Posts Tagged: wilkesboro baby photographers
newborn pictures of sawyer jane at 2 weeks charm the pants off the jury
The cat who ate the canary. Seriously, she just knocked off her 3rd bank. Or more likely, her minions did it and just called to let her know that the funds have been successfully transferred into her account off the Cayman Islands. And there’s a cell phone somewhere buried in all of that cotton. She’s sittin’ on it. And laughing at all of us. LOOK AT THAT FACE!!! Who would convict her? Not me.This perfect little imp, this little stealer of hearts, is Sawyer Jane. Great name, right? We took these photos in our portrait studio in Wilkesboro, North Carolina and the truth about this photo is that I had no hand in getting her to look right at me and grin like that. I just let the lens do it’s thing and knew when to pull the trigger. Her grandmother and mom, Jamie both marveled at that shot above and I just smiled, shook my head and said, “I had nothing to do with it. God is better than I deserve and he equips me with what I need every day.”
So here’s a little thing about taking portraits of newborns: you have to have lots and lots of patience. The photographer has to have it, the parents have to have it. It’s just the way it is. An average newborn session can take 3-4 hours and not all of that time is spent in front of the camera. It’s mostly time spent feeding, changing, burping, soothing, and getting the little one back to sleep.
What always sticks with me and makes me smile and empathize is that every parent thinks their baby performed terribly or won’t show well in the finished photos. They worry that their baby cried too much or didn’t show personality or whatever. And a phrase I’ve heard 1000 times if I’ve heard it once is, “we just hope that you got one or two good ones.” I hear it all the time. The fun part is that they show back up for our PreView saying that very same thing right up until the moment I start the slideshow. They’re overcome with emotion in seeing all the great photos of their sweet baby. Jamie, along with every other mom, has that moment of “awwwwww. Oh my gosh, LOOK!!!” To say it’s rewarding is this week’s understatement.
Jamie and Dad Joe were newlyweds and then – BAM! – this little robber showed up. I love photos of parents cradling their newborns, especially the first born. The whole thing is rife with excitement, awe, natural worry, tenderness and all the fresh outrageousness that teeny humans bring with them to the world. I say this a lot but I mean it every time: we love watching the growth of newlyweds into solid marriages, marriages into families, babies into kids and the multiplication of love in each of those transitions. We’ve added Sawyer Jane, Jamie and Joe to that category.
They say that only the guilty sleep well. Heh, heh.
We’d love to photograph your sweet lamb, whether he or she is on the lamb or not. Call 336-990-0080 or email mail@pixelsonpaper.biz and please view other baby blogs and our website.
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 babies and kids, 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.
Sarah Grace ~ portraits at 8 months with a girl’s best friend: bling
We humans measure time in a thousand ways. Clocks …….. seconds, minutes, hours. And calendars …… days, weeks, months. Changes in seasons, hash marks in inches on door frames, tire wear, grey hairs, dimming light bulbs, sunrise, sunset,……… and growth of babies. Their facial expressions, ability to crawl faster and then walk signal the passage of time. We measured Sarah Grace’s in photos.
Remember these pics of Sarah Grace as a newborn? She was as good as any Easter bundle could be. In November of 2015, we took her 8 month portraits in our Wilkesboro studio. Sarah’s mom had visions of her little charmer in a flower pot a la Anne Geddes. We all love those photos for their creativity and whimsy and at Pixels, we love props as well. This child, however, is not only too big now for planting in a flower pot, she’s a girl on the go. Getting her to sit still took creativity of anther kind. Still, we used Geddes as inspiration and integrated an old washtub, daisy accents, ribbons and lace into her scene. Way to measure time: she’s grown too big for a flower pot.
“I’m just gonna test these pearls and make sure they’re mikimoto quality.”
Curls, curls, curls!!
The pearls were meant to be purely a momentary distraction but pearls and diamonds are a girl’s best friend and clearly Sarah meant for them to play a primary role by not allowing me to take them away once introduced. And you want to know another way to immobilize a baby on the move? Dump her cute bum in a basket. Ways to measure time: it takes 4-2 trips scooping up a crawler and placing her back in the basket to get the right shot.
“This is my tongue.”
One of the things we love to do is work with clients to design wall art for their homes. It’s yet another way to mark time: photos of your kids on the wall.
We believe that we aren’t just capturing memories, we’re creating heirlooms and even in a world of selfies and smart phones with cameras, you cannot get the same warmth and clarity that you can from a professional session.
From the beginning, I knew that we would be photographing Sarah Grace for years, so I began scouting locations, taking photos of her home and special spots where the family has wall space they can fill with photos.
Through our own software program, we can design to-scale images on the walls and show clients renderings of what their photos would look like before they buy. Rather than fill an entire wall with just newborn photos, I planned ahead, so we are designing their particular wall to reflect an entire year of portraits of Sarah. We started with a 16×24 newborn photo as an anchor and then added two 11×14 images from this 8 month session. After her one year portrait session, we will complete this wall with four 5×7 images.
We’ll share the results with you when we can. In the meantime, we’d love to work with you and your family to take photos that will last for generations.
colorful outdoor family portraits on the blue ridge parkway
This family means a lot to us.
Kim Hatfield is the owner of Waggles Pet Supply. You may recall that we provided portraits for pet food and donated along with Waggles to the Wilkes Animal Shelter. We collaborate with her and her business on so many great causes and we simply adore her and her family as humans. But the best gift, the biggest compliment is that we get to photograph her family. Kim and Terry have a precious daughter, Rayne.
