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Every moment tells a story

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

As you may or may not know it is one of my goals to document a birth some day and it looks like that may happen this November! To anyone out there who has documented a birth before, I would love to get your advice and thoughts on what it’s like to photograph such an intimate, intense, sacred moment. I know for my own births I wanted everything to be dark and cozy feeling (not that I ever felt cozy while in labor). #lancasterpanewbornphotographer #lancasterpaphotographer #honestmotherhood #documentyourdays #dearphotographer #melissaenglephotography #birthphotography #cameramama
Did you know that peacocks can climb trees? I have never seen one fly but this past weekend there was a male Peacock squawking up high in a tree at the camp we were visiting for our church retreat. In case you didn’t know I’m a huge fan of peacock colors 😍 and I even had peacock feathers in my wedding bouquet exactly 7 years ago. I still have a big vase of feathers on our bookshelf which was partly what inspired this flapper peacock feather glamour photo shoot with the lovely @reconrachel as model. #makeportraits #livecolorfully #peacockfeathers #vintagefashion #flapper #lancasterpaphotographer #melissaenglephotography
My favorite images are almost always the candid ones where people are interacting with each other and not looking at the camera. In my family photography I’m still learning how to get those authentic interactions even if it means fake laughing that leads to real laughing. I think for this photo I just told everyone to look at someone else. #lancasterpaphotographer #melissaenglephotography #clickinmoms #dearphotographer #documentyourdays #lancasterfamilyphotographer
“The most difficult part of birth is the first year afterwards. It is the year of travail – when the soul of a woman must birth the mother inside her. The emotional labour pains of becoming a mother are far greater than the physical pangs of birth; these are the growing surges of your heart as it pushes out selfishness and fear and makes room for sacrifice and love. It is a private and silent birth of the soul, but it is no less holy than the event of childbirth, perhaps it is even more sacred.” – Joy Kusek ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ One of my favorite quotes about motherhood that resonates with me still even though I’m 3.5 years in to being a mom. One of the best and toughest jobs there is! #honestmotherhood #lancasterpaphotographer #melissaenglephotography #clickinmoms #documentyourdays
I'm still working on perfecting my double exposure and thankful for clients who are patient with me so I can experiment until I get something I like. This is one of my favorites to date. Also any day now these two will have a baby in their arms...#doubleexposure
Throwback Thursday to the #lititzwildflowerfield last summer with Cora. Sadly it looks like there will not be a wildflower field there this year. It has been mowed down and looks like there is a new tree nursery being planted there. Looking forward to twirly dresses and sandal weather coming soon!