merlefest 2019
Another year in the books and we returned with more great memories, stats and gratitude that being Official Merlefest photographers is a part of our business profile.
At this year’s festival, Ryan and I shot approximately 30 bands and performers. We’re always amazed by the talent… never surprised, but amazed, you know? I get why there are so many television shows dedicated to singing, songwriting, finding musicians with talent and the like. They are everywhere. Each year the line up is diverse, but 2019 seemed more so than ever before. It was incredibly inspiring to see and hear bands of all different cultures, races and genres. Traditional bluegrass, Americana, Afro funk, Celtic, blues, country, Indy rock, etc.
Merlefest is a little bit like going to camp. You get there and remember the things you love about your time spent and see faces you love that you’ve missed all year. I realized how much I missed the work itself, and how much I love the crew we work with throughout the event. Seeing them only once a year feels like being cheated, but it makes it more special when we’re all together again.
For Ryan’s part, he missed the atmosphere of live music and live performances. Like me, he can get lost in the sounds on stage while capturing both performers and ambient crowd fun. He also said he missed the late night editing sessions when he and other official photogs would process and laugh and swap stories.
I also felt a bit of remorse for how “out-of-focus” I was last year while juggling being a new mom to Finley. There’s some negotiating when trying to breastfeed between photographing stages, getting the work done but then wanting to make it home to tuck the little guy in by bedtime. Whoa it was hard! This year held much less pressure and felt normal again.
And on that front: Finley is no longer content riding on my back in the carrier for 10-12 hours. He attended the fest on Thursday with Grandma KeKe. He spent the majority of his day on the playground, in the kids area sand box and playing with rocks in the VIP seating. What we became even more aware of because of this kid is just how incredibly family-friendly the fest is. With an entire kids area, activities and even stages of entertainment specifically for children, it’s a huge draw for families.
Another revelation was realizing that I was approaching an A-list performer with a pre-conceived notion only to have that perception completely changed for the better after watching, listening and meeting that artist. I love those personal shifts that come with professional growth.
For Ryan – it was about being up close and personal, on stage even with musical talents and feeding off their energy during a performance. That’s what turns him on.
Each year, the fest challenges our photography skills and takes them to a level of creativity and demand that’s unlike anything we do all year. We love how much our relationship with other photogs on the team has grown. It’s fun to be in the upload room together throughout the event comparing our work, sharing experiences, laughs, and exhaustion. It truly feels like summer camp.
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.
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.
MBI Builders & PROCOR Industrial | Commercial Project & Photography
Pixels has been asked to shoot images for MBI Builders many times and we always love the challenge of architectural photography, with the angles, light and focus on the purpose of each shot. For these projects, our marketing minds kick in and we need to keep the target audience in mind. With weddings, family or baby portraits, we know the audience. With commercial photography, we get to really sit and have a brand, business and promotional materials conversation. These are conversations we love!
Ryan took this gig (he nails the commercial work, you guys) and he created some lovely images for MBI of the space they designed and executed for PROCOR Industrial.
PROCOR Industrial is located in Cornelius, NC and signed MBI Builders for a recent project. The office spaces and group areas created allow individuals and teams at PROCOR to be more productive, feel more connected, and enable employees to accomplish both segmented and team-driven projects.
MBI shared this with us: “The PROCOR project was indeed unique. It is not necessarily a new endeavor, as commercial work is becoming one of our primary areas of focus, but this was a very modern job. Our main goal is always to build value with each and every client, and we believe we achieved this with our designs for PROCOR.”
These images will be used in MBI’s portfolio and marketing collateral and we loved being a part of their marketing team to make this happen.
We love graphic design and commercial photography whether logo design, brochure design, head shot photos, architectural photography or product shots. At Pixels On Paper we pride ourselves in listening to a broad range of clients and customizing our photography and graphic design services to meet each individual request. Our skills, styles, and visions come together to be a permanent record that either reflects an identity or delivers a message that speaks to thousands. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your business needs. Email us at mail@pixelsonpaper.net or call 336.990.0080 to learn more, receive a quote or to let us know how we can put our skills to work for you.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Celebrating Dads | Father’s day photography
For this blog, we chatted with friends who are dads and they shared some of the things that they love most about being fathers. Seemed appropriate to go straight to the source.
