Meet Jaxon & Sofia.  It was so exciting to meet this precious little pair and the parents that are so lucky to call them their own.

At just around 2 weeks old their individual personalities were already shining.  From what I gathered from Mom, Jaxon seems to enjoy his space & Sofia loves to invade it…  and I could already envision them at 11 going through the exact same thing

But for the present day my eyes & heart were in a whirl as I took in all of their beautiful & tiny similarities & differences.

Jaxon has the coolest boy’s name that I have seen in a long time.  I mean how many names get to have the letter x?  Love it…   He also has this beautiful head of caramel colored hair which is so different from his twin sister’s jet black overflowing mane of hair.

Sofia’s abundence of beautiful black hair in combination with her big wonderous eyes will without a doubt tally up numerous comments & compliments throughout her 1st year.  She was quite alert for most of the session so I was able to capture her calmly taking in her surroundings with those big beautiful eyes of hers.

Dad is a huge, and I mean HUGE Dallas Cowboys fan.  So you know these babies are going to accumulate a wealth of Cowboy’s clothes, toys & blankies.  (Note to Family & Friends, if you are unsure what kind of gift to give on special occasions & Holidays, you can’t go wrong with Cowboys stuff… oh and DC Capitals stuff too…  oh and lots and lots of diapers! ;) )

Thank you to Sapna & Andy for letting me turn their beautiful home into a studio for a good chunk of the day.  You both are amazing Parents and super cool.  Thank you for the honor of photographing your beautiful Twins which I am sure have grown even more adorably beautiful since we met.

For more of Jaxon & Sofia, please click on the image below.

- Grace

Harrisburg Newborn Twins Baby Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

Mason stood out as one of the happiest little babies!  By the end of the session he was all squeals & grins and kicks & excitement!  And how could he not?  With a pair of lovingly devoted (and stunning inside & out) parents and a super adorable mug, life is nothing but sweetness, hearts and butterflys.

(The face that should be plastered over millions of Valentine’s Day Cards…)

Little Mason is 6 months now.  Some of his favorite things to do include smiling, rolling over, getting kisses and praises, melting hearts, wrapping his parents around his tiny & chubby little fingers and bringing sunshine into every room he is in.

Mason’s Dad is a retired pro Soccer player who played for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, so soccer is a huge thing for the Hartungs.  If my future visions are correct, once Mason is old enough to play, Dad will don the hat of “Soccer Coach Head Honcho”, Mom will take on the role of “Hot Soccer Mom” and Mason will be looked up to and regarded as the “Cute Soccer All Star”.  No pressure though, it is all about having fun

Check out some more sneak peeks from their session below!

So shortly after I started shooting some shots with Mom in it, I exclaimed “You look like Brittany Murphy!”.  She said she has heard that before.  Doesn’t she though?  And while I was editing the one Family photo, I kept thinking that if Brittany Murphy & Angelina Jolie had a baby it would look like Mason’s Mom…  Lucky girl!

I could tell right off the bat, the Hartungs are an exceptionally cool & fun family.  So just a warning to you 3, prepare to have a full social “dance card” as Mason completely blows open up your social world =)

Harrisburg Baby & Family Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

Had the most awesome Baby & Family Session with one of the cutest and happiest little 6 month olds.  The darling Mason!

I am getting his & his Family’s sneak peeks together but I had to quick share this sequence.

So during the session I was setting up a shot with Mason on his belly and before I could get my camera up & press the shutter this little rolly polly rolls right over onto his back with one of the hugest adorable baby grins ever!   Mommy praised him up and down with kisses and squeals and you could just see the intense pride spread all over his sweet little face!  Mom explained how this was something that they had been working on and Mason just recently mastered the roll over!  It was just so cute!

After a few attempts at the belly shot, we realized Mason was just so into practicing his rolling over that we just went with it!

Here he is in action!

Everytime he rolls his face lights up as he waits for his cheering squad to let loose, so cute!  More sneak peeks to come from this session!

Harrisburg Baby Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

I’d like to introduce a very amazing little guy named Kenny and his incredible young parents Kendra & Zack.  Kenny is 12 months old and has been through a lot in his short baby life.  Most noteably 24 surgeries.  When I spoke with Mom she explained that he is a special needs baby and his first year of life has kept her and her Family very busy in & out of hospitals.  Mom is finally ready for some beautiful portraits of her sweet little boy and their Family and I am honored to be the one to create them for her. 

Everytime we attempted Family Portraits, Kenny would fall asleep only to waken for his individual portraits.  What a tease!  He did such a great job though!  And so did his proud parents.  They brought in the most adorable baby Santa outfit too!  For photos of those and more photos of Kenny and his Family please click on the image below.

Harrisburg Baby & Family Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

I had a lot of fun brainstorming and putting together this “Paul Bunyan” set with Mom & Dad.  They described a flannel onesie they got for little Boaz  that would be perfect for a Lumberjack themed set with an axe & wood…  The only thing is we had neither so hmmm who has axes and cut firewood…. why my husband Scott’s DAD of course!  And he just happens to be right next door!  He hooked us up with a bunch of cut firewood and a couple of axes.  Boaz’s dad brought in some antlers and WAH LAH!  We have “Little Lumberjack”…  with Boaz gripping the axe too =)

And what a cool and unique name.  I asked Dad where it came from and I just loved reading his response… 

“Boaz comes from the Book of Ruth.  He had wealth that did not numb his heart, desire for love of others that made money a second thing, and strength and integrity that you didn’t see a lot of in men at that time, which made him very respected and admired.  Boaz loved God deeply and was King David’s grandfather. Boaz’s meanings are Kinsman redeemer and God is my strength.  I can’t wait for the day when my son ask me why I named him Boaz so I can tell him all about him!”

