Grace Lightner Photography Blog

(This post was originally intended to be a short and sweet Happy New Year greeting and a brief look back on 2010, but as the words typed out, they formed into something more. So my apologizes for the wordiness as I know my readers are more accustomed to viewing images rather than reading stories.  And I do realize only a small handful will make it past a couple of paragraphs, but I suppose I felt a need to complete this more to unburden my thoughts and pay a small tribute to the Memory of a lovely Woman.)

Happy New Year!!! We’d like to radiate beams of positivity, happiness & success to one and all for an amazing 2011!

We were just touched and overjoyed by each and every one of the Christmas and Holiday cards we received from our Clients & Friends this past Holiday Season. Thank you so much! And of course we simply adored seeing our images on several of them! And yes we do normally send out special Holiday cards but this past season time and good manners desperately escaped us. We pinky promise to do twice as good for 2011.

2010 was quite a year for our Studio, our growth was much more than we had anticipated. The Holiday Season really took us by surprise and for those who have been witness to my frantic worrying of “Aaack!!! My head is spinning!!!”, thank you for your ears, pep talks and consoling words. Despite our worries, our deadlines were met, and many were returned with beautiful words of inspiration and gratitude from our wonderful Clients (which often brought tears of joy to my eyes). As busy as we were, I would often tell myself how deeply fortunate it was to be able to even utter those words. We are just so thankful to our Clients, Family, Friends and Supporters for inspiring us and perpetuating our ability to create beautiful, fresh, intimate imagery for others who love the same. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much!!!

It wasn’t until Christmas Eve in the evening (after the beautiful Wedding of the amazing Mr. & Mrs. Hockley and a Family & Senior Portrait Session with the eternally fun Nace Family) that I finally got to wind down and enjoy spending the Holiday’s with my Family. And it has been a wonderfully gloriously lazy past week here doing so. My amazing husband Scott took care of everything and I mean EVERYTHING from the end of October on. The cooking, the cleaning, laundry, taking care of and playing with Leilani, ALL the Christmas shopping, decorating for the Holidays, being a wonderful Dad to our Daughter and an amazingly supportive and loving Husband to me. I am so lucky to be married to such a rare gem of a man and am most thankful to him for keeping our world in balance, me sane and the Holidays joyous. As I look and plan ahead with anticipation into 2011 I know that one of the things I will make sure I do is to ensure that I don’t allow the joyous Holiday Season to slip by with me being absent from it. Which will mean I will be on the hunt for a couple of exceptional people to help out part time in the office and be a part of the team in 2011!

If you have been wondering where the Blog posts are, don’t worry, they are coming back soon! I have sooo many delicious new photos to post!!! The end of December was a flurry of meeting last minute deadlines, tying up loose ends, 2 December Weddings, Central Penn Parent’s Mom’s Makeover coverage and then getting those images turned around in a jiffy to make the January issue of Central Penn Parent Magazine! And wouldn’t you know it, right in the middle of the Holiday maelstrom I get hit with the flu AND then socked at the same time with strep throat! So after Christmas I enjoyed a lot of putzing around, getting out of the house, socializing, resting, spending time with my Family, playing with Leilani & her new toys, visiting Family, eating yummy things, kissing Scott… It was wonderful…

But before I bid my last farewell to 2010 and dive into 2011 there is 1 story that I wanted to share which was particularly poignant and which I find myself reflecting on every day. And if you are particularly sensitive to sad stories, I encourage you to stop reading here. Although if you are one to seek out a silver lining in things then by all means read on as this may make you appreciate life and the ones you love a little better…

As a Portrait & Wedding Photographer I feel very fortunate to be commissioned to document milestones & celebrations in people’s lives. Feel good moments, smiles, laughter, love, kisses and drool. But there are times when what I create becomes enormously more complex than that. And a person or situation comes along that causes me to stop in my tracks and completely changes how I look at life and how I look at what I do.

