Posts Tagged: family portraits

Walker’s One Year Portrait Photos

Walker Tibbett DID IT! He made it to his first birthday and was helped along by the child favorite “Little Blue Truck” and all the fanfare and cuteness that comes with it. Walker belongs to the Joey and Brooke Tibbett – a couple we have photographed and loved for years!

Mom and Dad – while not featured in this particular blog – are two of the sweetest people we’ve met and had take advantage of our wedding and one year baby package, so we’ve been fans of theirs for a while. Their engagement portraits, wedding, Brooke’s maternity portraits, Walker’s newborn and 6 month images will tell you everything you need to know. There is love in abundance. [You know what? Don’t even look at those links. You’ll be overwhelmed…] This family and this kid pack on more cute than the average human can take.

If you missed the spoiler in the images, go back.

Joey and Brooke are expecting their second child and sweet Walker is going to be a big brother! Brooke bought the t-shirt and wanted it included to make the announcement. Congratulations, you guys and Happy Birthday to Walker.


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 newborns and families, 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 ©2022 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.

Thanksgiving Blessings to All

Sometimes we need a reminder of the “why” behind Thanksgiving and I’m pointing a finger at myself here too. I dug into my files, category “Uplift Me, Please!” and thought I’d share a few with you as we approach the big day of food and revelry.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein
Sawyer Sherill Newborn Photography by Pixels On Paper Portrait Photography photo

In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Pixels On Paper Photographers Howards Family Farm Fall Pumpkin Patch Photo

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.

Johannes A. Gaertner

We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.

Neal A. Maxwell
Graybeal family outdoor fall portrait NC mountains photo

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our Thanksgiving.

W.T. Purkiser

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

John F. Kennedy

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 newborns and families, 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.

It Pays to Refer

Did you know that showing gratitude causes a release of dopamine – a trigger of the neural circuitry in our brain stems – and makes us feel good? It does. So let me just send myself a shot by saying THANK YOU to all of our clients these nearly 20 years. WE LOVE YOU. One of the ways we show our gratitude year round is our Referral Program. So if you are, or have you ever been, a Pixels on Paper photography client, listen up!

Any existing client of Pixels (you’ve hired us for a wedding or portrait session of one type or another) who refers us to someone who then books us for a wedding, will receive their own FREE portrait session PLUS $250 in print credits from us.

Any existing client of Pixels who refers us to someone who then books us for a portrait session, will receive their own FREE portrait session that year PLUS $50 in print credits from us. For every additional referral they send us, they will receive yet another $50 print credit. The more you send others who book with us, the more rewards we’re happy to lavish on you.

We want our existing clients to make sure to tell the folks they are referring to us to mention them, so MENTION THE REFERRING CLIENT’S NAME, so that they get the rewards they deserve. If someone books a wedding or portrait and doesn’t mention that they heard about us from you, how will we be able to shower you with some love? Don’t you want everyone to experience the dopamine rush of happiness?

*This program offer EXCLUDES limited edition and promo session referrals. Contact us if you have questions!


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 newborns and families, 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.

Mother’s Day

I recently came across an article that listed some of the best things about being a mom, and my mind reeled. There are too many to name. On nearly the eve of another Mother’s Day, I wanted to share a few quotes along with some of my favorite shots of moms and their kids taken by Pixels over the years. Outdoors, dressed up or down, laughing and exploring, these are some pretty adorable kids and spectacular moms.

“The smell of a freshly bathed child.” Finley’s bath time makes me lose track of time. I love those moments and the sweetness of his wet, red curls and warmth in his pajamas. It’s the best.

“Getting to mold a little human being.” I love this part of being a mom even when it’s tough, and I am definitely grateful that I get a chance to learn from other moms going through each stage along with me. Some of my dearest and most important friendships are with moms I’ve met before and after Finley was born. I realized that I’d joined a tribe that understood me, love our family and could lift me up or ground me.

“Being a safe space for my child.” Even on the toughest days, Moms still hold space and energy to let their children come to them for care, listening and comfort. I don’t see an end to this. I speak to my mother all the time and even as the topics change and the worries are different, she’s always right there. My hope is that my son knows that when he enters the wide world of independence, his dad and I are always here for him.

“Finding joy in simple things.” I am transported daily to my own childhood when I watch Finley. The craziest stuff will light him up and that lights me up too. Keeping it simple and about love is my goal. I’m especially appreciative of the multigenerational impact of families on each new member.

Call your mom this weekend, and if you can see her, see her. Love her. Thank her.

Happy Mother’s Day.


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 newborns and families, 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.

Holland Family Fall Photos

This beautiful family just takes my breath away. I know I say this a lot, but it is a point of pride: so many of our ongoing clients have become true friends. The Holland family falls squarely into that category and even a pandemic and wacky schedules didn’t keep us from seeing them for portraits this year.

Mom Tram, Dad Kevin, son Colten, and daughters Ava and Sophia are a blended family so on top of the pandemic and teens and other sets of parents, their schedule is formidable.

For outdoor fall portraits this year, we had 24 hours notice to pull together the portrait session. Sophia, the eldest, was in Raleigh for part of quarantine, so once we had a plan, we went to their gorgeous property where they have built a cabin to shoot images in the stunning fall surroundings.

This place has loads of acreage, tractors (Finley loved being able to run around with Colten and making the girls giggle) and at 8:30 am, we had The. Best. Light. Morning light is a photographer’s dream, so it all came together.

Tram (rhymes with “mom” which makes perfect sense if you know her) has become a friend of mine and we share the same love of gardening (often trading from our personal bounties), share the same love of the outdoors, and she is fun and affectionate with kids, so having Finley present and ready to roam and run around was only a “plus” in her eyes.

There was a lot of laughing, with their dog Pearl stealing the show, and plenty of playing and giggling with Finley so the smiles in these shots aren’t faked.

We’ve photographed this crew at Christmas and each time (2016 and 2019), it has been at their home and is themed of course. Families who hire us for Christmas portraits don’t normally order prints for hanging since they are seasonal, but Tram ordered all of these photos and they are going to hang them in the cabin.

We love, LOVE the Hollands and cannot wait to return to this enchanted spot with them again soon.

FUN ASIDE: All photos below are Finley’s “behind the scenes” shots taken with his Sony Cybershot camera while with us on location at the Holland’s. He came to play and work… Love my boy.


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 newborns and families, 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 LicenseAll photos are ©2020 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.