Isn’t that is beautiful to read?

Mom described Boaz as very intense, not too smiley as of yet, but we got a couple of smiles  =)  Click on the image below to see!

Dad has an appreciation for visual arts.  He wanted to know if it was possible to get a “Mad Men” look.  After meeting the drop dead gorgeous parents I suggested possibly doing a Family Portrait that had a “Mad Men” feel to it.  Dramatic lighting, a 50′s theme, edgy editing…  Would be very cool!

Harrisburg Baby Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

Before I introduce the beautiful and amazingly lovable Burton Family, I just wanted to take a moment to say a few things….

If you have noticed the sudden lack of blogging, don’t worry we didn’t fall off the face of the Earth.  We have been incredibly busy keeping up with the busiest Holiday Season we have ever had.  We would like to take a moment to thank all of our amazing Clients from the bottom of our hearts for allowing us to be so busy this season.  Rest assured all Holiday Orders are quickly being processed so that they can create huge smiles when opened by their lucky recipients =)

This Holiday Season has been such an amazing whirlwind and it made us realize that next year we will definitely be hiring more help in order to accomodate more Clients, more Sessions, to allow our Studio to run more efficiently, give us ample time to develop creatively AND so I can spend more time with my wonderful Family who has been so amazing through all of this.  Thank you to my incredible honey Scott for picking up such enormous slack, spending so much quality time with our amazing little Girl, reminding me to eat, sleep and shower and for taking care of all the Christmas shopping.  I love you!

See this adorable little guy?  Well it was actually his Grandmother Evelyn who called me to let me know that her Son and his beautiful Family needed Family Portraits done.  When you are busy with a baby sometimes you just need a push from Grandma to get on the ball with photos .  I loved speaking with Evelyn and she gave me the skinny on this incredibly loving Family who’s whole life is now revolved around this sweet little baby boy Simon. 

Dad is a 200% hands on Dad.  It was beautiful to see how Dad’s face would simply brighten with joy as he got down to banter and play with this little guy. 

Mom was even more beautiful than her MIL implied and super sweet!  Loved chatting with her!  And look at those big brown eyes… drool…

Now Simon is 5 1/2 months here and a super duper happy guy who LOVES…. to nibble on his toes. 

This is his more serious GQ look…

 To the Burton Family, we wish you an amazingly special Holiday Season celebrating Simon’s first of so manymore Joyful Seasons to come…

Camp Hill Family & Baby Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

Jessica is this amazing cool, laid back, warm and ethereal soul.  She is an amazing mother, person and to top it off a beautiful example of a woman.  You can tell how incredible someone is by the amount and quality of friends that surround them and she has an army of them that are equally just as incredble (I know because I have met & spoken to a lot of them!).

Jessica wanted some Mommy & Me Portraits of her and her adorable little 6 month old girl Amelia.  A set that felt more casual, interactive, candid and intimately loving.  And of course plenty of sweet shots of Amelia’s babeliciousness.

Amelia has a signature wide-eye look that I dub “Wonder”.  It is this look that lends the nickname to my collection of favorite Baby Portraits.  I often say that having and raising a child is a jaded adult’s 2nd (or 3rd or 4th)chance to find joy, wonder and newness of things that have long since become too familiar all through the eyes of a growing baby & child that you love intensely.

For more adorably wonderous images of Amelia & her beautiful Mommy please click on the image below!

Harrisburg Family & Baby Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

The Holidays are well upon us and who better to remind us then these adorable siblings Jackson & Amelia with a Wintery Holiday Mini Session! 

Jackson loves, loves, LOVES his baby sister.  And that is a great thing because according to his Mom, he really, really, REALLY does not like to have his picture taken =) 

And this is not uncommon amoung children.  I know when I was a child I would literally hide everytime the camera came out. 

By Mom filling me in on Jackson’s camera shyness prior to the session, I made sure Jackson’s comfort in the studio was priority #1 before starting the session.  Before you knew it we were buddies!  And with both Mom & I catering to his deep adoration for Amelia, it was pretty much cake.  Yummy cake too…  What a SUPER big brother Jackson is!  And just look at those eyes, they are a perfect match to each others!  Love their Christmas outfits too!

For more Holiday cuteness please click on the image below!

Harrisburg Childrens Holiday Portrait Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

Mom described big brother Anthony as energetic and as a busy 2 year old he certainly was!  With a little creativity, patience, persistence and Mom’s superior rounding up abilities we were able to capture some really nice Autumn Portraits of her handsome little guys.  Baby bro Ryan at 9 months was so cute!  All you had to do was talk to him or give him a little tickle and smiles galore!

For more giggles and cuteness click on the image below!

Harrisburg Children’s Photographer | Grace Lightner Photography

Get your smiling muscles primed up…