i first met jennie, um…last winterish?  i honestly can’t quite remember, but i was SOOOO excited about her wedding…she was planning a 50s themed garden affair…i think she was even going to rent a classic car for photos.  are you kidding me?  yes, please.  actually, can i have 2nds?  3rds?

i remember at that meeting being SO impressed by how organised she was.  she had this binder that was just…magical.

they had to postpone their wedding till 2009 (so i am getting re-excited…), but in the meantime, she’s started a wedding planning business.  and let me tell you what…if i had to have someone help me organise an event right now…i would most definitely be checking in with her.

learn a bit more about the fabulous jennie dee here
(isn’t the background music fun?)

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also…since i’ve been a member of oplove.org, for, y’know, like…2 months?  i’ve received exactly ZERO inquiries about it!  i have no idea how to go about letting people know that there are photographers just chomping at the bit to come record their joyous reunions or tearful goodbyes…or maybe some moments in between.  if you’re in the area and know someone stationed at hanscom or portsmouth…i think there’s an air national guard group here, too…please tell them about oplove.org

or…if you or your man are in the military, and you’re getting married and want a photographer who *gets* the whole military thing…please give me a call!  i will commiserate with you about long deployments, etc, etc…

amy and ben are AWESOME.

we headed down to picturesque newport, rhode island on a lovely evening a couple weeks ago. i love newport. (did you know they have a yearly pirate festival? which has its own website here. also, i went to said pirate festival last year. i was hoodwinked into dressing up, too. i’m not proud of it.)

but this isn’t about pirates. this is about amy and ben and how hot and awesome they are. i could write about it for, say, a thousand words, but…isn’t there some saying about how pictures say it better?

first off…i couldn’t resist. we walked past an old school wedding/portrait studio, so i made them do an old school pose right in front of the sign.

(this is the same one i posted the other day…but b&w.)

(confession: i totally stole that daisy from in front of the newport fire station.)

(i’m not sure what it is that i love about this one…but i SO do!)

we’d been in newport all of…3 minutes…when the first person complimented amy. it was a (possibly homeless?) woman sitting on the sidewalk…she told amy she was sexy. ben–who is HILARIOUS–asked the woman, “what about me?” in a very injured/affronted manner. she assured him that he was very handsome, but i don’t think it particularly appeased him. (i think he might have also been slightly disconcerted that his fiancee was being hit on by a woman who appears to spend a lot of time on the sidewalk.)

about 20 minutes later, we were walking in a different part of town, and someone yelled out the window, “that girl in the green dress looks GOOOOOOD!”

also, several photographer friends of mine who saw one of the photos said, ’she looks so much like drew barrymore–but prettier!’ i didn ‘t see the drew barrymore thing at first, but i will concur that she’s pretty gorgeous, and she and ben make a smokin’ hot couple.

guys–i can’t wait for your wedding at the glen manor in november!

alternate title:  impatient.

i went and hung out with ben and amy in newport, ri a week and a half ago…as soon as i saw this image on the back of my camera, i broke all my rules and showed them…”you guys are HOTT!”

i love this image, and while i usually choose one way to process an image and that’s how it’s presented, this one will probably be played with.  a lot.  this is just my first iteration.  :-D  and i couldn’t wait to show these two off!

**i started this post, oh, roughly…a couple ice ages ago. LAST time everyone was worried about global warming. al gore’s caveman great-great-great-great-great-great (x70) grandfather made a cave-painting about his concerns.**

as promised, here are the lovely photos of claire & bobby…the ones that show their sweet, tender, loving sides…(though, there’s a fair bit of playfulness mixed in here, too.)

aren’t her eyes stunning?

this forest was magical…it’s one of those places that you see and feel, but when you try to capture it, you always fall short. much like mountain ranges, the ocean, etc…one of my greatest frustrations as a photographer.

i’ve heard some people say they don’t like to hold hands…i don’t understand it myself. it’s such a tender, intimate gesture…”i want to be connected to you.” claire and bobby were connected the whole time.

this one kind of gives me chills. look how peaceful and at rest they are together. it’s like they didn’t even know (or care) that i was there. they were in their own special place.

this isn’t of them…it’s just a little ornament they had in front of their lake house, but i liked it.

claire thinks the “future mrs. ________” shorts/tank tops/etc are a bit silly, so bobby made her this shirt…i love it

these two have so much fun together…and their wedding is going to be a BLAST! only 2 more weeks! (i’ll wait till then to tell you about all the crazyawesomehilarious things they’ve got planned to celebrate their marriage.)

see you july 12th, guys!

