Posts Tagged: Boone NC Family Photography

One Year of Baby Milestone Photos

If you’ve ever heard a friend, relative or even yourself lamenting the fact that you didn’t get more photos of specific baby milestones, then take note. Pixels On Paper Photography offers a “Baby’s First Year Photo Package” that we thoughtfully put together so that you’d never look back in regret. We’ve just recently wrapped up photographing a full year of photos for this recently turned one year old, Holten Parker.

pixels on paper photography baby boy holten newborn studio photo

Newborn Baby Photos

Newborn portraits are first, of course. You cannot have a Baby Package with no baby. Labor is over and now comes the fun part: raising this little angel through the first year. Don’t worry; you can do it and so too can you get those newborn portraits taken. Part of our studio is designed specifically for these sessions, with a lovely and private place to rest, nurse and change. We suggest that you bring in your new bundle sometime during their first 10 days. We make it easy on you! This isn’t our first rodeo.

pixels on paper photography baby boy holten newborn studio photo

Six Month Old Baby Photos

At six months, we bring families back in for more portraits or in this case an outdoor location. Babies are ready to sit up – making them perfect models – but they are not yet walking, so we can get them alert and happy, curious and surrounded by siblings, toys, lights or in a theme. At six months, they are incredibly responsive and some of the best portraits we get are at these sessions.

pixels on paper photography baby boy holten six months outdoor portrait photo

One Year Old Photos

At one year, it’s time for a party, so families who buy this package set up cake smashes, celebrate on location, at our studio, with a theme, costume changes – you name it. Kiddos at one year may or may not be walking, but they are alert, are showing their personalities and are ready for their close ups.

Holten comes from a long line of football heritage. In this case we used props from his one year birthday celebration to create a custom and unique football themed one year cake smash photo backdrop in our photography studio.

pixels on paper photography baby boy holten six months outdoor portrait photo

The full year baby photos package deal

For newborn, six month and one year sessions, clients receive a 10 x 10 custom designed album that includes all of your favorite images, as well as an 8 x 10 portrait from each session at the end of the year. If you choose to add a maternity shoot, it’s a minimal upgrade and completely worth it. The baby package also comes with a 20% discount on all card orders, so you can send announcements or holiday cards using these images and maximize your package.

We hope you’ll call us if your curious, have questions or want to chat about the news that you’re expecting (CONGRATULATIONS!).


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License All photos are ©2024 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

our foundations part 6 – families of size

They aren’t better necessarily, they’re just bigger. Families.
As the wrap-up to our series on the types of portraits we specialize in and love, this blog is about celebrating a gathering of family. 

Poland Outdoor Family Portrait Photography photo

These days families spread out in ways they didn’t 50 years ago when most families lived in close proximity. When summer break and holidays roll around, we’re often asked to get portraits of the whole tribe. These families want to be captured while they are all together. Whether it’s a family reunion, a christening, a special occasion like a wedding or an elders milestone birthday, sometimes that is the necessary “excuse” to kick off a gathering. It’s always worth it and getting a portrait is always a good idea.


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 weddingsbrides, 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.

88x31 lucy & glens valle crucis wedding photography | pixels on paper boone wedding photographers

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License

All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

I Wish | 10 Reasons Why You Should Schedule Family Portraits

I am not angling for a beat down by bringing this up, although I may be inviting one (“she said while ducking…”). I hate a guilt trip almost as much as I hate a warning. So, I’ll just type this without guile, like the sweet photography maven you know and love. Ok? Ok.
As family photographers, Ryan and I hear – sadly, way too often and with zero joy – how people wish they had more family portraits when everyone is gathered and happy and still around to enjoy it. You think you’ll do it and then you don’t. Children are born and you share their early photos. Then jobs scatter family members, siblings call and text, the babies grow up too quickly. There are soccer championships, swim meets, proms, braces on, braces off, sledding in winter, camping in summer, graduation and marriage and on and on and at some point you think: “we should have been taking more photos of the WHOLE family together.” The time will fly. We hear this all the time.
Now don’t they look happy? They probably had barbecue after.

In all seriousness, we’ve taken so many family portraits because one member decided to coordinate dates, get everyone gathered and then contact us to get a photo or two. Here are some great examples of that in case you missed it.

https://www.pixelsonpaperblog.com/mountains-nc-family-vacation-destination-portraits-pixels-on-paper/

So on that note, I’m going to do a David Letterman style Top 10 List (remember dear, hilarious, tormented and snarky Letterman?…… man I miss him!) Here goes!
The Top 10 Reasons you should hire us to take your family vacation portraits this summer:
#10 – Coordinating outfits. C’mon – you know you’ve wanted to try to manage this task at least once.

#9 – Fun locales! Not there this is anything wrong with your own front porch – or our portrait garden. But if you don’t live around here and you’re visiting, take your pick! We have scenic vistas, quaint downtown squares, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Biltmore House, miles of mountains and forest overlooks and trails, arboretums, you name it. And if you want us to meet you at a special location that is meaningful to your family – even better. We’ve shot in Banner Elk, Charleston, Roaring Gap, at family farms and heritage properties.

Hoben family reunion on family property

#8 – Watching the generations intermingle. “I remember the Moon landing” meets “You can have the iPad when the baby is done with it.”

#7 – The conversations that happen between shots. So much recollecting, so much sharing, so much comparing notes and correcting history. It’s a chance for us to get to know you too and we relish the chatter during family photo shoots.
Styers Family Outdoor Portrait Photography photo

#6 – It’s an heirloom. How hard is it to get a single nuclear family around a dinner table on a Wednesday? Multiply that by the number of grown siblings, aunts and uncles, the number of cities of residence, distance, vacation schedules and you know that these moments don’t happen. They simply don’t. So create a memory that other family members decades from now – those you may never meet – will look at one day with curiosity and affection.

