Posts Tagged: Pixels On Paper
spring | such small hands
Spring in Australia begins in September and ends in November.
In India, spring runs from mid February to mid April.
Summer and winter are essentially the only seasons in Iceland – although both are relatively mild.
It’s seasonally spring year round in Uganda – with alternately wet and dry seasons.
And Scotland’s warmest months for the entire year are July and August, our late summer. Like NC, the Scots can experience all 4 seasons in one day. Spring in Scotland? Don’t blink.
And it has been that year here for us.
One of our favorite spring places to shoot. A last minute cold snap took its toll this year.
I look for spring, actually look for it, because even the rain, quick showers in 35 minute spurts in the afternoon (my pals in the deep south attest to this too), signal its coming. Just like daffodils and dogwoods and irises do. When you see blooms like that, and you’ve set your clock to lose an hour, it’s time to store scarves. Maybe.
Spring also reminds me of being a kid. Sometimes it’s remembering riding my bike as hard and fast as I could with my friends. Sometimes it’s laying on my belly and looking at grass so close up that I wondered and worried about every blade and every bug and where everyone in the soil was going. Maybe it’s a reason why I garden.
But spring and new and children go together. I look through photos of kids outside we’ve taken and get excited. This is their time.
“spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
and inch of there)and
without breaking anything.”
– ee cummings
Spring will drive by us and wave and we’ll miss it. If you haven’t been out to lay on your stomach looking at bugs, or ridden your bike “no-hands” downhill, or stood an extra 2 minutes at the mailbox smelling the air: do it. It’s worth celebrating because of its very nature and its timing. I sometimes feel like summer, fall and winter take up 11 months and spring lasts only 8 days. No one said I had to be good at math.
My unsolicited recommendation (you’re welcome) is to celebrate the season, your childhood, your children, your friends and neighbors’ kids and breathe it in. I’m doing it myself as we look at yard work as a chore and not a haven for bug adventures and the season as a gearing up for a busy summer.
Another parting little bit from cummings… and it could apply to springtime:
“(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands”
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.
new addition | newborn cameron
How lucky you are, Cameron. You can’t imagine the love that was surrounding you on this day. They say that newborns are near-sighted and mostly focused on mom’s eyebrows and forehead, so you will indeed have to take my word for what you couldn’t see. Behind my lens, you laid there in complete coziness, but you were not alone. So much of your family’s journey was floating around me. From seeing your mom and dad newly married and in love to capturing that couple with a baby on the way and a new daughter and now you. Your timing was perfect. Welcome!
Even your feet were in love with each other. They kept smooching.
Your sister Madelyn came to the shoot and we’ve photographed her growing up too. While we only see your family a couple of times a year, we always look forward to it. And now here you are. This may not always be the case [Secret: siblings can get on each others nerves, but it usually ends well. Keep that in mind when Madelyn boots you out of her room in 10 years.], but right now, you are the apple of her eye. Your sister adores you.
You are a precious being, Cameron and I’m adding my name to the list of fans to go along with your mom, dad and older sister. Come see me again soon, please and take sweet care of yourself. You’re at the very beginning!
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.
What Makes a Wedding ….. A WOW
If you take an informal poll about which weddings people remember and what made them amazing, you’ll get a few surprising answers, but several themes come quickly into relief. The same goes for reading blogs and checking out WeddingWire. There are exceptions, but mostly the same categories bob to the surface.
The dancing. “Everyone was dancing. When it got late, the shoes came off, but most everyone just stayed on the dance floor.”
The details. “They spent so much time thinking about each element – from the seating, to the little gifts for the wedding party, to their vows.” The food and drink. “My dad kept saying, ‘it’s all about the food and booze and he was right. Our reception was the highlight. Everyone kept telling us how tasty everything was and how much fun they were having.”
As you can see, there’s usually a little bit of everything in the course of a wedding season, especially since the wedding season has become nearly three quarters of the year.
The venue. “We LOVED the views and everyone could roam or go inside to relax and then back outside to eat and dance.”
Ryan and I have shot weddings at some amazing places.
This and the shot above taken at On the Windfall.
Above and the preceding photo taken at Leatherwood Resort.
Those last two were taken in West Jefferson at Twickenham House. The food and music and views matter, but then there is the couple. Often, this is expressed as “how much love everyone felt.” We all need love and many of us cry at weddings, because they are such a fresh, new, pure and unapologetic celebration of it. Marriage is, we all hope, for a lifetime; watching two people say “I do” is a pretty overwhelming.
The final answer if you’re planning your wedding is YOU. You make it special by bringing people you love together to watch you take an enormous step into your future. Plan well, do your homework, work with the best you can find and afford, but remember that surrounding yourself with people who love you and bringing your heart to the party will make it a WOW. We hope to be there to capture every last detail.
Pixels is booking weddings, engagement and bridal portraits now for 2017 and 2018. Contact us! We’d love to work with you.
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.
Merlefest: we’re looking at you, kid
It’s the MOST wonderful tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime of the year!!
Yes, Christmas is actually the title holder, but as professional photographers who love documenting events as much as celebrations and the daily lives of our clients, MerleFest is in second place. Once again, we’re going as Official Photographers and full-time music fans and we’re psyched. This is our third year to get the announcement from them that we’re going to this amazing music festival. Count down is on to one of our absolute favorite and hardest jobs of the year!
Lindsay Lou & Flatbelly (2016)
Steep Canyon Rangers (2016)
We Banjo 3 (2016)
Sarah Potenza (2016)
Emi Sunshine (2016)
Merlefest 2015 for Pixels was spectacular and we walked 12 million steps – give or take. We took some of our favorite event photos including this one of the Avett Brothers.
The Avett Brothers
2016 was even busier as Ryan and I split up visiting stages, shooting various artists and bands and then loading images. A blast! Merlefest this year runs from Thursday, April 27 to Sunday the 30th and we’re already trying to figure out how to store sleep and vitamin C (not possible) and looking forward to the crazy pace. This year will be one of the largest yet as they’re celebrating the event’s 30th year. The lineup this year is amazing. The Avett Brothers will be back, along with Scythian, the Zach Brown Band, Andy May, The Contenders, The Waybacks, the Steep Canyon Rangers and dozens of others. Get your tickets and meet us there!
Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brid
NC Pastoral | A Wilkesboro Engagement
On November 12, 2017, we met them out at Randy’s family farm in North Wilkesboro and heard their story. Michelle had seen Randy over the years at various times while she and he would be outdoors and she wondered, from afar (are you with me?? it’s pretty epic) what he was like and if she’d ever meet him. She hoped they would be introduced someday, but it didn’t happen until a salon hairstylist they have in common decided to play matchmaker. Randy took it from there.
When he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Michelle, he did something outdoorsy and sweet for the proposal: he painted pumpkins with hearts on them, arranged them on hay bails, laid a quilt at a quiet spot near the barn and creek on his family’s farm and, after surprising her, asked her the marry him. For the engagement session we photographed them at the very site of his proposal and then wandered both his and Michelle’s family farms to capture other images that showcase them and their beloved land.
These 2 will be married in October of next year and we so look forward to seeing what details and parts of their personalities will be incorporated into the ceremony and reception.
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.