Grace Lightner Photography Blog

Beverly & Steve's Engagement Session

2008-04-24T22:05:00.006-04:00

Here are some highlights from Beverly & Steve's Engagement session. They are an adorable couple and have puppy love written all over the way they interact with each other.

They enjoy a laid back and casual style and both love nature and wanted their engagement photos to reflect that. We went to some locations near the studio with some picturesque settings that showcased the natural beauty of the area.

They will be getting married in June and I am honored to have the opportunity to photograph their wedding. This will be my first wedding assignment but I feel like I have been grooming myself to shoot weddings. I am extremely excited to document the wedding and turn out some breathtaking images. Thanks to them both, they are an awesome couple.

To see more photographs from this session please click the title link above.

~ Grace

Trout Children's Photo Shoot

2008-04-07T17:35:00.004-04:00

Mom really wanted to get some shots of all the kids together for the family as well as several headshots and candid shots that caugh the kids natural personalities. Some would be sent into modeling and talent agencies and the rest would be cherished by the family.

Mom brought Cassett in the end of last year to get some shots to include in her modeling portfolio and for sending out to agencies and competitions. I am happy to say that Cassett has been doing quite well. She just turned 3 and landed a job modeling for Boscov's, and won a local pageant competition and will be heading to compete in a State pageant this coming summer. She is really a huge personality in a cute little package and I am glad to be one of her sponsors.

I met the 2 adorable brothers for the first time and they all did extremely well. I was able to get several different great shots with all the kids together which can be quite challenging when you have several 3 or younger. But I love the challenge of working with little kids and with the help of big brother, Mom and bubbles it turned out just great.

Here are the 3 individual shots that have been submitted into the Child & Baby Portrait Contest that is running through June 1.

Grace

It's Portrait Bash Time!

2008-04-07T08:20:00.007-04:00

A Portrait Bash is a social event either added onto an existing party, event or gathering or the focus of the entire party itself. It is a fun experience in where the host and the guests enjoy mini professional portrait sessions, by your's truly, in the host's home, our studio (or other location of choice).

The benefits are huge in that there are absolutly no session fees, no minimum orders, we bring our studio to you, no selling at the Bash and the Host has the ability to earn free portraits based on the total order of her guests. It is really a no lose situation and an extremely fun experience for the host and guests. The resulting final portraits all enjoy the same level of high quality and attention to detail as portraits from a normal professional session.

So if you enjoy throwing a Bash and love the idea of offering free professional portrait sessions for your family and friends, get in touch with us for details and availability!

For more information you can click on the following link http:/./www.gracelightnerphotography.com/portraitbash.htm

Lauren, Sage & Meredith

2008-03-21T15:20:00.010-04:00

I could not be happier with the results of this photo shoot. Meredith who get's her children's portraits done every year around their birthdays had come to me last year for the first time for some family pictures and came back this year to have me do her children's portraits.

She came with some fabulous ideas which resulted in some amazing action shots including one of my favorites below. I love photographing people in costume, or in this case uniform. Those types of images just tend to captivate you and your brain starts asking questions and growing in curiosity.

Our football player Sage LOVES wearing his football uniforms and would gladly wear them every minute of everyday if he could. Mom was able to get this entire uniform for him and once he was in it he was instantly in the game.

This is also one of the images from this shoot that I entered into the Baby & Child contest.

Lauren pictured below is just a natural at posing. A demure and beautiful young lady she did incredible in her interaction with her brother and family and towards the end started throwing out some very creative shots.

The image below was submitted into the B&C contest so good luck to their families in winning, I think the potential is great.

There are many many more great images from the shoot including some great interaction shots with mom & a pillow fight (another one of Mom's excellent ideas). For more wonderful images from the shoot, be sure to check out the slideshow from the session at http://www.gracelightnerphotography.com/galleries/meredith/meredith/meredith.html .
Sincerely,
Grace

Red Hat February Calendar Shoot - Valentine's Day

2008-03-21T08:09:00.004-04:00

We try and get a shoot in once a month with some or all of the member's of this Red Hat Social Group to get a picture for the "2009 First Class 59er Red Hat Calendar".

This shoot was for Fabruary and of course we celebrated Valentine's Day. And since I didn't have any Valentine's props, I asked them to bring some which they did. After setting up the props, the shoot was a breeze, the ladies did awesome. I especially love how giggly Red Hatters tend to be.

