Posts Tagged: Outdoor family photography
baby’s one year portrait ……. AND CAKE SMASH!!
The Prevettes are lifers with us… at least so far and we hope for the next 30 years. We photographed Lindsay and Seth Prevette’s wedding in 2008 and later their first born, daughter Macanna, as well as son Walker as a new born. This session, however, is in celebration of Walker’s first birthday, so we invited them to the Pixels’ studio and outdoor portrait garden in August of this year.
Remember when you were so small that your parents could fit your bum into a baseball glove? He won’t either, but he’s so stinking cute and now there’s proof of it. Walker’s newborn portraits were delicious because he was and at 1 year, he still is. The love of baseball was a major theme in both sessions.
I look at the newborn photo below and those fingers especially and wonder if he’s dreaming about music and thinking, “I’m playing guitar. I’m the band’s Front Man…. making brilliant chord changes that no one saw coming.”
BUT. Walker may be scratching his chest and trying to decide between throwing a slider, a cutter or a change-up and hoping to impress some cute girl sitting in the stands just behind home plate.
Walker’s mom, Lindsey is very laid back. She makes appointments for portraits and always says “just do what you do best and I know I’ll love it.” That kind of confidence and faith is humbling, so we pull out the stops. Lindsay mentioned that she loved the red wagon because it reminded her of her own childhood, and we definitely love props with kids; they help distract and promote creativity at the same time.
Unfortunately, nostalgia about wagons and creative props do not stave off fussiness with toddlers and after Walker got tired of posing for photos, he decided to give us the “You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me” speech in his own made up language that consisted of pulling faces, tears, and some squawking.
And then [harp music] the clouds parted.
And there was cake.
CAKE!
Beautiful, perfect, resplendent, decadent cake.
SWEET SUSTAINER OF LIFE!!!!!
After that I think we could have left him alone with it and he would not have missed us.
There were claw marks in the cake for sure, but Walker managed to limit the smearing to his cheeks, mouth, nose, chest, hands, knees, legs and feet. Success.
the meade family ~ a visual narrative
A dear friend of ours tells a story about coming home to his very young sons one evening, the oldest of which was around 4 years old. The sitter left a note that was found later saying that she’d prompted the boy about how much he loved bears. She took the time to write down, “he said adamantly, ‘I don’t love bears!!! I love my daddy!”
Our pal still has the note, even though his son is now in his 20s.
What if she hadn’t taken the time to write down that little moment, that little throw away comment? It would be gone.
This life of ours is a continuum, isn’t it? At any given time, bits can be solidified or lost.
We do our part at Pixels On Paper Photography to help with this by being your journalists, and sometimes archivists, of sorts. We capture and catalog your family by establishing a set time, a studio, amazing outdoor settings, imagination, photos and a great amount of care.
The Meade family continuum has been a blessing to us. We first photographed them in 2010, in a field near a family farm in the NC Mountains.
2 years later, we took pictures of their newborn second child, Alarie – a bundle of sugar that put all of us dangerously close to becoming diabetic.
Our third session was in the fall of 2013 near the Blue Ridge Parkway and Blowing Rock, and their last session in the summer of 2014, included pictures of Carisa, Bradley, Slater (their eldest and boy-man) and Alarie. Mom, Carisa told us, “it’s a blessing to watch our two children interact, and show their love for one another. This summer session revealed a great example of sibling love, and capturing those moments was priceless!”
Slater and Alarie are a study in complete opposites. Slater is a 40 year old man stored handily in the body of a 6 year old. He is the only child that age we know who worries more about others more than he worries about himself. He’s an old soul combined with great parenting.
Alarie could not be more different. She is fearless, silly and may have Red Bull running in her veins where there should be blood. We’re waiting to hear back from her pediatrician. She will take on anything at any time. She finds trouble, gets into it and when punishment is doled out, leaves Slater often saying, “well I guess now we’re not going to be allowed to [fill in something fun here].”
They love each other though. All 4 of them and it shows. Can’t you tell?
We asked Mom, Carisa: What do you want to remember most or tell yourself when you look back at these photos in 5 years?
“To be very thankful we captured these special moments that I can’t ever go back to relive.”
The Meade’s have committed to this concept by having us create a wall in their home of some of these captured moments.
We could not be more proud to be their journalists and archivists.
We’re looking forward to seeing them this summer and for many more to come!