Posts Tagged: Pixels On Paper Photography
A Change of Focus
During the first couple of months of 2020, I’ve been sharing the types of images, events, projects and portrait sessions that Ryan and I will be focusing on in the coming year and years to come. We are moving away from being working wedding photographers, something that we’ve done for nearly 2 decades and the part of our business that put us on the map. It was and wasn’t an easy decision, but I thought I would speak from the heart about it briefly – because that is how “I do.”
Our Life Shifted
A mere two years ago, we had a child added to our lives and he deserves not only our attention, but our guidance. We are not bubble baby people. Finley is out in the community with us, he meets many of our clients, he is sweet to his young peers having their photos taken in our studio and we haul him to Merlefest. This kid GETS DIRTY with his grandparents and helping around our property.
Ryan and I want our son to be fully immersed in the world – to see and show love and empathy to other people, to experience all sorts of joys, challenges and triumphs.
That is OUR responsibility as his mom and dad and it means making time that would have otherwise been spent photographing, organizing and editing weddings.
Our Professional Passions Shifted
When we began to focus more on Day in the Life and personal documentary style photography, families and babies it was ON. I enjoy it more than I can describe. I couldn’t be more proud of our 15 years as successful wedding photographers and remember many times having to double book weekends and turn potential clients away. Wedding portraiture and wedding day photography require not only extensive amounts of time, creative skills, lighting expertise and flexibility, these types of projects require an enormous amount of technical know-how and our work speaks for itself.
But personal documentary portraits are calling to me and the more we take – during all seasons and with all types of families – the more I know that it’s where I want to really “play at work” as a pro.
The Photography Landscape Shifted
Andy Warhol……. how did you know? In 1968, he said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”
You all don’t need me to tell you that there has been a democratization of creativity over the last decade. If you have a smart phone, you can be writer, photographer, philosopher, curator, documentary film-maker and archivist, regardless of your age, socio-economics, gender or race. Capture every aspect of your life, publish it to social media and in your circle you’re seen and known. I’m not even remotely “mad at this.” Expression is one of life’s most important and even most healing joys.
What I have found, however, is a disintegration in our concepts of and respect for experience, skill and professionalism. Companies like Voice Bunny, Fivver and even Craig’s List allow pretty much anyone – untested – to have a hand in what used to be professional work that people trained and worked to be good at. Again, if it’s lightening in a bottle, fabulous!
But when I saw a poorly dressed person (ripped jeans and tee shirt) show up as the hired photographer for a wedding, I began to wonder. She was not a close family friend. She was hired to capture what most of us agree is one of life’s biggest days. Her backup equipment was a single smart phone.
At Pixels we understood the mosaic of skills it took to shoot a wedding: the technical, the creative, and the personal.
We knew how to adjust the light at the right time to get the shot that a bride dreamt of all her life. We knew timing, gentle coaxing, coordination of personalities and spatial relations. We never photographed a wedding hoping to “get lucky” with lighting, weather, relatives, or venue. We were always ready. Always.
On average, we spent 134 hours per wedding. That is just over 3 work weeks in corporate America. From the first communication to the last bow tied around the final products delivered, we were committed to perfection, service and dreams delivered.
Now if you know me, you know that I’m not an elitist, but I do believe in expecting that people will pay for experience, decorum, knowledge, cultivated creativity and true expertise. If the marketplace no longer values these things, that’s sad, but I’m cool with it. It’s time to take a break and reevaluate.
Saying “I Will”
While Ryan and I are focusing professionally on photographing more community events, more babies, more family portraiture, more Day in the Life and commercial photography, we are saying “We Will” to some weddings, but are no longer promoting ourselves as working wedding photographers. At least for the foreseeable future. If you are what we define as a “legacy client” (ie: we’ve photographed you, your immediate family, best friend, or you have a strong recommendation from a client) we will consider photographing your wedding. If you want to reach out about your wedding, we can chat, but we aren’t actively seeking that business.
Thanks for listening and understanding. This blog may not have been the hike you were looking for – the quickie 1.5 mile loop – and you ended up on Mount Pisgah. My apologies. I simply love you all and wanted to be as transparent about the future as I am thoroughly excited about it.
Love,
Misty
Flashback blog: What to Wear to your portrait session
We’ve been promoting our Pixels portrait sessions for families, prom, day in the life and most recently our orchard sessions.