I remember this past November when Laura Keaveny walked into my studio.  Physically a tiny woman but the way she walked in and carried herself, you knew instantly she was strong, classy & confident and this made her seem larger than life. Her hair was long, dark as night and luxuriously full of bouncy waves. She told me she quite often curled her hair with hot rollers, which I was quite impressed with (because I can never seem to figure them out), but she insisted it was super easy to do which for a moment made me want to try to do it again just 1 more time. And highlighting Laura’s petite & fit frame, a beautifully round perfectly swollen belly which held a much loved and precious little bundle of boy. As we went through her outfits to pick out what she would wear, she showed me a cute pair of skinny black pants that she said her husband had just bought for her. (Cool I thought, someone else who has a husband who can confidently buy clothes for their wife!) I expressed my excitement and praise at how incredibly gorgeous she looked and she must have felt gorgeous too because she was simply radiant in front of the camera. She mentioned over the phone that her and her husband enjoyed listening to Modern Jazz. Fortunately there is a station on XM that is called just that, Modern Jazz. I had it tuned in and I asked if this was her kind of Jazz. This surprised her into a chuckle as she must have thought I just had great musical taste. Laura was amazing, it was a brief mini Expectation Session so we kept it very simple, but she was so at ease, got into the moment and took such great direction that we breezed through a generous handful of shots before we wrapped up. I enjoyed photographing her immensely, she was fun, great conversation and I could tell she enjoyed being photographed. It couldn’t have gone any smoother. I was very excited for the moment she would get to see how amazing her shots turned out.

About 3 weeks later & after I had sent out the proofs I get an e-mail from Laura that she needed some extra time. I am thinking, oh boy, I bet she loves too many of them! And then a week later an e-mail from another Client and also friend of Laura’s letting me know that the baby arrived early, there were complications and they were still in the hospital. In the meantime her friend knew which portraits Laura wanted to get for her Husband and the Baby’s room for Christmas and took care of ordering them for her. Then a week afterwards I get a call from Laura’s Husband and this is when I stop in my tracks and the world slows down to a crawl. He tells me Laura suffered a bleed in the brain the night after she delivered their son and has not woke up since. I can’t believe my ears. The baby will eventually be able to come home but there is a good chance Laura may not. “Laura really wanted to put the gallery wrap in the baby’s nursery…” Oh my gosh… “I don’t know what to say, this is terrible I am so sorry Glenn…” I am left speechless, I am filled with the desire to do something to help fix this, to take away some of his grief…

On December 21, 2010, Laura Keaveny a wife & best friend of 15 years to her Husband Glenn and Mother an infant boy passed away. As I read what his e-mail is explaining, I looked towards my own husband Scott, “I can’t believe this, this is so unfair… What will her Husband do? What can we do?”.

For much of my life growing up, I used to be a pessimist or as I liked to call it a “realist”. But for many years now I have grown comfortable wearing the shoes of an optimist. I make every effort to try and look for the good in the bad, and find a silver lining at whatever cost.

I think about Laura, their son and especially her Husband, who I have never met, every single day. And I often contemplate what it must be like to go through a day in his shoes. Most of all I wish and hope with such intensity that he will have the great strength, patience and support to get through this. I know Laura would expect nothing less.

I look at my husband & daughter and appreciate them so much more. I think about my family and how they mean so much to me. I think about those that are so much less fortunate than myself or are on a long road of emotional or physical recovery. I think about how I can use my skills to help those in need. And as I think about all of these things I know that this Year will be different than last. This year will be dedicated to forming stronger relationships with Clients that will translate creatively in their portraits, giving back more of myself to the community, putting more passion into my art and setting aside more time to love, appreciate and frolic with my Family.

As I prepared some of the images for Glenn to use for the viewing, I think about how one day Glenn will show these photos to their son and when he is old enough, explain to him how proud and excited Laura was to be his Mother and in her beautifully round perfectly swollen belly held a much loved and precious little bundle of boy and that little boy is him. A silver lining that will grow more precious and brilliant with each passing day.