Posts Tagged: Portrait Photography
Engagement to Wedding – some portraits of a few of the couples we love
Most couples we photograph for their engagement portraits also book us for their wedding day. Naturally, we LOVE that and we LOVE them. It really gives us extended time to get to know them and to determine fun ways to illustrate and showcase their personalities, their affinities for each other and why they chose each location. We’ve found over the last decade and a half that people want to be in and a part of their environments during these big occasions. They want their surroundings to say something about who they are as a couple. For us, it’s a blast, because you can walk any mountain ridge or urban greenway, but if you put people in the shots for whom that place has meaning – it’s a whole new narrative.
Christine and Adam (below) wanted their engagement portraits taken at a mill that has been a part of the groom’s family history for generations. Their wedding? Surrounded by family, outside, in a traditional (club) format. Her veil was the very definition of making a nod to generations before.
These two women have become true friends. We shot Bonnie Hostetler and Amanda Walling’s engagement photos in Charleston, SC, where the water, salt and history were a perfect backdrop for their lives and love. We then photographed their amazing wedding at On the Windfall – a mountain venue where they could begin their lives surrounded by vistas and friends. With both oceans and mountains, we saw their love of the vastness of place and their love for each other. Also – they are just really cool, fun chicks.
Timothy Mahon and Katie Speight met us for their engagement portraits at the Bilmore House in the mountains of Asheville, NC with their dog in the fall and then celebrated their wedding at Twickenham House. Mountain lovers are mountain lovers.
Kyle and Elizabeth brought their favorite fiction – both on television and in print – to bear for their engagement and bridal portraits. These two love Dr. Who and they both love to read and both were a part of their photos. Her wedding bouquets, and those of her maids, as well as the men’s boutonnieres, we made of pages from favorite books. Unbelievable.
Sherae and David are Charlotteans and we shot their engagement in a more urban setting and their AMAZING wedding in downtown Charlotte at the Holiday Inn. They were so comfortable with each other and the surroundings sort of faded away during both the engagement shoot and their wedding day.
These are only a few, but they show just how much personality and detail is revealed in front of the lens when two people decide to bond themselves for life. We look forward to many more in the coming months.
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
All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
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.
Baby, baby, baby photos | Full Year of Portraits
Someone once said that “the days are long, but the years are short” and it’s true. It’s usually repeated by those of us over 40 who still feel 24, but I won’t go there. This blog is about babies. Big, round, gushy, adorable, cooing, cuddly, pooping, burbling bundles of life and hope. Some parents want to document way more than babies first newborn portrait and we love that we offer a way to do this.
But first… here’s Holden. Soak up that deliciousness. I mean seriously – WHAT ON EARTH is he dreaming about to be making a face that awesome?
Little Holden is no longer the teeny-weenie newborn or the 6 month old above, and we know because we photographed him several times as part of the Brand New Baby Collection, a package we offer to families who want to capture the first year of their child’s life and then some. We feel like we not only get to know the family even better, but are able to see and record even minuscule changes in each baby’s growth.
Below are a couple of goodies from Holden’s 1st birthday portraits and cake smash photo session.
The Brand New Baby Collection is something we love to do for parents, because it allows us to start with maternity (if Mama wants those shots) and takes us through the first year of the child’s life: newborn portraits (within the first 10 days of your babies life), 6 months, 1 year/birthday photos and with discounts on cards and a variety of package options including digital files, prints, image selections, etc.
Little Miss Harper Huffman… “I’m ready for my close up Mr. DeMille!”
Harper Huffman, 6 months
Harper, Carson and Ivy are 3 more kiddies whose parents chose from this package and watching them transform was so much fun.
Carson Mathis, One Year and rocking the bow tie.
Carson’s Cake Smash
Harper Huffman’s baby announcement
Harper Huffman and her proud parents
Harper Huffman, 6 months
Ivy Myers, Newborn
Ivy at 6 months
Ivy Myers, 1 year
Contact us with questions about Brand New Baby packages or consider giving this package as a gift to expecting mothers and fathers. We photograph at our studio in Wilkesboro, where we have an outdoor portrait garden and lots of props and set ups or at a location that’s meaningful to 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.
christine & adam’s loray mill engagement photos | pixels on paper nc wedding photographers
Adam, Christine and a cozy Kensie – their “child.”
We met Christine at the wedding of her friends, Lauren and Patrick in 2014. This girl is a referral machine. We’ve not only booked more weddings because of her recommendations, but when she got engaged herself, she called us. We chatted with the pair at yet another wedding (no, they are not professional wedding goers!) and they were musing about potential engagement photos spots. We told them what we always tell couples: choose a location that’s meaningful to you so that in years to come you can look back at the photos and recognize the setting for its significance. That was when a lightbulb appeared over Adam’s head.
We took advantage of as many angles and options as possible and loved doing so with the couple and their sweet dog Kensie. These 2 will make it official (if you didn’t look closely at the photo above), October 22 of this year in Charlotte and we’ll be there to capture the next set of family memories and history. Counting the days!
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.
Ashley & Oscar engagement photos | 2 backgrounds, 1 God
There were years (in the many hundreds) when people married young. Maybe your parents, grandparents or great-grandparents did. No one thought anything about it and I’m not prepared to give a history lesson about why it worked or didn’t. Young brides and grooms, older brides and grooms…. we ALWAYS cheer for a strong marriage that lasts until Al Roker is talking about it on the Today Show.
These 2 below, Violet and Floyd, were married for 67 years. They were married young, were 21 and 22 in this photo, and in 2015, they passed away holding hands with their hospice beds pushed together. 67 years and together right until the last moment.
Who knows why some young marriages work and last, producing thriving families, smartypants kids, and reels and reels of memories? But they do. When we hear, “but they’re SO YOUNG,” as we have in our tenure as wedding photographers, we think, “but what if what they have is the big “IT?” We believe Ashley & Oscar have it. They are young, yes, but they have the depth, gravitas, self-awareness and sense of longevity – and they displayed it during our photo session.
They have “it” and IT is a shared belief in Christ and each other.
Ashley and Oscar met when her church took a trip to Mexico. When Oscar returned to school in the states, they started spending more time together and realized their similar dreams and feelings. Ryan and I have known them for a while. Oscar and Ashley’s brother Daniel were models for us during a prom shoot a few years ago. The Caudill’s have supported Pixels On Paper Photography and we’ve always appreciated their love and care for us. Now we get to return the favor as documentarians and friends.
I’ve never been around a couple, even twice their age, who were more grounded in faith, family and tradition. Ashley will finish the last of both her high school and college courses in December and then they will be married in NC. A honeymoon in Mexico is planned and Ashley will finally be able to meet all of Oscar’s family. We’re excited about the stories to come of how these families will blend into one and write their own new story with Him at the center. We couldn’t be more hopeful or proud or happy for them.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or NC 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 as well as the surrounding areas. 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. Contact us to schedule your portrait or wedding photography.