four walls, family and friends on the outside going on about their lives, being away from her husband and home. And then having to watch her son from the outside looking in….
But when I held Tucker during our newborn session, talked to him, looked into his sweet face and cried with Shanna over this miracle, it was perfectly clear how and why she did it. God has blessed this family and my prayer is that he will continue to bless them.
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.
newborn baby boy’s portraits ~ he washes ashore to grateful & happy parents
Flynn washes ashore…
On February 2nd, 1709, British sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued after being marooned on a desert island for 5 years. His story inspired a book most of us read as kids … or at least we know it: it’s the story of Robinson Crusoe. Real quick – young sailor, impetuous, adventurous, defied his parents and sails to Brazil and Africa and eventually is marooned on an island and completely alone. He survives, becomes skilled, grows closer to God, picks up a slave named Friday and is finally rescued. Good book, you readers out there.
What does this have to do with Flynn Alexander Lundy? Precisely nothing, except that Flynn was born on February 2nd just over 300 years later. And he’s a boy. And with a name like Flynn, he’s got adventure in him – we just feel it. 
Kathren & Nathan Lundy (Flynn’s mom and dad) are a couple we photographed for their engagement and beautiful wedding portraits. Prior to the session at our Wilkesboro studio, we asked that they send us photos of their home so we could coordinate backdrops for little Flynn. And there was the sea – in foam, in depths of green and blue and a little sailor to place among them. Their home was filled with color and matches their lively and fun personalities. We loved matching our backgrounds to their palette.
We look forward to photographing Flynn and his parents for many years to come. For now, he’s resting up and dreaming of voyages far way.
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 babies and kids, 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.
Sarah Grace ~ portraits at 8 months with a girl’s best friend: bling
We humans measure time in a thousand ways. Clocks …….. seconds, minutes, hours. And calendars …… days, weeks, months. Changes in seasons, hash marks in inches on door frames, tire wear, grey hairs, dimming light bulbs, sunrise, sunset,……… and growth of babies. Their facial expressions, ability to crawl faster and then walk signal the passage of time. We measured Sarah Grace’s in photos.
Remember these pics of Sarah Grace as a newborn? She was as good as any Easter bundle could be. In November of 2015, we took her 8 month portraits in our Wilkesboro studio. Sarah’s mom had visions of her little charmer in a flower pot a la Anne Geddes. We all love those photos for their creativity and whimsy and at Pixels, we love props as well. This child, however, is not only too big now for planting in a flower pot, she’s a girl on the go. Getting her to sit still took creativity of anther kind. Still, we used Geddes as inspiration and integrated an old washtub, daisy accents, ribbons and lace into her scene. Way to measure time: she’s grown too big for a flower pot.
“I’m just gonna test these pearls and make sure they’re mikimoto quality.”
Curls, curls, curls!!
The pearls were meant to be purely a momentary distraction but pearls and diamonds are a girl’s best friend and clearly Sarah meant for them to play a primary role by not allowing me to take them away once introduced. And you want to know another way to immobilize a baby on the move? Dump her cute bum in a basket. Ways to measure time: it takes 4-2 trips scooping up a crawler and placing her back in the basket to get the right shot.
“This is my tongue.”
One of the things we love to do is work with clients to design wall art for their homes. It’s yet another way to mark time: photos of your kids on the wall.
We believe that we aren’t just capturing memories, we’re creating heirlooms and even in a world of selfies and smart phones with cameras, you cannot get the same warmth and clarity that you can from a professional session.
From the beginning, I knew that we would be photographing Sarah Grace for years, so I began scouting locations, taking photos of her home and special spots where the family has wall space they can fill with photos.
Through our own software program, we can design to-scale images on the walls and show clients renderings of what their photos would look like before they buy. Rather than fill an entire wall with just newborn photos, I planned ahead, so we are designing their particular wall to reflect an entire year of portraits of Sarah. We started with a 16×24 newborn photo as an anchor and then added two 11×14 images from this 8 month session. After her one year portrait session, we will complete this wall with four 5×7 images.
We’ll share the results with you when we can. In the meantime, we’d love to work with you and your family to take photos that will last for generations.
the journey of Carson ~ a one year old of style, substance and bringer of smiles
So, I’m just going to throw this out there. You’re having a sub-par day. Maybe it’s work. Maybe it’s traffic. Or it’s your spouse or kids or the news of the world. But you need a pick-me-up and cute cat and dog videos won’t cut it.
We humbly submit Carson’s first birthday photos along with pics of him from the very beginning. We anticipate these will goose your day up by at least 5 levels.
We talk about relationships a lot, because they are important to us, so I’m going to refrain from waxing on. EXCEPT TO SAY THIS: as it is with proposals, engagements and weddings where we learn about and bond with a couple, so it goes with new parents. We take the maternity photos, the newborn portraits, the 6 month milestone and then baby’s first birthday. Often, couples who hire us to take engagement and wedding photos stick with us when the kiddies come along. (Please ask about our package for this situation!) We started photographing Carson when he was still “baking in the oven” and his parents, Megan and Luke wanted some maternity shots taken on their family farm. Their farm is the real thing, by the way. They are no posers, these two, and it is land that has been worked for generations. ….. but that’s another blog.
After Carson’s perfect little feet hit the planet, we got the below and more. If your day hasn’t improved and you need more unadulterated sweetness – have a look!
At six months, the cheeks arrived, along with a trunk of hats, pants and bow ties from his tailor in London. See more. And you’re welcome. He’s hilariously cute.
And now, he’s one. He’s not driving a pick-up pulling a trailer – yet. He’s not looking at acreage and making planting decisions – yet. But he’s held on to his sweetness big time and it won’t be long before All Things Land fall on his radar. For this occasion – he was looking dapper, smashing his cake and enjoying his day.
Enjoy this slideshow video of Carson’s entire photo gallery.
one year in the life of a one year old girl – 1st birthday lemonade stand (and the vendor is a diva…)
It started here. She hit the planet in a cute bomb. We added the feathered head band and props, but she brought the pout, the languid body language, the laser-focused eyes and bored expression. Someone 20 times her age could never have pulled off that look without some coaching. Miss Ivy would have shaken it out of her sleeve – if only she’d had one.
And then THIS happened. 6 months passed and her cuteness turned to a pensive longing for a purpose in life. Just look at her expression. What on earth is she dreaming about? What is she plotting? Or is she remembering the good times …. all 6 months of them?
And this.
Then Ivy crept up on her first birthday and her parents, Kim & Justin Myers, had a plan. They designed a lemonade stand themed birthday party complete with stand, sign and big jar of lemons. When we heard their plan and saw cell phone photos, I insisted that we also use it in Ivy’s one year portrait session. We moved from our indoor portrait studio to our outdoor portrait garden in order to grab the best lighting and have fun with all the props. The kid is a natural.
Quick aside: Please know that we don’t mind if parents bring their own props. We want you to get as much use out of them as possible and coordinating is always fun. Ultimately, I bought the lemonade stand set up. It had to be done. It was just too cute and I know some of you parents out there can picture your babies and kids playing in it for their upcoming portrait sessions.
This kid is all about pink AND sugar AND dress up. The tutus have become sort of expected with little girls and with Ivy, the headbands. She also loves pop music, but don’t we all? The lemonade stand theme was perfect for her personality. You sort of want to dip a big ladle into a bowl and come up with this little creature floating in pink sugar and tart pulp.
Still Life with Ivy & Cake
Year one is in the books. Actually, it is. We created a custom photo book for the Myers to enjoy, share and show Ivy when she’s older. We had five (5) sessions with Ivy during her first year, and we are already planning and have scheduled year number 2.