We photographed Rayne’s newborn session and she’s only gotten more cute and more animated. She grins with her mouth open like she’s in the middle of a sentence or a funny thought. It’s hilarious to watch. Kim and Terry’s one request for this session was that we include mountains as a backdrop, which is not a tall order. We’d been eyeing this location along the Blue Ridge Parkway for months, but had never photographed there before. Pretty lighting, great views and a spectacular sunset! We love the outcome.
We know we’ve said this, but we’re outdoorsy so we’re saying it again. We live in a beautiful place. North Carolina, particularly our mountains and valleys, will stop you in your tracks. And it’s not just the mountain views, it’s the details of rock and moss, sky and grass. This family stood out in their bright clothes in every setting we placed them in.
Doesn’t Rayne look like she’s going to grow up to be a great chat? The woman you’re going to want to sit next to on a flight from Toronto to Dallas? She’s a charmer and people are attracted to her every expression. Even butterflies have attached themselves to her shoes…. oh wait. Nevermind.
A fun aside: At Pixels on Paper’s 10 year anniversary, the Hatfield family attended of course and Rayne was the star of the day. She was wearing the most adorable outfit, everyone wanted to hold her and she wanted to be hitched to the hip of the funnest and snuggliest among the partygoers. Those dancing were at the top of her list since she could bounce to the rhythm on the dance floor. Our dear pal, photographer Michael Anderson, of Michael A. Anderson Photography, captured the shot below of her.
I wanted to end with the shot below, mostly because Rayne looks like she’s just blown a kiss and is saying “That’s All Folks!” Watching her grow up is going to be the biggest treat. Kim, Terry and Rayne: WE LOVE YOU!!!!
newborn portraits taken in the comfort of home
So much can be translated through a simple black and white photograph. There’s something about them that conveys more with less.
We love photographing in color and black and white depending on the setting, the subjects, the mood and desired results. We didn’t take every single image during this shoot in black and white, but my favorites just happen to be those. When you take away the color, there isn’t less life, there is actually more. The distractions are removed and you have a more documentary feel, more emotion. Your eyes go to the subject, place and story. And because most of us have family photos in black and white of grandparents, there is something universal and timeless about the look.
We joined parents Anita and Mitch, big brother Rohan and grandfather Bhushan at their home in Boone, NC for an intimate family photo session to celebrate their newest member, Anya. She landed in warm arms, surrounded by those waiting for and excited by her.
In-home sessions are less about posed photography and more about capturing a family’s lifestyle. Images tend to be candid moments shared in the home during daily life and interactions with each other. I try to focus on emotion and finding moments of connection. Babies, newborns especially, are sort of mesmerizing because they’re so new. The world was one place and then – BOOM – it changed with a new member of the human race. Molecularly, chemically, socially, emotionally, naturally – the planet shifted.
I loved watching the way Mitch held Anya in his lap and talked through her crying and comforting her. Daddy love is real. Another sweet moment was when mom Anita held Anya and softly explained to Rohan why he needed to be gentle with his little sister. Rohan gently explored Anya’s fingers and toes while she was in his lap and locked eyes with her when she was wide awake and taking in her new world. The entire family gathered together on the couch and read a book together (mostly in an effort to get Rohan to sit still long enough for a family photo). It was so beautiful and simple that the black and white just seemed to capture the day.
We don’t do too many in-home newborn sessions because there is no control over the environment, what natural light is available vs. the lighting we can transport, backdrops and props, temperature, etc. But I bend to families in situations such as a C-section or tough schedules or when a baby’s health prevents them from coming to me. I’m more than happy in those cases to go to them. While I let parents know that I may not be able to capture what I can create in the studio, it’s a fun challenge and often the elements of home and comfort shine through. This was true of the Parry family and sweet, sweet Anya. We look forward to watching her grow up.
the journey of Carson ~ a one year old of style, substance and bringer of smiles
So, I’m just going to throw this out there. You’re having a sub-par day. Maybe it’s work. Maybe it’s traffic. Or it’s your spouse or kids or the news of the world. But you need a pick-me-up and cute cat and dog videos won’t cut it.
We humbly submit Carson’s first birthday photos along with pics of him from the very beginning. We anticipate these will goose your day up by at least 5 levels.
We talk about relationships a lot, because they are important to us, so I’m going to refrain from waxing on. EXCEPT TO SAY THIS: as it is with proposals, engagements and weddings where we learn about and bond with a couple, so it goes with new parents. We take the maternity photos, the newborn portraits, the 6 month milestone and then baby’s first birthday. Often, couples who hire us to take engagement and wedding photos stick with us when the kiddies come along. (Please ask about our package for this situation!) We started photographing Carson when he was still “baking in the oven” and his parents, Megan and Luke wanted some maternity shots taken on their family farm. Their farm is the real thing, by the way. They are no posers, these two, and it is land that has been worked for generations. ….. but that’s another blog.
After Carson’s perfect little feet hit the planet, we got the below and more. If your day hasn’t improved and you need more unadulterated sweetness – have a look!
At six months, the cheeks arrived, along with a trunk of hats, pants and bow ties from his tailor in London. See more. And you’re welcome. He’s hilariously cute.
And now, he’s one. He’s not driving a pick-up pulling a trailer – yet. He’s not looking at acreage and making planting decisions – yet. But he’s held on to his sweetness big time and it won’t be long before All Things Land fall on his radar. For this occasion – he was looking dapper, smashing his cake and enjoying his day.
Enjoy this slideshow video of Carson’s entire photo gallery.