Posts in Category: Kids
Family portraits ~ 3 generations sustaining each other
When the late poet (and part-time North Carolinian) Maya Angelou said, “I sustain myself with the love of family,” she was speaking for pretty much all of us. There are exceptions of course, but even when you run away like another NC native, Asheville author Thomas Wolfe, you find that your dreams are always tied to home and family. How do we pull together? How do we sustain ourselves? The Johnsons are an example of what that pulling together looks like. They are tied together and holding on to each other through welcoming new lives and encountering new struggles.
Mary Jane Johnson, seated in the center and surrounded by her family.
Recently, we photographed Kristen Andrew’s newborn son Jaxon with his big brother Luke. They were delicious. New brothers. New besties. Then Kristen contacted me with news that her Mom Mary Jane’s cancer had changed. Despite the early radiation treatment in the Spring of this year, Mary Jane was going to need chemotherapy in less than a week.
Their family had literally just grown by two with Jaxon’s birth in July and Kristen’s sister Lindsay’s son arriving soon after. Mary Jane’s chemo would begin on the 28th and I got the call on Thursday the week before giving me the update. We all know that chemo and hair loss are wedded, but I promised Kristen that I’d find a way to get the entire family photographed on the Monday before chemo began.
“Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.” – Brad Henry
Monday arrived and it was pouring rain. Our plans for an outdoor session fell through, but with no time to spare I arranged the indoor studio with a backdrop that would suit what I knew about this fun-loving, country-inspired family of 10 and we made Mary Jane’s wish for family photos come true. She couldn’t have been more in her element surrounded by her husband Steve, daughters Kristen and Lindsey, and their husbands and their sons.
Chemo has been brutal and Mary Jane has already spent days in the hospital recovering from her first cycle of treatment. When the family returned to the studio last week to view all the photos, they were thrilled to have captured these memories. I hope that these images give Mary Jane a renewed energy and strength before she goes into treatment #2. Nothing will make you fight harder than love and she loves her family first.
“The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.” – Dodie Smith
The Johnsons are strong in their faith and prayer is going to be a big part of them holding together as they move forward. As we love them and pray for them, we hope that ALL of our clients know how completely loved they are. Chemo is tough. It throws everything and the kitchen sink at cancer. We throw everything we’ve got toward making our clients happy. If Ryan and I can be there for you and help you create a memory of a moment, we’ll do it.
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.
The Hills & Valleys are Alive | 4 seasons for photos in the Carolinas
It’s taking ALL I can do not to bring up Vivaldi’s masterpiece, The Four Seasons. And now I’ve done it, so if you like any of the 4 movements, or Vivaldi or classical music, it’s now stuck in your head. You’re welcome.
Meanwhile, our autumn portrait sessions booked up (THANKS EVERYONE) and I’m reminded that we shoot year-round because we can. North and South Carolina provide an embarrassment of riches for portraiture, not just for nature photographers. Mountains, gardens, farms, barns, fields, streams, valleys, the Biltmore Estate, the Blue Ridge Parkway and any number of purpose-built resorts and views surround us. We find ourselves consistently tramping through the woods, climbing rocks, on ATVs and by moving water capturing memories. Here is a small sampling of locations in our distinct seasons. If you need a reminder of the dizzying array of options, enjoy. We’re here and we’re always ready!
Late Summer Wedding in West Jefferson – rustic, by the river and UP ALL NIGHT at the reception
Leatherwood Resort
Winter Wedding at Elkin Creek Vineyard
Sunset on Beech Mountain
Hoben family Summer outdoor portrait in Roaring Gap NC
One of our favorite Spring spots: an extravagantly beautiful orchard in bloom
And the same orchard peopled with the lovely Arnold family
Autumn Blue Ridge Mountain Club Blowing Rock NC outdoor wedding
Rain or shine…… love wins, right? Blowing Rock NC
Gorgeous Quinceanera portraits in a mid-summer field in Wilkesboro
Warm Winter bridal portraits after snowfall in Moravian Falls NC
Wedding at Twickenham House and post reception vista portrait in Jefferson NC
Charleston SC engagement portraits
Botanical garden bridal portraits
Engagement session at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville
From the back “porch” at the Biltmore Estate
A fairy portrait session – expecting mother and big sister wade in
Winter Family Portrait of the Allens at Chetola Resort in Blowing Rock NC
Summer engagement photos in the NC Blue Ridge Mountains
Scottish highland wedding – bridal portraits
Delicious Brock at his 1st birthday portrait session in Pixels’ Portrait Garden in Wilkesboro.
Baby, baby, baby photos | Full Year of Portraits
Someone once said that “the days are long, but the years are short” and it’s true. It’s usually repeated by those of us over 40 who still feel 24, but I won’t go there. This blog is about babies. Big, round, gushy, adorable, cooing, cuddly, pooping, burbling bundles of life and hope. Some parents want to document way more than babies first newborn portrait and we love that we offer a way to do this.
But first… here’s Holden. Soak up that deliciousness. I mean seriously – WHAT ON EARTH is he dreaming about to be making a face that awesome?
