Monthly Archives: July 2016
Welcome to the adult life ~~ sloooooowly ~~~ pre-Quinceanera Portraits
The globe gets flatter and smaller (just ask Thomas Friedman) and that is a pretty exciting thing. Now, more than ever, we know more about our neighbors. Not just the “my grocery cart hit yours and OH, HEY! our kids go to the same school.” We know about our neighbors in other countries, our neighbors from different cultural backgrounds. The transition from childhood to adulthood is a biggee, no matter where you live or whether you call it a bar or bat mitzvah, a debutante or coming out party or a Quinceañera.
Vanessa Chaquea will celebrate her 15th birthday in September, and 15 is THE AGE when a young Latina celebrates the beginning of her entry into adulthood. We captured some of Vanessa’s portraits at and near our Wilkesboro studio for her to use on invitations and at her celebration in the fall. These sessions were all about showing her youth and beauty, her spirit and sweet personality.
Vanessa is the most adorable 14 year old we’ve ever met. She is bubbly, beautiful and bi-lingual. She is an athlete and a self-taught musician. She is a big fan of America’s Next Top Model and she rocked our photo shoot as if she was a pro model herself. We’re already dreaming up ways we can have Vanessa model for us in styled photo shoots. We’re looking forward to September and photographing all the traditional customs of a Quinceanera – a new thing for us.
It was refreshing to be around this season of youth …. the beginning of the next thing. We just recently blogged about 2 week old baby Sawyer who is at the very beginning of life. We photograph engagements and weddings, with couples at the beginning of marriage. Vanessa is in the full, cool, wild, tender, scary, heartening, thrilling, anxiety-producing BEGINNING of adulthood. Remember that time? Well, hers arrives in just a few months and we cannot wait to be there for this great young woman.
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.
Sweet newborn portraits | Sawyer surfs in
“I meant to behave, but there were too many other options.” – Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
And it looks like he explored every single one of them before crashing.
The Pierce’s have a knack for naming baby boys, especially if you’re a book lover. Their first son, Holden, brought to mind J.D. Salinger’s hero from The Catcher in the Rye. And now they welcome little brother, Sawyer. Above is the Pierce’s Christmas card, where Holden announced that he was moving from solo to big bro in a mere 6 months. For Holden’s first session, he was dressed in a pilot theme as a nod to his father Andy. For Sawyer, the themes were both fun and summery, as he’s a June baby and we gave a little wink to his mom, Traci’s career as a pharmacist – with the wooden box we “cozed” him up in.
While Sawyer is snoozing in most of these shots, he ratified our experience that photographers do not control the schedule at newborn baby portrait sessions. This little lamb wanted to be fed every 20 minutes and was extremely happy and very alert during our time with him and his mom.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” (Mark Twain).
One down, one to go, little man.
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.
Jessica & Jason’s Linville NC Engagement Portraits
Robert Frost wrote that “anything more than the truth would be too much.” So how do you describe what you hope for when you tie your life to someone else’s? When we asked couple Jessica Reinhardt and Jason Clinton about what they were looking forward to on their wedding day, they told us, “That everything will change and nothing will change. We just want to be married. As long as we both are there, that is all that matters.”
These two were so much fun to work with because that “truth” of who they are elbowed to the front of the line no matter what we were talking about or doing during their engagement photo shoot in late spring of this year. While they love to hike regularly in Newland, NC, we wanted to capture their portraits in a spot that is as expansive and honest in its beauty as they are in their own skins. Speaking of hiking, Jessica can rock a pair of 3″ heels while he’s just fine in Wranglers and boots. A little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll??? Check! They told us that they didn’t want to look back at their photos and think, “this ISN’T who WE are.” 
The views in this special spot went for miles, with a gorge beneath, rock outcroppings scattered here and there and a lush forest with stone paths and stairs to climb. We had so much fun watching them together. When they get married this month in Rock Hill, we know that their wedding is going to be amazing and a showcase of that simple authenticity and cool that they brought with them during our day capturing them in the mountains.
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.