Monthly Archives: May 2015

“baby backdraft” conner joins the tevepaugh clan

He’s beat. Look at him. He fought the good fight, watched out for his brothers-in-arms, rescued those who needed to be saved and now, after some grub at the station, is racked out. He was trying to wipe down his gear when he gave up and that’s when we snapped this. There’s only so much a dude can do, you know? At some point, you just need to call it a day.

Pixels on Paper Newborn photo shoot of Conner Tevepaugh photo

Conner Tevepaugh after a long day fighting fire

Pixels on Paper Newborn photo shoot of Conner Tevepaugh photo

Conner Tevepaugh with fireman Daddy Casey

Conner belongs to these two below – Sierra & Casey Tevepaugh. We shot their amazingly cool wedding at Rendezvous Mountain State Park in Purlear, NC and it was memorable for so many reasons. They didn’t overdue it, weren’t overwrought about it and kept it personal and sweet. Some weddings are about hand-wringing and stress. This was NOT that wedding. They fell in love and got married. It was awesome. Simple, gorgeous, fun and surrounded by love, laughter and true celebration.

Waddell / Tevepaugh NC Rendezvous Mountain wedding

Casey is serious about his job as a volunteer firefighter. The term “die-hard” has been used to describe him and it’s right on. Incorporating the firefighting theme into newborn son Conner’s photo shoot was an easy choice. Clearly, this little creature is comfortable in that setting anyway.

The Tevepaugh family own a beautiful orchard and for generations they’ve been photographing family members among the blossoms, but also in handmade apple crates. Photos of the kids and grandkids in these hang in the orchard’s store/barn to this day. Conner’s great grandfather, Bob Walsh, crafted the wooden baby cradle seen below. Bob is a brilliant woodworker and Conner was placed in his creation for this shoot.

Pixels on Paper Newborn photo shoot of Conner Tevepaugh photo

Pixels on Paper Newborn photo shoot of Conner Tevepaugh photo

Conner cradled in family love

Pixels on Paper Newborn photo shoot of Conner Tevepaugh photo

Pixels on Paper Newborn photo shoot of Conner Tevepaugh photo

Mom Sierra and Baby Conner in repose

Fate (and poet Robert Burns) tell us that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Conner may become a Titan of Industry and wear a suit every day. Or maybe he’ll be a first responder like his dad or farmer like his Grandfather. Either way, his family will impart a love of nature, a desire to serve others, a sense of mirth and adventure and an understanding of how to be together and go with the flow. We LOVE the Tevepaughs and will love watching their family grow.

Pixels offers a photo shoot for newborns to ALL those couples who hire us to photograph their wedding. We’re not mere shutterbugs. We love to capture your big day and, should you choose to start a family, we want to capture your baby as well. Family comes in a variety of forms, but we’re in no matter what shape it takes.

Brushy Mountain Dental ~ home, family, molars….

We found the most amazing house and put in an offer. Then we remembered that we already have an amazing house. Then we remembered that these are clients of ours who’ve we photographed for years. Check out Brushy Mountain Dental in Wilkesboro, NC.Pixels on Paper at Brushy Mountain Dental staff and web photography photo

Can you imagine working here? Well we have for various shoots and it’s a fantastic location. Brushy Mountain Dental provides a service we all take for granted (and need and may be putting off – – just saying) in one of the coolest offices we’ve ever seen. They’ve built a business with people they trust for people they care about – their clients – and they’ve been at it for nearly 15 years.
Pixels started photographing their office and staff several years ago and created a gallery for their website, social media and office.

Pixels on Paper at Brushy Mountain Dental staff and web photography photo

Dr. Christopher Roberts and Timberli Roberts

Pixels on Paper at Brushy Mountain Dental staff and web photography photo
Pixels on Paper at Brushy Mountain Dental staff and web photography photoAll dressed in white. Like your teeth should be…….! Learn more about the commercial and graphic design work from Pixels.

Pixels on Paper at Brushy Mountain Dental staff and web photography photo

the rogers family ~ a study in “body English” ~ funny faces & faith

Gabriel Rogers is the head pastor at Kingdom Christian Church in Charlotte, NC and he and his wife Stephanie have three children Lauren, Gabe (the middle fella) and the baby of the family, Christian. They are a handsome family and very much loved. Members of their church decided to take up a collection so that they could have a family photo session with us, as well as some extra money to create wall art after our session. These members (like the Rogers themselves) are people after our own heart. They believe in honoring what’s important and capturing memories at different times in life and keeping them as family heirlooms to be passed along.