i am housesitting in rye, nh for the next couple weeks…it’s less than 2 miles to the beach…i volunteered.

the people for whom i am housesitting have two animals…pepper, a gorgeous black chow mix (who looks like he’d be a linebacker if dogs played football), and mr. tux…an extremely large black and white shorthair.  mr. tux is a formidable hunter, and i was warned he might bring me trophies.  i foolishly hoped that warning would be unnecessary.  and yet…within about 30 hours of my arrival, i heard my sister call down to me, “gwyn, you need to come up here.”

i had no idea what it could be.  was the cat doing something cute?  had pepper vomited on the clean, beige carpet?  no and no.  unless you think bringing in and imprisoning a live chipmunk behind the dresser is “cute”.  (i don’t, for the record.)

bek told me it was a bird.  i think i’m glad she was wrong…adding flying into the mix would have made it even more dramatic.

without further ado

first sight…um, bek…that’s got a tail.  it’s not a bird.

a little closer…i think i scared it, because while i was trying to find a position where i could see through the viewfinder and get closer…it made some sort of scrabbling noise…i was just as freaked out as it was.

getting this angle was rather tricky…there were only a few inches of clearance between the wall and the dresser…

mr. tux got locked out of the room…but he REALLY wanted to come back in and finish what he started.

like…REALLY.

the chipmunk was “persuaded”, with the help of a large metal ruler i found, to leave his safe haven behind that dresser…he ran under the next one.  gah!  then he ran into the bathroom, which was actually better…closed the door…found a towel and threw it over him.  i THOUGHT i had him all wrapped up in a hobo’s suitcase (y’know when kids dress up as hobos and they tie a handkerchief by all 4 corners on the end of a stick?)  i thought i had all the corners of the towel all closed.  i didn’t.  and, i shrieked like a very girly girl when it wriggled out.  i finally got it, though, and we went outside to release the poor thing.  (bek said she heard it squeaking about 5 hours ago when she laid down for a nap.)

i was going to do it very slowly so she could get a good “after” shot…but that thing wanted no part of it.  it was squirmy and escaped right away.

i’m outta here!

peace!

i think that’s enough adventuring for one night.  may your homes be chipmunk free.

(there was also a minor adventure today when i took the dog for a walk and it looked like he decided to drop his kids off at the pool in what appeared to be a large patch of poison ivy.  because p.i. is spread by the plant’s oil…and oil stays on a dog’s fur…and i get REALLY BAD POISON IVY…to the point where death is almost desirable…i looked up pictures of leaves on the internet and made my sister DRIVE with me down to the spot where it happened to get a second opinion.  she told me i was crazy, it wasn’t p.i….which meant i didn’t have to wash the dog w/ dish soap and a hose i couldn’t get to work anyway.  phew!)

seriously…isn’t housesitting s’posed to just be watering plants, bringing in mail, and putting some kibble in bowls?

dave and polly drove up to portsmouth one fine afternoon *cough* a month ago. we frolicked about (froliced? no…why does past-tense frolicking look wrong. does that mean it’s one of those hindsight is 20-20 things…and it’s ill advised even in the present? that would make me sad, because i do enjoy a good frolic…it’s almost as much fun as gamboling or cavorting.) portsmouth winding up at my new mecca: the friendly toast. (it was a reunion…they’d introduced me to its delights at our meeting a few months back. i will be eternally in their debt.)

our session included lots of tree climbing…which, in my book, makes anything a success. polly and dave were real troopers…they were up for anything, and did all the silly things i asked with huge smiles on their faces. how could i not love them? also…dave kept us laughing with his pretend-hs-history-teacher speech about berlin or hitler or…i don’t really remember, i just remember laughing. without further ado…

guess who’s IN the tree. yes, that’s right. me. i was balancing precariously so that i could shake the branch w/ my foot and cause petal showers…and still manage to focus my camera and press the shutter…

confession: i totally have a crush on that tree. it’s in prescott park in portsmouth, and, um…if it were a man, i would marry it and have its babies. i have pictures of lots of people in it…and because polly was so awesome about clambering up there…and because they’d forgotten to get a photo of me up the other tree, i obliged once again.

aren’t they just impossibly cute?

(she was wearing red shoes when we met, too…and she wore polka-dots both times, as well. girl knows how to worm her way into my affections, that’s for sure!)

(enjoying the friendly toast.)

thanks for your patience with my crazy life, guys! i can’t wait to party in rhode island with you in september!

it’s probably a bit late to be announcing this, but i’ve been having some major website/email issues.

this site was down for part of last week (yeah…switching hosts while traveling is LOTS of fun! :-D) the flash portfolio link does not work (it’s being looked at). the html portfolio link works w/ a few unsightly error messages.

my email is working again, and i made copies of everything* before i switched.

