Posts in Category: Kids
Autumn portraits for ALL ~ for your albums, photo galleries, holiday gifts and as heirlooms
We gear up for Spring and the end of the school year, especially if we’re parents, along with prom preparation, graduation, spring cleaning and shedding the winter stuff. Then we gear up for Summer — vacations, travel, summer camps, weddings and family reunions. And now fall is licking at our heels and this means a lovely, but limited, time for outdoor portraits with our sweethearts, our children, family and friends. It marks the seasonal change when the sleeveless clothes are put up – like the last of summer fruits and veggies into cans – and we prepare for the turn from warmth outside to fires inside.
At Pixels, we love all the seasons (or we’d live in Santa Barbara, CA …. no offense to you all out there, by the way), but fall has a different light in it and in North Carolina, it always surprises us. Whether our dear clients come to our outdoor studio in Wilkesboro, meet us on a greenway or at a park in Charlotte, in Boone near ASU, in the Asheville mountains or anywhere along the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway, the light is different each time, just like our subjects. It’s all new again.
We anticipate that the peek color in the mountains will be October 6-18th (that’s 2 weeks and then some) and closer to the end of October will be perfect for our fans and clients in and around the Charlotte area. We have props we can include and encourage you to bring anything that makes you think of fall with family.
Photos like these make great albums, calendars (the holidays are coming!), and gifts. Schedule your date with us as soon as you can. We look forward to seeing you and photographing you in mother nature! Contact us online or call 704.641.1131 or 336-990-0080.
piccard fall family portraits – goodbye summer, helloooooooo autumn
Some of us mourn when it starts creeping toward us.
“Wait, what? We just got settled in and then it was the 4th of July and now you’re telling me to change out my closet and garage?!?!” “I barely used that new floaty, those new grill tongs, that umbrella for the deck, that swimsuit and visor I got for Christmas!” “We were going to go to the beach twice!” “We were going to cook out more with the neighbors.”
Others of us crave it … we anticipate it, rubbing our hands together like we’re practicing for that first bonfire.
But like it or not, summer is rounding the corner y’all; it’s time for Autumn – capital A Autumn. Since we’re making yet another trip around the sun, and summer will return, let’s focus on the good of this coming season – the gorgeous leaves, brisk mornings, fire wood, scarves, heated car seats, football, soups and stews and snuggling with those we love.
And seriously – NO ONE wants to snuggle someone in a sweaty tank top. And if you do, no judgement, but we don’t want to hear about it.
The Piccards were ALL about the snuggling in October of 2014 when we met up and photographed them along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It started raining when we arrived, but the delay gave us time to grab lunch and bond and when the weather cleared, we were able to grab shots of this family of 4 with wet leaves beneath them and mountain fog surrounding them.
We’ve got spirit, yes we do, and boots and blue nails, HOW ‘BOUT YOU?
We’ve know mom, Brandii McCoy for many years, since we’ve worked with many Charlotte, NC sports teams and Brandii is the dance and cheer coach for the Charlotte Checkers, the former NBA Bobcats, and now the Charlotte Hornets. She’s used to being in front of the camera, so we knew we’d get great shots of her and her lovely family looking pulled together. We also wanted photos of them just being themselves, relaxed and silly and goofing. During conversations, we learned that Brandii and her husband had never had formal portraits of themselves taken, so this session and our lunch with them made for a lot of fun for all of us.
The girls, Karsen and Adler, knew how to work it, by the way. Check out the crossed legs and ankles, the subtle head tilting and, of course, there was the unscripted cuteness. 
We look forward to many Autumn shoots in 2015 and now is the time to book your fall portrait session. Pixels has openings, but they fill up quickly, especially the weekends. We’ll want to capture the best pics of you (and yours) during the height of the season. Call us at 704.641.1131 or 336.990.0080 and let’s make a plan!!
conner tevepaugh – a summer peach turns 6 months and works the orchard with zeal
SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMER!
