Posts Tagged: Charlotte NC family photography
Matthew’s one year birthday and family portrait session | Wilkesboro NC child and family photographers
There is love and there’s love and then there’s the Minick family. You can say the name Minick and my heart fills up. We have the best history with this family and our love for them runs deep. We’ve photographed just about every milestone of their adult lives. On May 17th, Matthew (“Matt Matt”) celebrated his first birthday and we photographed his celebratory portrait session 10 days after. We decided to make this session a family affair and snagged some photos with parents Rachel & Ryan and with his big sis Amelia.
Matthew (May 2017) and big sister Amelia (October 2013) photographed in the same family heirloom high chair.
We’ve been photographing the Minicks for so long, including their engagement and wedding, Christmas photos, maternity and Amelia’s one year portraits and Matthew’s newborn portraits. They are absolutely family. Matthew had a Little Blue Truck themed birthday party and photo shoot as well. We love seeing these kids and family grow and especially watching the little ones develop their own personalities. No two are alike!
Rachel, Ryan, Amelia and Matthew: we love you to pieces. We love how open you are in your lives, how you invite us in to share and how your amazing family is growing in size and in love. We look forward to the next milestone and another chance to hang out and do life.
Summer, Summer, Summer – Great Time for Professional Photos
Every year there is the song of the summer. It gets played over and over and we make it part of that year, that season and that time. Those of us who grew up in the 80s listened to Bananarama (“Cruel Summer”), Billy Idol (“Hot in the City”), Brian Adams (“Summer of ’69”), U2 (“Indian Summer Sky”), Don Henley, Van Halen and others. The 1990s brought us DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince – or Will Smith’s “Summertime,” Len’s “Steal My Sunshine” (remember those scooters in California?), Smash Mouth and Janet Jackson. I hear summer songs this time of year everywhere, including in my head whether I want to or not. Don’t judge – you know you do too. And it makes me think of the little movies we have running in our minds. Our lives to music, with friends and family, children, engagements, new jobs, pitfalls and adventures. There’s a soundtrack and loads of mental images. This year, make sure there are some concrete images as well. Summer photos are keepsakes and we love taking them.
Ryan and I find that summer photo sessions aren’t just about weddings and engagements or Merlefest. We’re asked to capture families, children and any event that matters when the sun is high and people are gathered. Summer outdoor photos capture not only place and people, but specific aspects of where you are in life. What was going on in your family? How old are your kids? What sports or instruments are they playing? Do you have hobbies and pets you want to include? Do you take an annual trip to our part of the Carolinas every year and want to commemorate it? We find that our friends want to show off everything from their kayaks to their dogs, great grandchildren, new homes, summer vacations, gardens and just about everything else.
We’ll help you with location, should you need it and then make sure that the photos are perfect for gifts or family heirlooms.
Give us a call to book a summer session that you’ll have to remember forever. You don’t have to be getting married to want to commemorate the summer of 2017.
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.
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.
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.
#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.
#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.
p.s. I’ll be giving this sermon again at Christmas.
Thanks. We look forward to seeing you and coordinating.
Love you guys!
What I Love Thinking About
I know a lady who likes to say, “these are the things I’m thinking about instead what’s bothering me.” She’s not burying her head in the sand or failing to solve problems or face challenges; she practicing what she says the Buddhists call “good thinking.” It takes practice – like most things worth getting good at – but it can change your mood when the world feels all wrong or the people around appear to be on hiatus from being kind.
So here’s what I’m thinking about instead of what worries me about our world.
Spring is here and summer is coming. There’s a great thought. Cooking and eating the food I grow in my garden, cutting flowers, relaxing on my front porch. Yes to that.
And I’m thinking about family. I love mine and we love to photograph families of all sizes. Each one contains a library of stories, memories, legacies and shared laughter, pain and joy. Family is always a happy thought for me.
Babies. Think about a baby you know or one you’ve raised and your mood will shift immediately. I love thinking of babies. Babies in tutus. Babies wearing hats. Babies in overalls. [Digression: babies in overalls is a HILARIOUS concept to me. They are 20-ish inches tall! “They ain’t driving no tractor!!!” “They ain’t bailing no hay!!” But, there they are… in their denim and buckles and it’s just the funniest, sweetest thing. The only way they are being helpful is that you’re belly laughing at the cuteness. Just saying…] Pick your favorite baby image and ponder. You’re happier, right?
Twinkling lights at night and summer evenings spent by a fire pit, on a porch swing, in a tent or hammock or playing cards by lantern at an old picnic table. I love that kind of light at night.
Mountains. Dance with the one who brung ya, right? I love our mountains and if you’re a hiker, hike. If you have a view, sit back and take it in. I love living in a state replete with mountains and mountain views.
Love that lasts. Who doesn’t want to remember that? Give brain power and care and thought to that; you’ll thank yourself. I love thinking about lasting love: some of it is as new as a baby but will last a lifetime and some already as old as a steadfast marriage. It’s all good.
Going away. I love thinking about travel – allowing myself to escape to my favorite memories and then get excited about the possibilities of travel in the future. Ryan and I have done and seen a lot in our marriage and thinking about that journey makes me smile, regardless of locale.
Home. I think about home and am more full than I could ever describe to you guys. We host you there when you come to our indoor studio or out in the garden, but it’s the center of our world. It’s comfort, it’s creativity, it’s food, it’s gatherings …. our “workin’ week and Sunday rest,” as Auden put it. God blessed us big time with our over-a-century-old home.
Whatever is potentially weighing on you, … take the time – make the room for “good thinking.” List your happy places, people, pets, memories, foods and let that happy into every artery you have inside of you.
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 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.