Pixels on Paper Rogers Family Portraits in Charlotte, NC photoPixels on Paper Rogers Family Portraits in Charlotte, NC photoPixels captured these photos on a chilly day at The Green Uptown in Charlotte. We immediately noticed their body language: funny, loving, engaged with each other and very silly – particularly the older two kids, Gabe and Lauren. In fact, they were experts in pulling faces to crack up their parents and “make them smile bigger!” Every picture tells a story, as the song goes. Check out the expressions in these pics…!

Gabe Rogers, Jr. stealing the show

Tell us that Gabe Jr. isn’t an uproar in this shot above!! And the photos of his parents (below) speak volumes. Mom Stephanie’s expression shows all the love, patience, humor and sweetness one would expect from a mother of three and pastor’s wife. It also shows strength and a robust dose of sass. Gabriel’s posture reads as, “head of the family” and “proud man of God.” Based on these two photos alone, it’s no wonder their congregants love them so dearly.

pixels on paper charlotte nc outdoor family portrait photographers photo

Three Musketeers below – big smile from little Christian, sweetness and light from big sis Lauren and the patented “don’t mess with my brother and sister” expression from Gabe Jr. (We send our prayers out to Gabriel and Stephanie for when these three are in their teens, but then we send those prayers out to all parents….)

pixels on paper charlotte nc outdoor family portrait photographers photo

The Rogers Children – (L-R) Christian, Lauren, Gabe Jr.

The Roger Family at The Green Uptown in Charlotte, NC

pixels on paper charlotte nc outdoor family portrait photographers photo

Gabe Rogers, Jr and sister Lauren Rogers

While we love the way these five were around each other this past January, we also love the spirit that drives them to be examples in their sphere of influence. They make a difference and their work and worth will have an untold impact, not just on each other, but to those they’ve not even met yet. We were thrilled to be able to provide a canvas wrap collection to go in their living room along with several prints they had frames for.
God Bless you Rogers.

Pixels as Official Photographers at Merlefest 2015 ~ because it’s pretty much … whoa.

Sorry. We meant WHOA.
ALL CAPS WHOA.
As in HOLY CRAP…. A DREAM COME TRUE AND WE LOVED IT.
We were chosen to be official photographers for Merlefest 2015 and it held so much more than we anticipated. We’d been to Merlefest before as music lovers and working with vendors, but this was amazing. Amazing personally and certainly professionally.
Pixels on Paper are official photographers for Merlefest 2015 including the Avett Brothers, Honey Dew Drops, Front Country Band and more photos

 If you love The Avett Brothers as much as we do, then you’ll know why it was a blast to be taking photos on stage with them and a thrill when one of our shots made the front page.

pixels on paper merlefest 2015 avett brothers photoYou know how your senses can go into overload? That’s how we felt. So much to see …. so much new, established and beloved music to tune into plus we were working. So we were doing recon, figuring out the logistics of stages and the schedule, where to upload our shots, and visualizing photos to capture in short windows of time.

One of the first surreal moments happened on Thursday morning (Day 1) when we realized that we had full backstage access. While standing on the main stage behind performers warming up before the gates were opened to the public, we were further bedecked in extra badges, wrist-bands and more credentialling bling (credential-ling? … maybe not a word, but we’re going with it).

pixels on paper photographer merlefest 2015 music festival photographers photopixels on paper merlefest 2015 music festival photographers photo

Between the two of us, we photographed 26 bands/musicians, plus took shots of the fans, the dancing masses, craftsmen and general atmosphere. And we worked 53 hours over the course of four days. On Saturday, we arrived there at 7am and didn’t see each other until after 7pm.
The turnaround time was such that our images had to be taken correctly and perfect in camera while we photographed them.  There was no time for Photoshop work. 5-10 shots after each concert/band and keep moving. The pace was hectic and exhilarating.

When we weren’t uploading photos to share with the world – ours went mostly to our Instagram page with a special hashtag #pixelsonpapermerlefest – we were shooting everything else.

