(If you are interested in purchasing any of the prints shown here, please contact us.)

Some more photos taken at Cape May on our brief stay in March.

All that was needed was to ask this little girl to give her Dad a raspberry, she most enthusiactically obliged.

Not a whole lot was open in the off season but the ice cream & fudge store was!  Ice cream can be enjoyed on a cold blustery day, but did you know high winds can melt ice cream faster than no wind at all? 

We revisited The Star Inn which was the 1st place we tried out when we first went to Cape May in 2007.  We were drawn to the fresh and modern beachy decor, suite set up and cozy little back yard.  Oh what a few years can do to a place.  The mattress was terribly sunk in the middle and the furniture & carpet had seen much better days but the great memories were still there.  Note to all hoteliers, please use great mattresses, nothing can be worse than a nice room with a terrible mattress…

Love Sunset Beach, known for it’s gorgeous sunsets, concrete ship, Cape May Diamonds & the fun beach stores with curious things to look at.  The beach is made up primarily of small smooth stones or “diamonds” and upon closer inspection there is also a treasure trove of life & death scattered through out the washed up debris.  The most exciting is to find the alien looking spider crabs which at first look dead but are mostly alive, just slow…  Living & skeleton varieties of other crabs and sealife also are everywhere, the waves mixed with rocks I imagine can be quite brutal at times.

This very charming & beachy memorial to American Pride or something unknown was on display at the end of Cape May Beach.  I imagine by the time we revisit it again in the summer the prized shells will have been picked clean by shell collectors.  Scott did run way wayyyy down the beach as Leilani and I shouted that we were freezing out butts off in the wind, when he came back he had 3 giant shells like the ones decorating the fence here.  One of the shells was entirely intact.  A Great find!  That is definitely something we wouldn’t be able to get had we not stopped by in the off season.

Cape May, we will see you again this summer!   

If you ever need to try a new beach destination, we couldn’t recommend Cape May more.  It is gorgeous, clean and delicious!  And for the most part feels like you are stepping back in time when things were more wholesome, classy, respectable, polite and family oriented.  Love this place…

Cape May, NJ Addict & Harrisburg Area & Central PA’s Modern Portrait & Wedding Photographer - Grace Lightner Photography

(If you are interested in purchasing any of the prints shown here, please contact us.)

Cape May, NJ is a place that we have grown very fond of for the past 3 years.  We take our family vacation out there in the summers.  What is there to love?  The beautiful beaches which are kept clean and spacious enough to not ever feel crowded, the charming old Victorian buildings full of history and gorgeous gingerbread work, the newer grand beach houses that make you sigh &  you wish you were making rock star money, the amazing culinary selection and the pleasant people.  We just love it there!

So we decided to head there for a short get away towards the end of March.  It was a risky move as we knew it would be cold but we were getting a few days of nice weather by then so we were hopeful.  It was most certainly the off season, most of our favorite restaurants were closed and despite the great weather we had the week before, our trip coincided with a stretch of cold and blistering winds.  And then when we found it was going to rain we cut our losses and left a day early. 

We spent less than 24 hours in Cape May but it was better than nothing.  We needed a couple of beach days even if they happened to be bittery cold and windy =)  I got a chance to shoot a little and hang out with my babes which made me happy!

This crab was alive but so cold it was just not interested in doing much scurrying.

Seashells, seashells on the seashore.  In the off season there TONS of shells everywhere, and not just shell pieces but big honkin beautifully intact whole pieces.  Leilani could care less about the cold all she wanted to do was collect shells, she preferred the broken variety.

I love the presence and architecture of this church, I always take a photograph of it if I am walking by with my camera, it is just gorgeous.  It is the Our Lady of The Star Sea Catholic Church and is built in a Medieval revival style with Roman & Gothic styles of architecture mixed together beautifully.

And not the new fancy rollercoaster kind… More like the really old rickety wooden ones with the lap bar that doesn’t quite hold you in and where your stomach really lurches on a couple of the ripples and your head rattles side to side hitting the person next to you or the poorly padded headrest behind you. Albeit there is that moment or 2 of pure euphoria that made it all worth it!

To summarize, my work laptop put the kaibash on productivity and so I welcomed a smokin new computer to the office. YAY!!!!

And I got to brag that my wonderful husband had already purchased this new computer and had planned to give it to me on my birthday. But I guess my constant complaining and fighting with my laptop escalated to levels that allowed me to get my gift early =) My husband rocks! Love you handsome!

Of course there is always a downside to new computers, the fact that you have to transfer everything over, track down all the old installation discs, update, relicense and a multitude of other things.

I am however glad to say that I think for the most part I am back on track and the new computer is seriously 30 times faster and I am all giddy about it! For clients this means a faster and more creative turn around on proofs and products.

Only thing is my e-mail, I apologize profusely to those I have not gotten back to and I encourage you that if you are waiting to hear from me to e-mail me again and consider including a read receipt to make sure I get your message.

Thanks to those clients who have been so patient during this time. It is all downhill and beautiful from here!

Giddy!
Grace

Yesterday 3/19/08 was officially our 1 year anniversary and it was only by chance that I realized it. So YAY!!! Happy Anniversary!!!

This past year has been an amazing journey for this business, the studio, myself and my work. I have learned so much as far as figuring out how to run a business, perfecting lighting and photography techniques, discovering a personal style, researching products, taking classes and what feels like a million other things along the way.

I never imagined things would have come as far along as they have this past year. I simply love what I do more than ever and I look forward to what the next year will bring not only for myself but for my clients.

I have to thank all of the past and current clients who have helped develop this passion of art into what it is now. I get an immense amount of joy and inspiration from bringing complete satisfaction to my clients and delivering them images that move them, delight them and bring them happiness. I want them to be proud to display my work in their home and their work.

Thank you to my wonderful clients who have been some of the most amazing people I have had the honor of working with. Here is to another awesome year!

Love,
Grace Lightner

I received an e-mail from her mom in February announcing that Cassett booked her first job! To model clothing for Boscovs, a popular local department store chain.

There she is the adorable little girl on the far right. This was shot for a Boscov’s ad which was in print and on the Boscov’s website the week of March 3, 2008.

And that isn’t it. Cassett entered a local children’s beauty pageant that was held at the Capitol City Mall on March 15. She won the Divisional Championship as well as Best Hair & Eyes. She will be going to the State competition in a few months! Congratulations Cassett and we wish you the best of luck in the States!

Yes that is right I am back & blogging! Last year as it was getting busy my husband convinced me that blogging would just take too much time so I took it down. But after noticing that after several months of the blog being taken down it still gets the most hits out of all our pages (even after the link was removed!), it was apparent that it needed to be brought back.