From strolling down front street to surviving a literal torrential downpour (and smiling all the way) to wearing sweats in a favorite bookstore… this Harrisburg engagement session was 100% authentic and 100% Lauren & Dan!

Dan shared, “We chose Lisa because her work is AMAZING!!!  We loved every photo we saw on her Instagram and blog.   We loved that she is able to capture the emotion of the moment in every photo.  Her photos aren’t just photos they are pieces of Art, and we are so excited to have her pieces on our walls!”
Lauren shared, “When we spoke to Lisa, we knew she was our women. Dan and I both felt so comfortable talking with her and I could tell that she truly cared about all of her clients and worked to develop a personal relationship with each couple so could tell their story through her photos.
They added, “We got to see her care and for her clients and her organization and optimistic attitude up close when we were stuck in a torrential downpour!!  Lisa smiled, rolled with the punches and ran half a mile in the downpour along with us, laughing all the way!  Bottom line, hire her, trust her, she knows what she’s doing and is a pleasure to be around, too!”

Lauren explained, “We chose Harrisburg because it holds a special place in our hearts.”
Dan shared, “We met at our internship in Philadelphia, but Lauren was attending law school in Harrisburg so much of the beginning of our relationship was in Harrisburg. We both love to run and would always run along Riverfront Park, City Island, and walking around the neighborhood.”
Here they work along that same route, on Front Street looking out over the Susquehanna…

Dan smiled, “I first fell for Lauren during our summer internship for law school. I walked into a room were all the interns ate lunch and all the girls were eating salads and yogurts- not Lauren, she was eating a Wendy’s cheeseburger with fries and soda, that first drew my attention!”
He continued, “Once I got to know Lauren I fell in love with her sense of humor (and the witty banter we share) and great sense of adventure. She radiates kindness and lights up any room she is in.”  I totally agree:

Haaa this pic makes me laugh out loud, I was thinking how cool this looked as I framed it up perfectly– the warm light on the sidewalk, the cool light of the water/sky…
Lol, a perfectly timed ripple…

Dan shared, “She is my best friend. I knew I wanted to marry her when I took her to my dads for dinner and saw her interact with my family.”

Lauren smiled, “We work so well together because we make light of any situation. Our favorite thing to do together is “go on adventures.” We love going new places and trying new experiences. With that being said, on an adventure there is always risk of the unknown and you are never really sure what to expect. We both try to look at everyday like an adventure- that way everyday is fun!”

Lauren shared, “One of the many reasons I love Dan and the relationship we share is that we always support each other and our crazy ideas. For example, on a trip to Colorado after we had already hiked for two days, explored deep into a coal mine, and rafted down Class 5 rapids on the Arkansas River.”

She went on, “I decided I wanted to climb a “14er” before we left (when in Rome,  right?) This was not planned on and I didn’t even where the closest 14er mountain was. Instead of telling me I was crazy Dan said, “that sounds like fun, okay!””
She finished, “We googled it, did a little research and headed to the mountain. It took a lot of team work, and water, and cliff bars, but we made it to the top of a 14,065-foot mountain (Mount Bierstadt). That is still one of our favorite experiences together!”

I swear I had a poster of this in my dorm room in college 😉

Here is a more traditional portrait in the mix…

After I set up a jogger passed by and totally changed the reflection in the puddle, rather than a few raindrops disturbing the surface, we were given a super abstract canvas and I love the results!
Personally, I see so much symbolism here and room for interpretation… it reminds me visually of a painting:

Lauren explained, “We really wanted our engagement photos to reflect us. We wanted to have fun with them and not for them to be stuffy, if that makes sense.”

Lauren smiled, “After our engagement session was over, we both looked at each other and said, “wow, we definitely chose the right photographer!”
She went on, “During our engagement session the skies opened up and it started torrentially down pouring (which is an understatement), we were all frantically running for shelter. Dan and I were running ahead and we heard her state, “hey, look this way, I think I can get a good shot right now.” We loved this!!”
She said, “Dan and I both glass half full type of people and the fact that our photographer could join in the laughter with us and make the best out this situation meant a lot to us.  Also, if you are a Type A kind of bride, Lisa will be your best friend, she’ll totally put you at ease!  From the moment we started working with her, she was professional and organized. Bottom line, trust her, she absolutely knows what she is doing!”
We were sooooo wet!!!  Dan’s glasses were foggy, my camera was drenched, we literally had to wring out our clothes!!!  I love the fun, natural feel of this one!

We sat drenched in our cars on State street.  I wiped down my camera gear as best as I could (rain and tech toys don’t usually mix that well) and we came up with a plan… funny enough Lauren and Dan had a history of getting in comfy clothes and heading to a local bookstore to study during law school.
Lauren explained, “We knew wanted a casual and fun look for our engagement photos. We didn’t plan on wearing sweat pants and sweatshirts or “comfies” as we call them, but it couldn’t have been more fitting because aside from work this is totally how we look, haha!”
Cheers to comfortable clothes and warm drinks…

Lauren shared, “I lived in Harrisburg for 5 years in the Midtown neighborhood, I lived two blocks away from the Midtown Scholar.”

She continued, “On weekends when we both had to study, but still wanted to spend time together, we would set up shop at the Midtown Scholar.”
I saw this stained glass window at the far end of the store– as the sun went down for the night, it was the perfect backdrop…

Lauren concluded, “So although it was not how we planned or envisioned our engagement session, it couldn’t have been more fitting that we wound up in our comfies and the Midtown Scholar!”
Lol, I remember showing them the back of the camera for this one…  they were like what????  how’d you do that????  I totally love that feeling and this pic:
Lauren & Dan, thanks so much for being such an incredible couple to work with!  Your fun-loving, adventurous, authentic, go-with-the-flow attitudes were such a pleasure to capture and such a perfect match for me and my style!  I am so excited to photograph your Ridgecrest wedding next fall at Stroudsmoor Country Inn!