And since it was so short I showed them the film right on the laptop so they could let me know right there if they didn't like any of the shots. (I normally don't do this unless the shoot is pretty short).

And then we did some individual shots of lovely Frances for her kids.

Here is their favorite shot which will go up on the 2009 calendar.

Blogging out,

Grace

Happy Anniversary!

2008-03-20T12:35:00.009-04:00

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

Cassett - A Little Shining Star

2008-03-19T08:07:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to one of our youngest past clients Cassett. Last October ('07) her mother brought her in to have photos taken to start a modeling portfolio and to send out to modeling and talent agencies.

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!

We're back...

2008-03-19T07:28:00.004-04:00

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.

So this is where we will freely discuss the latest happenings on new services, products and highlights from recent shoots as well as personal more candid little quips from your's truly.

So subscribe to our feed, add our blog as a favorite site, or make it your homepage! I will try and keep it interesting.

Sincerely,

Grace Lightner

(Yes this is me, so so serious! I am not that serious really. This was a self portrait I took for a class and the only one I didn't look like a goofball in.)

December Ice

2007-12-17T20:29:00.000-05:00

It is quite breathtaking to see the world around you covered in ice. Nature's way of adorning itself with diamonds on those rare special occasions.

Sincerely,

Grace

Red Hat 2009 Calendar Project October

2007-12-15T07:32:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorites from the October Red Hat Calendar shoot. We had a Halloween theme for this particular month. The following picture was voted the favorite. The ladies enthusiactically "Booed" and the following image was voted as the favorite and was the shoe in for the calendar.
The following image is my personal favorite. I imagine the 3 wicked witches are offering the innocent victim handfulls of poison chocolates". The expressions are loaded with eerie character. It reminds me a lot of the image of Tony Soprano's mom shown on the DVD menu of Season 1 Sopranos (heheh yeah I know probably no one knows what the heck I am talking about, but if you do... leave a comment to let me know if you agree or if you think I am off my rocker)

The following image was also a favorite of mine. Much more on the sweeter side but I had Shirley hold some fake spiders against Betsy's neck (which didn't show up well so I added a spider on Betsy's neck during post processing). Then I had Roberta offer Betsy a handful of chocolates. Everyone was instructed to smile in a mischeivious way and the shot came out just great. Very "Trick or Treat".

Red Hat Calendar Project November

2007-12-14T07:48:00.000-05:00

I am currently working on a project to create a 2009 calendar for my Mother In Law's Red Hat group. And for those who are not familiar with "Red Hatters", they are those vibrant and sassy women over 50 that often assemble publically in groups in their unmistakable and hard to ignore bright red hats and bright purple garb.

My MIL is the Queen of her chapter (an incredibly awesome Queen too if I may add.) And being her Daughter In Law I have been rounded up as a member, and since I am under 50 I am considered a Pink Hatter and I must wear lavendar garb. (I know, I know just hideous!) But I truly love the company of these silly ladies and I enjoy helping out where I can.

So anyways, I was approached by my MIL to do a calendar for her group and I just thought it was an awesome and fun idea. We did October's shoot already, which I will dig out and post later but here are photos from the November shoot.

So the ladies here have been best friends for a long time. We chose to do an outdoor shoot to get a "November" feel with the fallen leaves and remnants of the autmn hues.

The location here is Wagner's Park located right down the road. There is a beautiful forest lined trail which is actually an old railroad bed. This old bridge which you see pictured is part of the bed.

For those interested in doing a shoot at this location, I would not charge extra for it since it is so close to my studio. Unless it would be required to bring a bunch of extra equipment with me.

To see additional photos from this shoot you can visit the following link
http://www.gracelightnerphotography.com/galleries/redhat/redhatnovember.html

Regina & Jason's Engagement Portraits

2007-12-13T16:41:00.001-05:00

This adorable young couple wanted some simple engagement portraits done for announcements and to have for their upcoming wedding. Both were not particular about the portrait style so I tried a variety of poses and styles from classic, romantic, modern, sweet and shots that had them interact so as to catch some facets of their natural personalities.

I love this shot, it is sweet with a touch of humor to it.

Can you believe Regina almost always keeps her hair up in a ponytail? She has gorgeous blonde hair which I wanted to play up by adding a little bit of wind. I asked her to gaze off towards the light and the combination of her beautiful strong gaze, slightly windswept hair and the embrace between the couple makes her look like a goddess. I love this shot.

