Posts Tagged: Outdoor family portraits in NC

Spring Outdoor Portraits

Yes, it’s January and yes, it’s a little brisk out, but as night follows day, spring follows winter, so let’s get ready for outdoor photo sessions.

Families have told me more times than I can count that they wish they had made time to gather everyone in one spot for portraits, if not each year then every couple of years. Time passes quickly.

Milestones are important but “just because” photo sessions with a photographer, one who knows how to pose, use light and equipment appropriately and can retouch and package your images is ALWAYS a good idea. I live to make the wishes of moms and grandmas come true. They know that photos today become heirlooms tomorrow.

Parks, mountain trails, private home backyards and porches, and certainly the Pixels outdoor portrait garden – all make great locations for family portraits.

We are ready when you are and can help plan the place, date and time. If you begin letting your family factions know that it’s time for a group photo session, they will be ready when the temperatures are premium.


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 weddingsbrides, 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 ©2021 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Newborn Annabelle

In my many years of photographing newborns with their brothers and sisters, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a sibling so great in this context. These two little snugglers below are Penelope and her new sister Annabelle. Parents Whitney and Preston are long time clients of ours (and yes, have become our friends) and we loved welcoming them to our place for Annabelle’s first portrait session.

Penelope was so teeny when she arrived that we could fold her easily into her father Preston’s law enforcement hat! The same was not true of new Annabelle, who is so squishy and squeezable. She’s just a big bundle, it’s no wonder her big sister loved getting to pose with and cradle her.

We love watching these families grow, especially when we’ve seen the very beginnings. For us the beginning was 2015, when we photographed Whitney and Preston’s engagement session. We also were their wedding photographers, and captured little Penelope’s newborn portraits in 2017. We feel like this family’s Milestone Documentarians and love it. It’s an honor that Ryan and I do not take for granted.

Above Left: Newborn Penelope 2017. Above Right: Newborn Annabelle 2020

Hosting this wonderful family we love and respect so much at our place to grab outdoor family portraits and studio newborn photos was an absolute pleasure, and we cannot wait to watch these girls grow up (not too quickly) in the shadow of their loving mom and dad and the village that supports them. Welcome to the world, Annabelle.


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 weddingsbrides, 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 ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Rusty and McKenzie

Why not celebrate your first wedding anniversary wandering outside during another family photo session? Exactly! And that’s just what we were able to do with Rusty and McKenzie.

We recently photographed Rusty and McKenzie Wood while photographing them with their immediate and extended family. While we were all out and gathered, and when we learned that Rusty and McKenzie were about to celebrate one year together. They were so cute and I’m glad we were able to pull them away.

These two are so cute together, so chill and relaxed and we loved being able to give them time to themselves to smooch and get some attention. It hasn’t been the easiest year to be newlyweds, so we hope these images can give them a shot in the arm, … so to speak.


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

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.

Eldridge and Wood Families

We have officially been photographing Stacy Eldridge, her five boys, extended family, and adopted family for a decade. Stacy and her boyfriend Michael have a blended tribe, but Stacy is the force and the anchor. She has help, but this tough lady is the tip of the spear.

We photographed the family first in 2010, again in 2014 and even more recently as these boys were turning into men.

These images were taken at the family farm where we’ve photographed them before, for senior portraits and family shots.

On this day, Michael’s son Rusty and bride McKenzie also joined us. The couple have been married for just a year and we captured images of them separately as well so look for a blog about them in the coming weeks.

Above are images of Stacy’s five boys, 10 years apart. I remember Ryan laying on his back to get the first one in 2010 … all of those cute faces. These guys’ personalities have stayed the same, but they’ve grown up so very much too. At this age, with teenagers and beyond, there is still teasing and rough housing and crude joke telling, but their bond is strong and I see that as one of Stacy’s big triumphs.

Above are Stacy and Michael with Miss P and Aaryn, who they are helping raise. Below are Rusty and McKensie who just celebrated their first anniversary as husband and wife.

Stacy and I have really gotten to know each other over the last 10 years, but my first memory of her is as this seriously amazing single mother of 5 boys. To this day, she never stops. She also works on a chicken farm and is a full-time nurse while raising a family. She and Michael are also helping raise two little girls, Paisley – or Miss P – and Aaryn, whose newborn portraits we shot recently. Stacy has such bandwidth for helping, for encouragement, for no nonsense and for care. The woman is remarkable and I am so proud to know her.


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

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.

Roark, Lovell and Triplett Families combined

We gathered with four generations of a family for a fall portrait session and these always remind me of the connectedness we have, but so rarely feel until there is a holiday or a special occasion. In this particular instance, it was Tabitha Lovell’s desire to capture her family together after a few members passed away recently. That sense of unexpected loss propelled her and we’re so happy to have been able to take these outdoor portraits for her and for all members of these families.

We’d recently photographed the newborn portraits of Miss Gracelynn, daughter of Matthew and Caitlin. On this day, the trio were joined by Caitlyn’s mom Tabitha, dad Roger and brother Zach, as well as Tabitha’s parents Mr & Mrs. Roark.

The property where we met is a campground long-maintained by Roger and his family and is a special place for everyone. There were so many beautiful spots to choose from for groupings and individual portraits. The day had a reunion feeling, because – as I’ve covered before – it’s hard enough to find a date, time and place for everyone to meet up, but during a pandemic it’s a real hat trick.

I love the images of the new parents with Gracelynn, and with new grandparents Tabitha and Roger (below) and Gracelynn being held by her Uncle Zach (above). That baby was the shining star and everyone wanted to hold her.

We began designing a wall of images for Tabitha’s home even before Gracelynn’s newborn session, and new Gramma was keen to get everyone together for more portraits to complete her vision. Now that we have all of these, we’ve finished our plan and she has a beautiful home gallery filled with family.

If you are separated by Covid, distance or any other reason and would like to gather everyone together for a session, we would be honored to photograph your family for posterity.


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.