Posts Tagged: family portrait gifts

Family Photo Albums

Dear Kids: Many years ago, people would gather at the houses of relatives and occasionally flip through books of images. Members would point to pictures and tell stories about individual moments, people or places. Other times, whole pages could tell a story all by themselves. We called these books albums.

Ok, all light generational teasing aside, I am grateful for our technology that allows us to share with a click, I’m grateful for digital picture frames, and for the Cloud. We use these in our lives and for our business too. But there is just something about an album that encapsulates a time period, something you can hold in your hand and put on your shelf that is priceless.

Every year of our son’s life, we’ve created visual retrospectives of the year – in photos of course – to give as gifts to our family. We create one large album for ourselves and smaller replica albums for the Grandparents. These contain images of the big times, milestones and trips, but more importantly these pages showcase little moments that might have been missed as well as the “regular, day-to-day” that some family members were absent for.

This year, I want to encourage clients to consider having us create an album for them from previous photo shoots with Pixels. More than a few of you (most in fact) have hired us for a variety of shoots over the years. A one year or multi-year album that tells the story of that time in your life, the birth of your kids and the addition of siblings, maybe high school portraits through college graduation images, a series of family reunions or yearly fall portrait sessions would make a perfect album to keep or give. Every time we’ve created one of these for a family, we’re called later to receive an extra thank you. Talk about priceless!

Contact me if you have been a client of ours and let’s discuss the possibilities. ALL PIXELS CLIENTS: if you would like for me to reload an expired gallery for you to review, just contact me. You can revisit those special images and consider adding to your collection of memories at home or plan gifts for the future. We would love to take this time to design albums for you.


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.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License All photos are ©2021 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Stuck at home… revisit your prints

As a follow-up to our “Why Print Your Portraits” blog, I wanted to let you all know that now is a great time to return to the portrait sessions you’ve had with Pixels over the years. Since you cannot receive visitors at your home, why not revisit those days, events and milestones from your past.

You know that we can create cards, canvases, custom in-house framing and other items, but you may have never thought that some of the images that AREN’T milestones deserve their place of glory too.

Pixels On Paper Wilkesboro NC Hirsch Reilly family and baby outdoor portrait photos

Above is a gorgeous mom and daughter, but there is also another narrative that goes from maternity to newborn to outdoor family shoot to their 2 children during the holiday season. Consider an arrangement of portraits or canvases that tells that particular story.

Another option we created before and would love to create again: engagement to the early parent years. The Arnold family below are a photogenic bunch, but before they were a party of 4, there was a love story.

Undergraduate love at UNC-Chapel and an engagement portrait session.

Fairy tale wedding filled with joy and glamour…

Welcome to the family little Miss Berklee! And man, was she a cutie pie.

For baby number 2, a boy, husband Jeremy surprised his wife Meghan with a “formal” outdoor maternity portrait session. He even chose the wardrobe for everyone.

And then they were 4. Wyatt joined the tribe in late spring, 2018.

A little over a year ago, we captured them all in a fall outdoor picnic setting.

Yes, time flies, but that doesn’t mean we cannot mark it, rememeber it, relish it and surround ourselves with its best moments.

ALL PIXELS CLIENTS: if you would like for me to reload an expired gallery for you to review, just contact me. You can revisit those special images and consider adding to your collection of memories at home or plan gifts for the future. We would love to take this time to design albums for you.


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 LicenseAll photos are ©2019 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

The Gift of Photography

Do you want to give the gift that keeps on giving? Give someone a pet.
OK, that is not the point of this blog, but this blog is indeed about giving.

Madelene and Gary Johnson are best buddies with Pixels’ clients Janet & Mike Martinez, the owners of North Carolina Mountain Investments. Janet and Mike wanted to give their friends something that they would love for Christmas last year, and happily for us, it was a gift certificate for a photo session. You know what this means: happy givers, happy receivers and happy photographers.

Johnson family and pet outdoor portrait todd nc photographers photo

Madelene and Gary asked that we photograph them at their home away from home outside of Jefferson, NC, so we met them and their family there and it was spectacular. Their family consists of their two beloved dogs and as dog owners, we are always excited to be around and photograph animals.

Ryan photographed this family along and even in the New River and around their lovely home and outdoor seating areas and we cannot wait for the Johnsons to be able to display these and share them with Janet and Mike.

Gift certificates make wonderful holiday, birthday, anniversary or just because presents, so if you have someone you’re not sure what to buy for, consider this a reminder!


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 LicenseAll photos are ©2019 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

York Family portraits – 4 generations & the gift that keeps on giving

I have a pal who finds hilarious pictures of her family from old portrait sessions and gives them as gifts each year, along with NEW portraits. It’s sort of a repurpose, re-gift, re-laugh about it. The time progression is its own reward along with her Mother’s laughter and recollections.

family outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photo

The York sons did something similar for Christmas last year, minus the goofy shots from the 1990s. These three men bought a family portrait session – a gift card from Pixels actually – and presented it to their parents, Mark & Denise York. The gift card was good for a family portrait of the entire York family, something they knew that their Mom had been wanting for a very long time.

Listen up, sons and daughters, especially if you’re looking for a Christmas or anniversary present for your parents: your mom and dad did all of that laundry, schlepped all of that sporting equipment, sewed quilted ballet bags to carry your point shoes, baked untold dozens of Toll House cookies, worked with paper mache, checked homework after 11 pm, wiped your rear end, taught you to drive and throw a football in a tight spiral and stood in line to buy toys you’ve long forgotten about …………… you with me? THEY EARNED IT.

family outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photo

Mrs. York cashed in her certificate at the end of August after undertaking the kind of coordination that would make the Pentagon cringe. She had 15 family members (4 generations) to pin down and she stuck the landing. On a gorgeous day at a picturesque family farm in North Wilkesboro, we met up with this crew and thank goodness for perfect weather. Finding another date would have been many more months in the making.

family outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photofamily outdoor portrait photography pixels on paper wilkesboro, boone, blowing rock, jefferson nc photographers photo

When we photograph families, extended families and multiple generations, we always capture a variety of combinations for the individual family units and the matriarchs and patriarchs who want everyone and all the time. Gift cards for photography are available for any occasion at all times but are especially popular at Christmas. If you’re interested, please contact us and we’ll start planning.

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 ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

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