I wanted to create some romance and evoke emotion by "recreating" the proposal. I focused on the ring and chose to blur out everything else to replay the moment when Jason proposed to Gina and the dizzying excitement that must have been shared as she accepted and the ring was slid onto her finger.

To view more images from Regina & Jason's Engagement portraits you can view them here http://www.gracelightnerphotography.com/galleries/rothrock/ginajason.html

Rothrock Family Portraits

2007-12-13T15:36:00.000-05:00

The Rothrocks and I had a super easy and quick portrait session that produced some great portraits full of life and personality. They wanted some clean and classic family portraits made with some black and white images.

I used high key lighting to create a bright white background which pops the Rothrocks right out of the image.

I love Angie's hair, it looks so awesome in the black & white and sepia color conversions.

Silly interaction between son and parents were encouraged and the results were just magnificent. Beautiful portraits for a beautiful and wonderful family. And little James did incredibly awesome as well as big James!

To see more photos from the Rothrock's Family Portrait session you can view them here http://www.gracelightnerphotography.com/galleries/rothrock/rothrock.html

Cantando Family Outdoor Shoot

2007-12-11T17:16:00.000-05:00

Okay things have been busy for a while but it is finally starting to slow down just enough for me to finally get some blogging done.

One of the shoots from November turned out some incredible outdoor pictures. The Cantando Family, which was a gorgeous family that consisted of a beautiful couple with their handsome young sons, wanted to get their yearly family portraits done. They requested a lot of candid shot as well as some posed shots in an outdoor setting. They also wanted several in black and white to mix it up.

So I took them to a gorgeous field across the street (owned by Mr & Mrs Norbeck) that boasted an incredible view and a lot of open space for the family to stroll and the children to play. And as a huge bonus, there was old and rustic farm equipment parked around the field that just BEGGED to be photographed. So of course I obliged.

Here are just a few of my favorite shots of the lovely family.

Since it was close to Christmas I added a few poinsettias on the side as a subtle holiday touch.

The kids were adorable and they did so well.

To see more pictures from this shoot you can check out their gallery located at http://www.gracelightnerphotography.com/galleries/cantando/cantando.html

Holiday Set Samples

2007-11-26T16:59:00.001-05:00

My husband convinced me that as far as Holiday and Christmas portraits go, people want and expect a nice set. (Is that true?) I am not big into props and sets but figured that I should at least offer a set for those who may prefer one for their portraits. I ended up creating 3 sets and I got to say, I really really like them A LOT! I think they are well balanced sets with not too little, not too much. When I walk into the studio and the tree is all lit up I really start to feel all Christmassy inside. =)

And be sure to visit the Holiday 2007 page for additional details on a discounted Holiday Package that has been put together.

The "models" below are my Husband & Business Manager Scott and our little girl. We did a very quick test shoot so I could hurry and get some flyers made and samples put up.

"Classic Holiday Eve"

This set is simple and classic and works well for adults and families.

"Gifts & Baubles"

This set works well for children. They can play with the shatter proof "Baubles". Gaze delightfully at the beautifully wrapped gifts.

By removing some extra "Baubles" and adding a seating area, it also makes for an elegant set for a family and adults.

"Gifts & Baubles"

Aww isn't she cute?

And what is a "Bauble"? That is what my husband asked... They are the balls DUH! ;)

"Snowman Social"

These cute little snowmen look like they are really made of snow! This set is perfect for kids and families and can be done with or without the snowman for a Winter Wonderland feel.

Our Brand New Blog

2007-11-26T14:09:00.000-05:00

Presenting our very new blog authored by yours truly Grace Lightner. Thanks for checking it out.

The purpose of this blog will be to keep current and potential clients and friends updated on all the changes and new things going on with our studio and business. This will include:

Updates on new sets and props
Annoucement of special promotions and sales
New products and services
Changes and improvements beneficial to our clients
Casting calls for test models

In addition to our studio and business updates, clients will want to visit often as we will include short blurbs about recent shoots. We will also include samples of favorite images from recent shoots featuring our stars, you!

Thanks for visiting, please bookmark our blog & our website and visit soon for regularly updated content.

Sincerely,

Grace Lightner

http://www.gracelightnerphotography.com