#5 – You WILL learn something about your family during the vacation and we manage to capture that “old newness,” if that makes sense. It may be one trivial item about a talent your cousin has, or a card trick your mom somehow never found the time to show you, or something magical about your grandparents’ love story, but I can promise you that family portrait sessions bring out the ability to observe yourselves as we observe you. It’s crazy but it’s true.
Meade Outdoor Family Portrait Photography#4 – Little intimate moments happen. There are photos of the whole gang, but we also capture individual components of each family if you want, right down to siblings. These are often un-posed and ridiculously sweet. We are documentarians as well as portrait photographers.

#3 – The laughter. There is a closeness that is remarkable and specific to each family we photograph and then an edge when two strangers meet up with you holding cameras and gear and start telling you where and how to stand. But Ryan and I are light. We get it. We work to make you comfortable, we’ve been told we blend in with the membership and we encourage smiles and silliness. You’ll have the photos to remember the day, but you’ll also have the laughs.
#2 – You will never be this age, in this time, with these people, ever again. And you know what I mean, so I’ll stop there.

And the number 1 reason you should have us come take your family reunion portraits, your family gathered in one place (if you’re not the reunion type), your vacation or family’s summer getaway is ………..DRUMROLL PLEASE……………..!!!

You won’t regret it. We receive more thank yous from individuals and families who decided to coordinate a shoot, meet us and let us capture them all together in a special spot during a special time. And honestly, that can be any place or any time you are all gathered as a family. I promise. Do it. You’ll be glad you did for the rest of your days.
Poland Outdoor Family Portrait Photography photop.s. I’ll be giving this sermon again at Christmas.
Thanks. We look forward to seeing you and coordinating.
Love you guys!

 

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celebrating sisters & their families ~ outdoor portraits

It’s always an honor to be asked to take portraits of people from my hometown or from my childhood. You think about where you are in life and remember how far you’ve come — how far we’ve all come over the years. It shouldn’t take a wedding, a funeral or a reunion to make you stop and breathe in that we’ve grown up, survived, are working to be better people and are continuing to grow and march forward into whatever is next.
I really was excited to be photographing these two sisters – Jennifer and Julie Huffman – who are now married and with sons and daughters of their own. You feel simultaneously mature and like a girl again when you get together and start gabbing and wandering, as we did on their family’s farm.

I grew up with the Huffman girls, but was truly friends with the younger sister Jenny. Oh my gosh you guys, there was this one time………….
just kidding! Jenny and I were friends all through elementary and high school. We were just one grade apart and we spent time at each others homes playing when we were little and then later we rode to school together and, as we got older, we’d go out together on Fridays and Saturdays to see friends or “cruise” around. Her older sister Julie, I’m sure, thought that we were insufferable, because that is sort of the job of siblings: be annoying right up to the point of driving someone crazy and then retreating.

These portraits were taken in the fall on family property with the idea of giving them as Christmas gifts and keeping them as heirlooms. My hope is that they will continue to look at them and smile as their own children grow up, see them as markers in time and certainly as great memories. Spring is coming fast and we’re booking our orchard sessions. Contact me via email (mail@pixelsonpaper.net) to reserve a spot from March 11 – 18.

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 weddingsbrides, 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.

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Katie’s Senior Photos | A Bright Star in the making

I love photographing young girls and women, particularly when I can capture them in a way that others see them, in a way that is clear to me – that reveals them, but maybe not in a way they normally see themselves. There’s something about watching the revelation that happens when you show a young woman a photo of herself that is not a selfie – that is not frivolous (no offense to selfies and selfie-lovers) and they see a shade of themselves they’d missed. They see a character arc, another aspect of themselves they’d never noticed before. It’s both surprise and recognition and I love it. The experience of photographing Katie Waddell for her senior pictures was a ratification of this for me. It happened all over again.

Katie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photo

Katie is a senior at Wilkes Central High School in Wilkesboro NC and she has completely touched my heart. She is the typical teenage girl – with her particular insecurities – but she doesn’t live in them. This girl manages to make sure that everyone around her feels loved. I’ve watched her make others comfortable, make them laugh and that’s what struck me and endeared her to me immediately.
When she wanted some photos taken for her senior year, I was thrilled to do them. Katie is so lovely, on top of her generous spirit and bright lit personality, she’s a perfect subject!

Katie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photo

Katie is an amateur photographer herself and particularly loves black and white photos, so when we found a dead tree trunk we both thought was textural and cool.

We love to create short slideshow videos for clients to watch and share with friends and family. It’s just nice way to pull all of the great images and moments together into a dynamic album.

Katie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photo

One thing she wanted help with for her senior portraits was WHAT TO WEAR. Oh……if I had a nickel…
It’s one of those crises women vacillate between loving (so many fun choices) and hating (too many choices). I offered to let her run her ideas and choices by me and one night I got a ton of texts with photos of her favorites under consideration. She, and I, had so much fun and she chose well for the setting she’d selected.
I told Katie to choose a spot that had meaning for her or that she particularly loved being in. Those of us with sand or mountains in our veins tend to gravitate to those locations again and again. Initially she wanted the woods near her house, but there was an overlook she loved as well, so we took photos of her in both.

Katie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoKatie Waddell Outdoor Senior Pictures by Pixels On Paper Senior Photographer Wilkesboro NC photoWhen Katie and her mom reviewed all of the photos from her day, they both cried. She really SAW herself and I loved being able to give this gift to her. This young lady is just pure potential and I couldn’t be prouder of her or more excited about her future. My money is on you, Katie!!

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 weddingsbrides, 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.

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