Madi and Preston’s West Jefferson NC Engagement Photos ~ engaged, excited and eager to tie the knot
“We’re pretty much obsessed with each other,” they told us and I personally consider that a good sign if you’re going to marry someone.
These two lovebirds are a couple we adore. We’ve known them for a while due to the fact that we photographed groom-to-be Preston Roberts’ sister Meghann for her bridal portraits and stunning wedding. The family adopted us and WE LET THEM! We love, love, love this family and feel like we belong. So when Madison Ball and Preston became engaged, Madi booked us before she even knew the date of their wedding. 
Both teachers, Madi and Preston are recent college grads – she from UNC-Charlotte and he from Appalachian – and they fell in love beginning with a funny Instagram message that led to a series of texted videos of Preston playing the guitar and singing for her. That was 2 years ago. Since then, they’ve been living 2 hours apart, so when they’re together, they love to float on the river, duck hunt in Arkansas, go to App football games or to the beach and just crack each other up. These two are fun and funny, so we don’t have any trouble believing they enjoy time together and are going to have a successful marriage filled with lots of laughter.
Photographing Madi and Preston in various beauty spots around West Jefferson NC in the mountains of the High Country was a breeze because it was so completely relaxed and gave us a chance between set-ups to catch up on life and family. The couple will be married in July on the family farm, the same place we photographed Preston’s sister’s bridal portraits. They have no plans for establishing any new traditions at their ceremony they say, but they are excited about first seeing each other when Madi walks down the proverbial aisle at their intimate wedding.
We look forward to their mid-summer wedding and to seeing the family again and watching these two call it legal. Let the countdown begin and congrats on the journey ahead, you guys!
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.
Allison – Class of 2017 Outdoor Senior Portraits
Allison Elliott is at the very end of the road…. the road of high school. She’s done.
Remember that feeling? Oh sweet joy! Oh freedom! Oh life!
And OH YOUTH! Her pal, Paiton Roberts, referred Allison to us for her senior portraits and like Paiton, she’s filled with that glow that comes naturally when you’re under the age of 20. Sweet, buoyant, beautiful and very artistic, Allison is ready to step onto the road to whatever is next. On Friday, May 26th she’ll be graduating from Millers Creek Christian School. She’s already taking classes in graphic design at the community college and she’s an avid photographer. Her friends count on her to get the fun candids for memories and posts. She is eager to learn and go places.
She may look comfy sitting in these outdoor settings, but this country-raised girl is less outdoorsy, preferring instead the idea of big city life, and all things fashion, beauty, sparkle and glitter. You’ll see when we get to shots of her in her prom dress.
One wonders if the big city can contain this girl. LOOK AT HER! We loved all the costume changes and designing her graduation announcement as well. Her prom gown, from the BeYoutiful Prom Boutique at Bridal Traditions, was edgy and cool and she looked lovely in it.
The 1954 Chevy belongs to her dad and he’s had it since his high school days. Watching his face while she sat in it for her portraits was priceless.
Good luck Allison! And to all the graduates out there, go get ’em!
And pace yourselves……………
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.
Merlefest 2017 | 30 Years of Exhilarating Music | music festival photos by Pixels On Paper
Another Merlefest is in the books, you guys and it was epic. Hot as one of the circles of Dante’s Inferno, if you’ll permit me to put too fine a point on it <smiling>. It was epic. So much to see and so much to share. This was the 30th anniversary and our 3rd year as official photographers. We covered 26 bands, plus the 12 who performed in the annual Chris Austin Songwriter’s Competition and we each walked 15 miles over the 4 days we were there. Frankly, we loved every second of it.
As previously mentioned, the temperatures were not springy. It was always a minimum of 80+ with two of the four days posting at just below 90 degrees, because Mother Nature has an audacious sense of humor. We usually layer clothing and then put items back on in the evenings. Nope. This year, a couple of morning showers added to the humidity and we wore just what we needed. The weather wasn’t going to stop us and it did not stop 80,000 other visitors from coming to enjoy the festival atmosphere we were all basking in. God Bless water and sunscreen. 
The crowd size for this celebration of 3 decades of music and merriment was comprised of every age from infants to 80 years olds and the age range of the performers was expansive too. The youngest performer was 8 and of course there were veterans of Merlefest who’ve played every year since 1987, like Sam Bush and Peter Rowan. 
Highlights for Ryan were seeing James Taylor (who drew one of the biggest crowds) and the Avett Brothers (who also attracted the hoards) and he relished the Bass Workshop with Bob Crawford, since he’s fascinated by all things bass. (Their combined set with the Avett Brothers blew the place up.) Finally, the crowd noise as they announced that Linda Jean Stokley was the winner of the Chris Austin songwriter’s competition was a thrill. Linda Jean – of The Local Honeys – played her winning song for grateful fans. “Cigarette Trees“ is about the destruction of coal mining and is positively beautiful.
For me, the top moments were watching and listening to Sam Bush, who’s not only an incredible musician, but loves to surprise the audience with guests he brings on stage. And Sarah Jarosz is another performer that I looked forward to seeing for months. I’d listened to her streaming online, so I was jazzed to see her perform and she did not disappoint!
We both always enjoy seeing Chatham County Line, the Avett Brothers, Mandolin Orange and Scythian. This year we discovered Sierra Hull, Mountain Heart, Mipso, and The Steel Wheels. We hope to see them again next year.
Every year, we try to store up our energy and prepare to throw ourselves into Merlefest. We are fans. We were fans before becoming official photographers in 2015 and have enjoyed the experience more than we can say. It’s hot, it’s busy (we’re working from when the first eye opens until we crash late at night), it’s exhausting and it’s a blast. We come home spent but grateful and with songs, notes, riffs and phrasing in our heads to remind us. It’s one of the coolest gigs we work all year. Till 2018, Merlefest fans!
Love Your Mama! | Celebrating Motherhood
No matter what it looks like, motherhood is profound. Mothers declare – with this first amazing act of carrying a child and then giving birth to it – that they will forever share their food, put their immediate needs aside, hold their child’s head above the rising water, look for sacred lost things, and provide comfort, perspective, structure, laughter, physical and emotional affection, joy and support till the very end.
– Sylvia Plath
Anniversaries | The Darling Buds of May
Kaitly & Denny Gappens – 4 years on May 4th
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Jennifer & Thomas – 5 years on May 5th
Olivia & James – 6 years on May 7th
Kathy & Phillip – 10 years on May 12th
Andrea & Mike – 6 years on May 14th
Jessica & Zach – 8 years on May 16th
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
Jessica & Chris – 3 years on May 17th
Maggie & Saeger – 4 years on May 18th
Rachel & Ryan – 6 years on May 21st
Holley & Ron – 7 years on May 22nd
Kathren & Nathan – 3 years on May 24th
Shanna & Ethan – 4 years on May 25th
Ashleigh & Philip – 5 years on May 26th
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnet 18 from William Shakespeare
Candace & Bob – 8 years on May 30th
Congratulations and Happy Anniversary! We love you all and hope the year ahead till the next anniversary is adorned with the blooms of prosperity, good health, laughter, devotion and LOVE!