

Happy Thanksgiving 2018
We hope that wherever you are and whomever you’re with that you find time this Thanksgiving to remember what matters most to you and to celebrate that. Truly. Find the 2 minutes to hold the hand of someone you love, tell them how grateful you are for them and crack up together. Those moments become mental snapshots that you’ll keep until your mind goes…. during old age – or at Christmas.
KIDDDDDDDDING!
But I am serious about the first part. I love making eye contact with my mom, dad or Ryan for a second and shooting them that “I’m grateful for you” glance. It matters to show others that they matter to you.
Ryan and I are so grateful for this time of year to take a breath and put things into perspective. It has been a year of blessings – and grief – on the world stage and that is indeed a part of life. But when I think about how I want to ground myself, I do it thinking about a few of my favorite things – family, babies, laughter, nature and togetherness.
“Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are.” – Joyce Giraud
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
“When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect toward others.” – Dalai Lama
“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it.” – Ralph Marston
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” – Henry Van Dyke
“Thanksgiving isn’t just a day. It’s a way we can live our lives everyday.” – Katrina Mayer
Happy Thanksgiving, Y’all! Be safe, eat well, laugh a lot, grab some couch time and nap, and enjoy the beginning of the holiday season! Whatever you do, be grateful. We know we are.
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 License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.


Our Finley Turns One with a Cake smash
America’s beloved Walt Disney said, “I think of a child’s mind as a blank book. During the first years of his life, much will be written on the pages. The quality of that writing will affect his life profoundly.”
I don’t know what was more profound this last year of our lives and the first of Finley’s. Everything he poured out, we soaked up… some of it we consumed lovingly with no sense of what the heck was going on, but more of it with the greediness of parents who understand that time is flying. I hope we filled the pages of his blank little being with the imprints of love, care, tickles, laughter, confidence and some unspoken knowledge that we have his back till our last breaths.
That’s heavy. I know, but I’m his Mama and I get a pass. Want the sweet stuff? See below. We celebrated his first birthday with the traditional cake smash and he did not disappoint.
I’m amazed at the amount of growth and change I saw in Finley in just 12 months. We opted to photograph his cake smash portraits during his birthday celebration while he was surrounded by family. A few days prior, Ryan and I sat in the middle of the floor creating his one year backdrop while he played around us in the balloons. I made his birthday cake, following a tradition where my Mom always made my birthday cakes while growing up. When he is able, he will be able to request what kind of cake he wants just like I did. Traditions run thick in our blood! It’s what memories are made of.
Happy Birthday, Sweet Finley. What you’ve given us far outweighs any birthday or other gifts we’ve given you. We love you, Son.
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 License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.


Christmas is Coming – Time to Schedule Your In-Home Portraits
So much to do, so much to plan, so much to organize… and folks, I am right there with you. The mind reels during the holiday season. No sooner have you taken the surplus Halloween candy to work, than you’re gearing up for Thanksgiving. But we hope that you find time for making memories and capturing them for posterity. We managed to get out with our little pumpkin – Finley – to enjoy some warm temps.
But here is one task you can check off your list in 5 minutes: scheduling your Christmas portrait session. While you may not know exactly what you want your holiday portraits or cards to look like, or what you want your family to be wearing, or if you want to include pets, it’s time to call and schedule your in-home portraits session.
Pajamas and tree decorating. Check.
Wrapping presents around a fire. No problem.
Playing touch football in the yard. Sure.
Decorating cookies and destroying the kitchen. Why not?
Playing board games or lying in a pile watching the Grinch or reading The Night Before Christmas. Absolutely.
… whatever the tableau, we’re in to brainstorm, laugh with you, help with the idea and document it. At home sessions are WAY MORE FUN than you know, unless you’ve booked us for a one in the past. Families have told us how thrilled they are to have these specific memories forever.
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 License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.


Time to Schedule you Christmas & Holiday In-Home Portraits
As you print out the Butterball turkey hotline number to put on the frig, iron bedding for out-of-town guests (I have a friend who ACTUALLY does this, but she told me she’d kill me if I shared her number), stock the pantry, sharpen your knives, throw out the old bathroom soap, and get everything else pulled together for Thanksgiving, I want to give you a loving tap on the shoulder and remind you that it’s time to be thinking about your holiday portrait session. This year, we’re doing in-home sessions only, because not only do we love doing them, more importantly, YOU GUYS told us you love them too.
We made this decision also because we remember the best things about Christmas happen at home. Here’s a little excerpt I wrote about our reasoning from 2016:
For us, this year has been hectic, challenging and rewarding all at the same time. Through it all I’ve been very reflective and God has been incredibly forthcoming in showing me direction and insight all along the way both in my personal journey and the path of our business. I want all the work we do to be done with intention and relevance.
Nothing is more important during the holidays (or anytime for that matter) than family. When trying to create the concept for this year’s Christmas theme “family” and “home” continued to resonate in my mind. I wanted a way to create a personal experience for each of our clients, so my resolution is to offer in-home Christmas sessions.
I want to capture families gathered around trees with handmade ornaments, trees where all the fragile ornaments are at a height away from little fingers, stockings are personalized and tree toppers are those that have been passed through generations. I’d love to capture children in their Christmas PJs while they show me an ornament they made at school. Children years from now will recognize their surroundings in a photograph. What it looks like is different for every single one of our clients.
The same is true two years later. We want to be in your world during one of the most important holidays and seasons each year.
In-home sessions allow you to be more relaxed while we document the season, your family, playing games, eating and “doing life.” Some families want to dress up and make it more festive, others hang in their pjs. It’s ALL good.
Our prices have not changed since 2016! Give us a call or send us an email and let’s get you and your in-home photo session on the calendar.
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 License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.


New Graphic Design Projects | Tevepaugh Orchards
The family’s orchards are exceptionally beautiful, but they also produce…. PROduce. Their farm is fruitful. Somebody stop me. They grow the most luscious apples and peaches, okay. And they needed a new rack card/brochure that they could give to the local visitors center and share at other events – like the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival. We were ready to help. This time it wasn’t about photography as much as graphic design and we combined both to create something new that celebrates the place and people. Ryan wanted lots of photos on the cover side to show off the fruits, but to also feature family that is such a pivotal, historical and emotional part of why the business flourishes. One of the photos features Armit and his grandson Connor inspecting fruit together. So stinking sweet!
The back features some brief history about the farm and a map to guide people into the Brushy Mountains to the apple house. If you haven’t been to this amazing place, plan to go!
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 License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.