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Heartfelt photography for growing families

My photography has always revolved around people and their stories. I have a desire to capture the true essence of who you are and the relationships with those who matter most in your life. Whatever stage of life you are in; newly engaged, becoming a parent for the first time, an entrepreneur starting your own business, I want to document the magic, beauty and chaos of your everyday life and important milestones.

 

kind words

ReviewsBlog

Melissa has a way of putting her clients at ease and capturing them in lovely moments. She has been taking my photos for over 10 years. I love how she explores the beauty in the world around her with color and movement. I would recommend Melissa to anyone looking for amazing photography!

-Megan

Melissa has been our photographer for engagement, maternity, newborn and 1 year photos. She is super fun and engages us in a light-hearted manner (we tend to take ourselves a little seriously and feel awkward in front of a camera.) She does a great job capturing our family relationships and gets some great shots, even with a grumpy kid. Melissa is also very timely with getting photos back to us. I highly recommend her to others!

- Lorene

We have used Melissa for 4 photo sessions including maternity, newborn and and family portraits with our twins. She is super laid back and friendly. She's very accommodating and I have gotten a ton of great compliments on our pictures. She's timely, reasonably priced, and truly loves her work! We love working with her and highly recommend her!

-Kristi

meet melissa

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I’m Melissa, a portrait, family and lifestyle photographer based in Lancaster, PA. Folks who know me well would describe me as a child at heart who is known for her killer party planning skills and obsession with unicorns and mermaids. I’m a lover of vibrant colors, impromptu dance parties and anything that involves bacon and avocado. Read more >

let's hang out on instagram

My son is nearly 18 months old and still going strong with nursing, much to my dismay some days. I'm getting to that point where I'm tired of having to wear clothing that is nursing friendly all the time. I need variety in my wardrobe to feel fresh and creative. I have a feeling he's not planning on stopping any time soon but I'm hoping to wean him over the next 6 months. Though it’s nice being able to calm him and give him protection against all the germs and viruses, I am going a little nutty at his clingy nature, especially when it comes to night time nursing. If anyone has weaning tips, send them my way. I don’t think this one will be easy. He is likely our last baby so that makes it all a little more sentimental too. #mymotherhood #honestmotherhood #breastfeeding #nursingmom #lancasternewbornphotographer #melissaenglephotography #lancasterpaphotographer #lancasterpanewbornphotographer #weaningbaby #documentyourdays
If this little guy doesn’t melt your heart then you must have a heart of stone cold ice. I wish I had a behind the scenes from this session. He had his grandma and aunties all fawning and fussing over him and a whole wardrobe of outfits. The cool thing about this is we actually did all the photos in my backyard and these are my neighbors who heard I was a photographer and asked if I would take some pictures of their chunky 6 month old (The twelve-month pants were too tight for his mega thighs 🤣). Such a cutie!
(Rant warning) When people ask me about the transition from one to two kids my response is usually something like this: “the first was the biggest adjustment and the second requires more juggling and is hard in a different kind of way”. Well lately all I feel like I can say is “two kids is HARD”. Some days it’s just survival mode. Usually I’m motivated enough to get out of the house in the morning but come afternoon it takes all I can muster to get dinner ready and half the time my kids take a few bites and are done. I feel like right now I’m the hamster on the wheel going nowhere, not even sure I know how I got where I am. Defeated. I can barely focus on more than one task at a time because I am so freakin tired. People say, “oh enjoy them while they’re little, it goes by so fast”, and yes I’m sure looking back it does but when I’m in the thick of this difficult season it doesn’t help me to hear that and inside I wish I could tell them to shove that phrase up their butthole. I long to have moments of quiet to myself and also adult time with my husband and friends and also find time for exercise but those moments are so few and far between. In the midst of the trials of motherhood I am overwhelmed with all the responsibilities as a business owner. As it stands currently I barely have two hours in a day to devote to my business and those 2 hours are usually between 9-11 pm. Recently I attended an educational meetup for creatives on Instagram and someone said they spend an average of 5 hours a day on Instagram and how vital it is to the success of their business. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. I realize that at this time in my life I can’t consider myself a full-time photographer and it isn’t necessarily my goal to grow my business at this point in time but I do want to be successful in the sense that the time I put into my business is worth the time it takes me away from my family. We can measure success in many different ways and for me as long as I am serving my clients well and feeding my creative soul while also bringing in some income for our family, I am content. To the moms of multiple kids out there, how do you juggle it all?
Still basking in the glow of this wildflower field. Probably my most frequented photo location this summer! P.S. in case you missed my stories, I will be holding my annual fall mini sessions for a cause on October 19th! Sign ups will be posted later this week. #wildflowers #boldemotionalcolorful #melissaenglephotography #alwayslancaster #lancasterfamilyphotographer #livecolorfully #documentyourdays #momswithcameras #cameramama #childrenseemagic
This has been our first summer raising butterflies. We have taken such delight in feeding the caterpillars and watching them grow and then form their chrysalis. And then of course the magical miracle of the beautiful butterfly emerging and getting to set it free is the most rewarding part of it all. Thanks to @kendratishhouse for the swallowtail caterpillars and to @carriebeachy for the monarch caterpillars. I think we will try to create our own butterfly garden next year to attract more of these beauties. P.S. Did you know that a monarch butterfly goes through 4 generations in one year and that only the 4th generation migrates to Mexico and California? The first 3 generations of monarch butterflies only live a few weeks but the 4th generation can live several months and flies thousands of miles. Google it, it's fascinating! #magicofchildhood #raisingbutterflies #monarchbutterfly #colorswithcora #boldemotionalcolorful #cameramama #clickinmoms #momswithcameras #cabbagehill #alwayslancaster #melissaenglephotography #lancasterpaphotographer
Trying to come up with a short, descriptive tagline for my business that's not too generic or cheesy. I'd love it if you'd drop a few words below that you feel describes my photography. There may be a small reward for someone who responds 😘