Check out the Honey Dewdrops and the Jason Lee McKinney Band. Both have decided to use our photos for their social media work …. yeah, yeah, yeah!

pixels on paper photography merlefest 2015 music festival photographers photo

The Honeydew Drops

pixels on paper photographer merlefest 2015 music festival photographers photo

Colt Prince, Guitarist with Jason Lee McKinney Band

Chatham County Line shared Pixels’ images on their Instagram and Twitter pages and Front Country has been using our images on Instagram and Facebook. We are gratified and couldn’t be more proud.

pixels on paper photographer merlefest 2015 music festival photographers photo

Chatham County Line Band

pixels on paper photographer merlefest 2015 music festival photographers photo

Front Country

Finally, our crowd shot was used by many in the Twitter, Instagram and Facebook worlds, including Merlefest’s Facebook and flickr site and on HCPress.com.

pixels on paper photography merlefest 2015 music festival photographers photo

Pixels on Paper are official photographers for Merlefest 2015 including the Avett Brothers, Honey Dew Drops, Front Country Band and more photos

Any downtime we had was with Ryan’s brother Todd in the wee hours of the morning when we could actually do a post-mortem and share photos from the day and say, “Oh, that shot!!! I wondered if I had it or not;” and “that turned out better than I thought – check it out!” We would talk and crack up. There was something about that time that was particularly important because while we were tired, we were this little tribe of 3, telling stories and trying to marshall our energy for the next day.

Don’t get us wrong, there were challenges, but there were also revelations about ourselves, our skills and our business. Challenges included the always-changing light (dark, direct-sun, shadows, spot lights), weather (rain & cold), fast action (drums, fiddle), indoor and outdoor contrasts, stage equipment (microphones, monitors, speakers are always in the way). We are agile and completely willing, but there were jumps from venue to venue, stage to stage.

Triumphs, however were equally deep.
For Ryan it was realizing that we had the right amount of everything and the right equipment to get results. We tend to be of the mind-set, if we don’t need a particular lens or piece of equipment, we don’t buy it. While many of our peers there had some very expensive equipment and more of it, we realized VERY QUICKLY that we had the goods. Literally and figuratively.

For me, it meant finding myself as 1 of 4 women in a field of 28 photographers. Unlike portrait photography, which is dominated by women, event photography is a man’s world. Yet there I was, shoulder to shoulder with the boys grabbing the shots that would be sought out by other media outlets and bands themselves. It was weird and cool and now there is no putting the genie back in the bottle for us.

We cannot wait for Merlefest 2016! C’mon y’all and join us.

 

 

a commercial shoot for Hitachi America and Anomaly Technical Marketing

beep…………….. beep……………….. beep………………….. We live with this sound. It says “commerce,” it says “products on the move,” and “inventory,” “profits” and “revenue.” More often, to us, it says, “now it’s mine!!”
It is all but ambient noise these days. Our groceries are scanned, our large appliances are scanned, every shirt, shoe, toy …… and our phones scan, our business cards scan and each is singular. Each bar code or QR code takes you to a specific place and time, a web address, conveyor belt, product, pallet and date, and usually all of these – right down to the person who made the actual product code. Did you know that the FDA is now able to take a single pill and lead it back not just to the very pharmaceutical it is, but to who manufactured it, when it was created, which doctor prescribed it and which drug store sold it? Well they can. Seriously.

Pixels on Paper handles commercial work for Hitachi America for Anomaly Technical Marketing photo

Hitachi Printer

Pixels got a call from Anomaly Technical Marketing about taking some photos for an upcoming promotional series for Hitachi America located in Charlotte, NC. Hitachi needed  commercial photos for some collateral Anomaly was creating – brochures and other materials and we were more than happy to jump in.

Pixels on Paper handles commercial work for Hitachi America for Anomaly Technical Marketing photo

Hitachi Printer

Commercial photography is a different beast requiring a totally different approach. It’s more about the product and its uses rather than the emotion of our portraits of people and pets. But we love the chance to capture the inanimate parts of our world for both commercial promotions and in other graphic design applications. If you want to see more about our commercial work, have a look here.

Pixels on Paper handles commercial work for Hitachi America for Anomaly Technical Marketing photo

Hitachi Printer

 

Pixels on Paper handles commercial work for Hitachi America for Anomaly Technical Marketing photo

Hitachi Printer