While it’s almost officially the end of summer (like it or love it), we took Conner Tevepaugh’s 6 month portraits in July of this year at his family’s orchard. [For those who follow this blog closely, and we hope you all are!!], Conner’s newborn pictures were captured at our outdoor studio in Wilkesboro, NC. This time, since it was in the height of the picking season, we went to them at Tevepaugh Orchards. All of the Tevepaugh kids and grandkids have been photographed as babies and toddlers in those wooden gathering crates along with apples or peaches and their photos hang in the family’s orchard house. The basin Conner’s in just below was one used by his great-grandmother to hold fruit that were being peeled for canning or cooking. Family members vividly remember her using it frequently. Pretty sure she would love to know that her family is still using this heirloom in photos of the next generation. Connor certainly cutes it up!
On the left: possible peach thief. On the right: busted for stealing. “It’s ok…. I’ll just sit here and look cute.”
As with all newborn to 6 month, or 6 month to 1 year sessions with babies, the change in them is subtle but still recognizable. Connor, our little “backdraft baby” was tucked into his father’s fireman’s helmet and gear as a newborn (and in a basket of apples just below). This time around, he was hitched to his grand-dad, Armit.
Because this session took place in their orchard, Armit was keen to participate and had lots of ideas and props and energy. Everything was perfectly ripe and sweet (the color of those peaches was not enhanced, by the way, and the smell of ripe fruit was heavenly). Conner was game to be placed in baskets and all over the orchard.
That July harvest time kept everyone in the family busy working day after day on a multitude of tasks and while Connor isn’t walking, much less “pulling his weight” just yet – he was interested in sampling the goods and being a part of the mix. Just as the photos of the kids in the Tevepauch orchard house are treasures for their parents and grandparents, these photos will be priceless for Connor and his family someday. And he can show the basin and the crates, maybe even walk the land with his own kids and talk about how fun it was to be a kid among all of that beauty and deliciousness.
“I just want to go on record to say that this finger is not nearly as tasty as that peach I was slurping on earlier.”
the perry family ~ one spot and 3 generations
“All that history, the love & laughter, is designed for youth. It is what keeps the story of who we are alive from one generation to the next. It ensures our indelible mark in the souls of generations we will never have the pleasure of holding in a warm embrace. Life is short people.” – E.B. Loan
You can find your way back to family using one of those ancestry sites – and they are amazing. You can also get several generations together and capture a moment like we did with the Perry family in Linville, NC …. 3 Generations. Count ’em – THREE.
While all 3 families live in Durham, NC, they wanted to gather at their second family/vacation home in Linville, NC to capture the Matriarch and Patriarch and their 2 sons along with their wives and 5 children. The setting and day turned out to be gorgeous – and so did the multiple groups of Perry’s. Sundress, sandals, shades of blues among the greens of outside and family members ranging from months old to decades old.
Pixels on Paper loves family photos that put a pin in a moment of time … grandmas & grandpas, moms & dads, kiddos, cousins, nieces & nephews, even beloved pets. We’ve watched our clients over time look back and say “Oh, there’s our schnauzer Molly when you were just 3 years old!” Or, “I cannot believe we were all so YOUNG!” It’s caught in time for good. The Perry’s, in particular the little ones dressed up and being held in laps, will treasure these as heirlooms some day. As the quote above says, “life IS short people.” So gather your clan and let us capture you all for the generations you don’t even know are coming.
the McAdoo family album ~ part deux
Meet The Smalls, a.k.a the McAdoo kids – Emma (left) and Sophia. These two are siblings who would have never been sisters if their parents had not fallen in love via eHarmony. (This photo is from March of 2014!)
We had the honor of documenting Rachel and Jeremy’s wedding in November of 2012. Theirs is a wonderful love story and was featured along with our photos in Carolina Bride magazine. We’ve known the McAdoo’s for years. Rachel is a wedding planner and when she chose us to photograph their day – the ceremony at Holiday Inn in Center City Charlotte and reception at Byron’s Southend (so cool – great venue) – it meant the world to us.
You can see how Sophia has grown! And now she’s a big sister who loves the little lamb who showed up to grace all of their lives. We love this family so much and look forward to capturing more moments in their journey as the girls turn into little ladies. We know kids, well ALL OF US, change every day, but any excuse to see all 4 of their faces and hear the latest and greatest from the world of McAdoo would be fun.
Pixels on Paper photographs weddings, maternity shots, new borns, kids, family portraits, head shots and anything personal and creative. We have both indoor and outdoor studios, but also travel to favorite locations we know and love discovering new ones with clients. We’d love to hear from you!