Little Holden is no longer the teeny-weenie newborn or the 6 month old above, and we know because we photographed him several times as part of the Brand New Baby Collection, a package we offer to families who want to capture the first year of their child’s life and then some. We feel like we not only get to know the family even better, but are able to see and record even minuscule changes in each baby’s growth.
Below are a couple of goodies from Holden’s 1st birthday portraits and cake smash photo session.
The Brand New Baby Collection is something we love to do for parents, because it allows us to start with maternity (if Mama wants those shots) and takes us through the first year of the child’s life: newborn portraits (within the first 10 days of your babies life), 6 months, 1 year/birthday photos and with discounts on cards and a variety of package options including digital files, prints, image selections, etc.
Little Miss Harper Huffman… “I’m ready for my close up Mr. DeMille!”
Harper Huffman, 6 months
Harper, Carson and Ivy are 3 more kiddies whose parents chose from this package and watching them transform was so much fun.
Carson Mathis, One Year and rocking the bow tie.
Carson’s Cake Smash
Harper Huffman’s baby announcement
Harper Huffman and her proud parents
Harper Huffman, 6 months
Ivy Myers, Newborn
Ivy at 6 months
Ivy Myers, 1 year
Contact us with questions about Brand New Baby packages or consider giving this package as a gift to expecting mothers and fathers. We photograph at our studio in Wilkesboro, where we have an outdoor portrait garden and lots of props and set ups or at a location that’s meaningful to 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 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.
Fall Portrait Sessions | Time to Schedule
How’s everybody doing today?!?!? Science Girl here, with a quickie lesson about the seasons.
They change. Or more precisely… they are “caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and the planet’s orbit around the sun. When the axis points toward the sun, that hemisphere experiences summer. The hemisphere tilted away from the sun experiences winter.” Get it? So quarter turns toward and away from the sun give us the “mid-extremes”of spring and autumn. In the mountains of North Carolina, however, autumn is called fall. And it’s AWESOME. The leaves change and languidly amble to the ground, we harvest the last of our gardens’ output, put away light clothes, haul out blankets, chop wood and take outdoor portraits.
We’re now booking our fall outdoor portrait sessions beginning in late September and running through October. Our clients are brides, engaged couples, couples with their pets, siblings, and families of all sizes. Because of our heavenly locale, they also tend to prefer the Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock, Boone, and West Jefferson for their photo session or the Pixels portrait garden in Wilkesboro. If you have a special location, please get in touch with us and we’ll work out details and special requests.
Some of our favorite family photos are fall portraits because the air is crisp and everyone is in that sort of scarves, boots, tramp around or “hunker down” mode. And these photos often turn out to be framed or turned into holiday cards or both. Bring props or we’ll bring them, but let’s create some memories. Contact us today to book your date! We cannot wait to see 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 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.
happy father’s day 2016 ~ a little look back with humor and heart
We love our dads and Father’s Day is this Sunday, June 19th, so we want to celebrate fatherhood. The golf membership, neck tie, new leaf blower gift clichés were tired 40 years ago, so we’re skipping them.
And you’re welcome.
Instead of pablum, how about some photos we took of dads being dads with quotes that convey the depth and humor of fatherhood?
Here you go……
“There should be a children’s song: ‘If you’re happy and you know it, keep it to yourself and let your dad sleep.’” – Jim Gaffigan
“Having a kid is like falling in love for the first time when you’re 12, but every day.” — Mike Myers
“Be a dad. Don’t be ‘Mom’s assistant.’ Fathers have skills that they never use at home. You run a landscaping business and you can’t dress and feed a 4-year-old? Take it on. Spend time with your kids and have your own ideas about what they need. It won’t take away your manhood; it will give it to you. I did that. I spent more time with my kids. And I found out that I’m a pretty bad father. I make a lot of mistakes and I don’t know what I’m doing. But my kids love me. Go figure.” – Louis C.K.
“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” — Harry S. Truman
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” — Umberto Eco
“You can tell what was the best year of your father’s life, because they seem to freeze that clothing style and ride it out.” – Jerry Seinfeld
“It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” — Friedrich Schiller
“The only way I can describe [fatherhood]—it sounds stupid, but—at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you know how his heart grows like five times? Everything is full; It’s just full all the time.” — Matt Damon
“I gave my father $100 and said, ‘Buy yourself something that will make your life easier.’ So he went out and bought a present for my mother.” – Rita Rudner
“My daughter got me a ‘World’s Best Dad’ mug. So we know she’s sarcastic.” – Bob Odenkirk
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant, I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” – Mark Twain
“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.” — Jim Valvano
“Having children is like living in a frathouse – nobody sleeps, everything is broken and there’s a lot of throwing up.” – Ray Romano
“Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.” –Red Buttons
“When you have kids, there’s no such thing as quality time. There’s just time. There’s no ‘Ooh, his graduation is better than going to the mall.’ It’s all kind of equal. Changing her diaper and her winning a contest – – it’s all good.” – Chris Rock
“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” – Billy Graham.
We agree. Looking through these photos was a walk down memory lane as we thought about our clients and friends with kids – – – just how much these dads feel the responsibility of their children’s futures resting on their shoulders at the same time they want to enjoy every micro-second. This fathering thing is not for boys and we celebrate you men.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!