I let Ryan kick us off! “Watching Finley’s curiosity with everything he experiences, makes me see things again in a whole new light. And that excites me again about exploring things around me, even the once-mundane things we take/took for granted.”
“Watching my 3 year old develop a sense of humor and timing when trying to get a laugh is one of my favorite things. She’s been working on her dramatic pause with “this little pig went to market” that just kills me. Also when she tells us that she loves us – it is pretty amazing.”
“Watching my kids become kind, compassionate adults.”
“Always being there for them but also strong enough to carry them when they need carrying and wise enough to let them fly when they need to soar.” (His eldest just got married!!)
“What I love most about being a dad (of two young ladies) is the way my children have challenged me to communicate from a place of self awareness and honesty! That and that I LOVE hanging out with them and hearing the many ways they are sorting through life! They are just amazing.”
“Empowering your kids to discover and become who God created them to be. As a dad, you’re not a bystander. You can enable them to really figure out who they are and support that vision.”
Happy Fathers Day to ALL of the Dads out there. We appreciate you so much more than we can ever say.
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.
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.
Orozco family orchard photos & baby news
If you’ve been following our blog for any length of time you’ll remember the beginnings of this lovely family. It was born when Oscar proposed to Ashley and we captured their engagement photos. Then they asked us to be their wedding photographers and we were honored. Since then, they have brought a little human into the world, baby Leo and this kiddo is about as delicious as they come.
We’ve been sharing this year’s crop of orchard portrait sessions and the Orozco family chose that location for Leo’s one year portraits. The day was beautiful and we adore this family and loved watching them all cuddled and playing together. We can’t believe how much little Leo has grown in a year’s time and we are certain he is going to love the role as big brother.
Little did we know until Ashley & Oscar’s arrival that we would also be photographing the announcement that their family is expanding. We were literally the first to know, as they would be using the pics we took to make the surprise announcement to each of their families. Talk about feeling honored and excited!
Ashley was just 7 weeks and still in the shocked stages or her pregnancy. In fact, at the time of our photos she was pregnant with twins. Shortly after around 11 weeks they would lose one of the babies. Ashley shared this about the experience “Although we did not want to hear this news, we know God is in control and we ask prayers for our little baby as he/she grows, and for us as we lean on God through this time! Our other little twin is up in heaven watching over us. We are trusting God. That twin is being better taken care of now than we ever could.” She is expected to deliver in early November 2019.
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.
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.
Mom, Dad, Baby & Blooms
Mirror, mirror….
Why is this gorgeous baby giving me the long stare? And will she steal my beauty?
Little Miss Ava found herself gazing like Narcissus, but instead of water, there was glass and she was rewarded richly. What a glorious little face looking up at the blooms and sky around her. Her sweet parents, Travis and Judy, were eager to photograph in the orchards this year and we loved the opportunity to create images and memories for them.
Judy’s love for tutus and vision of Ava lying on a mirror in the blooms became a creative photography mission for us. With babies it can sometimes be difficult to recreate these visions outside of the studio with so many distracting and unpredictable factors that can come into play. It’s important to preface this to anyone coming to us with Pinterest board expectations. I have to say, though, we pulled it off and this sweet munchkin and her folks look like they belong in the orchards.
There was no Photoshop overlays or green screens used to create these images of Ava and she literally became the vision of a true Southern Belle, wrapped in ribbons and pearls.
Moms and Dads out there: if you have an idea you want to pursue, bring it to us. You KNOW we’ll try to capture it. [Judy LOVES a theme. Check out her maternity shoot and Ava’s newborn photos.] Our only disclaimer is that we can’t control weather and sometimes it takes all hands on deck to distract a wriggling or tired baby. That said, when we match a vision with a palette and beautiful natural landscape, it really does feel like a triumph to see results like these.
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.
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.