As you are thinking about planning your session, click this link for a little refresher about what to wear when having professional portraits taken. Spoiler: it’s a no stress 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, 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.
Family Time
As I continue to ponder the priorities that Ryan and I have for 2020 and beyond, family keeps coming up.
As a family, we are focusing more on time together and making memories, especially with our extended family who all want time with Finley.
Why a Family Documentary Session?
Because you won’t regret it.
When we have a milestone, we hire our peers to photograph us with Finley, family and friends and we are also encouraging our client families to do the same. Let us capture your casual down time together. These are not stressful photo shoots. NONE of our photo shoots with families are unless there are last minute changes and even then, we know how to laugh and hug and say, “you’ll be telling this story decades from now.”
Some families plan a day in a special place like an orchard, a greenway, a park, beach or mountain retreat. For these, we get posed images for the archives, frames and scrapbooks, of course, but we also get the more casual shots of them just hugging, chatting and being together.
I know I sound like I’m giving a sermon, but family is important and some of the best pictures we take, those that the family members love the most, are caught off guard or of people just relaxing.
Things to Consider When Planning a Day in the Life or Family Photo Shoot:
+ How often do you ALL get together? Identify the time and start contacting your relatives and friends;
+ Is there a special place that your tribe loves? Can you visit, book it or plan to meet up there?
+ Do you all like to do something together? Do you ride bicycles or hike or ski or go bowling? Do you have a workshop where 3 generations can build something together? Do you love to cook or paint? You do not have to have an activity, but if your family is drawn to the water or to the garden, to your alma mater or family business, let’s include that.
If your priority this year is a photo session that is easy and casual and personal, think about a Day in the Life session. We can help with the details and planning and we’re ready! Contact us to discuss further.
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
A Photographer’s Inspirations
Or I could call this blog, “merely a glance” at my inspirations. They are varied and plentiful. That’s rights, kids – I’m doing another little blog flashback today.
My brain’s slideshow of memories, my new normal (think: I gotta 2 year old in the house!!), my priorities and goals have me feeling contemplative. And the good news is that I’ve been renewed by this thinking about what inspires me and what I love about my crazy life. That’s not a bad place to be. I’d rather feel hopeful, even when I’m exhausted, than joyless. “Did I get it all done today?” NOPE. But, but did my husband and son feel loved? Yes. Did I share a giggle with my mom over the phone? I did. Was I available to give a pep talk to my girlfriend in Asheville? Yup! Days like that when I am productive AND RELATIONAL get marked with an “A” grade and I call it good.
As I’ve mentioned in recent blogs, Ryan and I will be focusing more on relationships and the kind of photography that allows those to thrive: day in the life, family, children, community, and those milestones that may not be first on the list in people’s minds. We’ll be tapering off certain types of photography to make room for the abundance of other work that brings us joy and keeps us sane.
I’ll be sharing more in the weeks ahead, but for now, I want to take a look back at a blog I wrote a while back titled Things I Love to Think About. It still makes me smile.
I hope you all will do the same today. What inspires you? What do you love to think about? Spend a minute in that place in your mind once you’ve identified it…. even a minute. You’ll feel better.
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
Inspirations for 2020
Ryan and I are excited about not only this new year we’ve found ourselves in, but what our shifting goals and priorities are showing us. Some of this is a function of having a business and a two-year old. That’s quite a lot in and of itself. You cannot say yes to everything and when I “Marie Kondo it” and work on projects that spark joy, I’m a happier human.
We are making more time for relationships and people. You’ve heard me say this before, but our long friendships with clients are a trademark of who we are. And YES we are always taking new clients!!
We’re saying yes to photo shoots that allow us to capture people doing life together, just as we are behind the camera. We hope for more A Day in the Life, more maternity and baby photo shoot sessions, more family, more events that allow us to serve our community and more time with our boy.
We want to stay inspired!! A while back, we shared what inspires us and I thought we might revisit those blogs AND in the weeks to come share even more with you all about our priorities and the future of Pixels. NO, we aren’t going anywhere!
What is inspiring you? What parts of your life would you like captured on film in 2020? While you think about this, let’s revisit Ryan’s take on What Inspires and Fuels Us!
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