Posts Tagged: NC outdoor themes for family photography

Portraits: Plan your year!

Yep. You nailed it. I miss you. All of you. I miss the giggling and group hugs that come with family portrait sessions. I miss the waving as we all arrive on site – at the overlook, the property, the park, the orchard, campus or cabin retreat. I miss changing my lenses amid the casual chaos of family dynamics.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been plenty busy, but with the holidays over, and the temps around freezing most of the time, this girl just wants to hibernate. The wilderness bear in me takes over and I am inclined to cook, bake, read, create art projects, and sleep exclusively. As long as I can keep these boys I love nourished and healthy……… that’s winter for me.

At some point though, I peep over flannel sheets and think: I MISS EVERYBODY! So let’s talk about planning your photo sessions for this year and find each other again!

  • Are there members of your clan who are graduating from high school or college this year?
  • Is someone expecting a baby and perhaps would benefit from our one year baby packages or a maternity shoot – or both?
  • Are you blessed enough to have multiple generations in your family and want to capture everyone before the young scatter and the older folks find it harder to get around?
  • Is there a milestone birthday, anniversary or celebration planned for 2022 that you want to commemorate with a fun photo shoot. Believe me, we get it. There are daily distractions, but these moments matter. Consider planning a portrait session. 

Kids! If you haven’t had portraits of your children with their siblings in a while, consider doing it this year. Any season, indoors or out, with or without bows and costume changes, we can make it happen.

Think about the year ahead and contact us to schedule or with your ideas. Let’s do this in 2022!


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.

Holbrook Family – Spring portrait photos

This outdoor portrait session at the peach orchards was an absolute treat. Mom Rebecca and I have been in the same women’s Bible study for years. Eldest daughter Maycee and Finley are just a month apart, and I have fond memories of those two rolling on the floor as our group unpacked scripture together and supported each other through all the joys and trials of early motherhood.

When discussing getting together for these portraits, Rebecca mentioned that the family had not had a portrait taken of all of them since son Preston was around a year old. Time flies, to say the least and they are now a family of five. Their third and youngest child Everley was born during the pandemic, so this was our first chance to spend time with her as well.

You’ve never met parents more fun or chill than Rebecca and Brian, and with the warm weather and perfect scenery, we struck out to remedy the “no family portraits” situation. I loved every single second of it. I adore this bunch and was thrilled to spend time with them, camera in hand and heart open.

It was a beautiful day with this beautiful family and while the trees will lose their blooms, this family is a reminder that, with portraits, the memories will last.


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.

Spring Orchard Portraits

Don’t believe in fairytales? I highly recommend a portrait session at our favorite orchard. Ryan and I have been exclusive photographers in this amazing spot for more than a decade and just being there will change your mood.

It’s time for scheduling spring portraits at the orchards (generally mid-March to early April but it FLIES BY) and I can smell spring from here. Easter portraits, updated children’s portraits, family sessions, engagements, senior photos, celebrating friendships, all of these are legitimate reasons to book one of our orchard sessions.

Props? Sure. With your best friends? Absolutely. These sessions are perfect for families, but they are really just perfect for anyone. Planning on getting engaged or maybe you didn’t get portraits during lock-down 2020? Let us photograph some images for you … of any kind.

Families LOVE these orchards. They are so dressed up, you don’t have to put on a show yourself.

If you’re itching to get outside where it’s safe to shoot photos, or just because it’s time to celebrate spring with new portraits of your family, now is the time to contact us if you want to get on our schedule. We will be keeping a close watch on the blooms. Can’t wait to see!


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.

David’s High School Senior Portrait Photos

David Eldridge (and his lifelong friend and sidekick Bryson) let Ryan hang out with them AND grab David’s senior portraits. David is one of five boys in a family that is generous, rugged, and anchored by their superhero mom – Stacy. In the land of men, she is not just the elder, but the Queen and I’ve admired her for years.

Back to David!! He and Bryson are all man, all about the outdoors and all about farm life and being real. Having Bryson around loosened David up, made him less self-conscious and the pair cracked each other up and were able to relax. (Ryan too had a ball.) In fact, Ryan and I commented that in some of these photos the pair reminded him of a country music duo shooting an album cover… think Tyler Childers or Chris Stapleton. There’s no cynicism with these two, just friendship and a sense that simplicity in all things is best.

There was no second choice for this location of this session – it was going to be outside and on the family farm. Senior portraits are an important milestone and we’ve captured older brother Gage’s portraits a couple of years ago.

We’ve shot images of this family for a decade. The most recent took place with members of both the Eldridge and Wood families, but we started years ago, when the boys really were just that – boys.

Congratulations, David and the class of 2021! We are so proud of 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 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.

Spring Outdoor Portraits

Yes, it’s January and yes, it’s a little brisk out, but as night follows day, spring follows winter, so let’s get ready for outdoor photo sessions.

Families have told me more times than I can count that they wish they had made time to gather everyone in one spot for portraits, if not each year then every couple of years. Time passes quickly.

Milestones are important but “just because” photo sessions with a photographer, one who knows how to pose, use light and equipment appropriately and can retouch and package your images is ALWAYS a good idea. I live to make the wishes of moms and grandmas come true. They know that photos today become heirlooms tomorrow.

Parks, mountain trails, private home backyards and porches, and certainly the Pixels outdoor portrait garden – all make great locations for family portraits.

We are ready when you are and can help plan the place, date and time. If you begin letting your family factions know that it’s time for a group photo session, they will be ready when the temperatures are premium.


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.