*i TOLD it to copy everything–in the traditional meaning of the word, but “it” took liberties…and neglected to copy a few things. so…if you’re a client and you sent me an email in the last week or so…it may have gone to never-neverland.

i’ve also been away from home. a lot. i got a blissful 3 nights (including this one) at home after a 10-ish day trip including providence and indiana (wedding in indy, engagement session in newport, family session in providence), shot a wedding today (yesterday?–saturday, june 21st) in mass, and tomorrow i am headed to rye, nh to housesit for 2 weeks. i’ll be “in the loop”…but with the minor inconveniences of being 15 miles away from home.

first off, confession: this is my 2nd “claire” bride of the year…and they both have fellas whose names start w/ b. more than once i have typed “claire & ben”, when i really meant “claire & bobby”…and i don’t confuse them…ben has the pheremone-head that claire loves to sniff, and bobby is a giantman comic. v. different, no?

anyway, last saturday a couple weeks ago, i met claire & bobby at his family’s summer place on lake winnepesauke. great idea, in theory…the area is BEAUTIFUL…however, that area…in early may…what were we thinking? there were, well…you’ll see.

see those bugs?

and these bugs?

yeah…they were EVERYWHERE. i’m not proud of it, but i did squeal on occasion…and there was lots of uncontrollable windmill-hands going on.

once we got down near the water, the bug population dispersed a bit…and these two cracked me up…they were willing to be silly and did all the “mood lightening” poses i suggested.  (poses that usually don’t see the light of a proofing gallery, much less a blog post…)

um, yeah.  nh…lake winnepesauke…it’s slightly attractive.

so, these two…the way they work is…first, they’re all smooshy and lovey-dovey and and all “that’s why i fell in love with you.”

and then…

bobby has to go and bite her nose.

until they wind up here:

i’ve got a whole ‘nother series like this…only…that time…SHE started it. 

stay tuned for the not-silly photos!

so, i just read this article from PDN magazine…they asked 3 brides to review 4 or 5 wedding photographer’s websites and then published their comments (and gave the wedding photographer a chance to respond.) i found it very illuminating…and it made me feel pretty good about my own site!

but…just in case…i thought i’d ask for some feedback. anyone care to share your experiences in navigating my website? the questions PDN asked for each site were:

+immediate first impressions once you were on the homepage
+what are your thoughts on the quality of the photography and how it is being presented?
+did you want to see more or less photos?
+could you make an informed decision about the quality of photography from what you saw on the site?
+what did you think of the photographer’s blog? did it hold your attention?
+does the personality of the wedding photographer emerge from the blog (i’m gonna go out on a limb here and say i don’t need to worry ’bout this one.)
+was it clear from the site what kind of services the photographer is offering and what the pricing is like?
+were there any extra features in the site that really appealed to you?
+was this site easy to use and navigate?
+in what ways could the photographer improve the site?
+if money was no object would you hire this photographer based on what you’ve seen?
+anything else?

so…i’d love to hear opinions if anyone’s got ‘em. no need to even tell me your name! you can leave a comment anonymously (i prefer cartoon name pseudonyms.), or use the contact form on my website to email me w/o telling me who you are.

also, and here’s a shameless request for praise…if you’ve worked with me (and enjoyed it–well, if you didn’t i guess it would be good to know that, too) pretty please go give me a review on wedding wire or on my facebook page? pretty please?

so, i finally created a facebook for gwyneth colleen photography.

you can be my friend here, or visit the page here.  or both!  be my friend AND my fan.  it will make me feel good.

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also, i don’t think i mentioned this, because i didn’t want to advertise that i still had a desk job (not that it was a SECRET, mind you), i just didn’t want all my lovely clients to think that they weren’t getting my full attention, because that was certainly not the case.

anyway…i gave notice at my desk job, and soon i will be a 100% full-time pho-to-graph-er.

woo!

everyone’s asking me if i feel so amazing and have i celebrated?  the short answer is…nope.  it’s been coming down the pipe for a while, so i’m mostly glad to have the making-the-announcement-to-my-boss monkey off my back.  i won’t feel FREE until i don’t have to come back every morning at 8am.  then…THEN…i will devise a fabulous and creative way to celebrate.  (or maybe a divinely lazy and gluttonous way…or maybe both.  maybe i’ll start my day w/ a sleep in and cookie dough for breakfast and THEN do something wildly extravagant and creative.  we’ll see.)

anyway, what does this mean for all of you?  hopefully…nothing.  in fact, i’m hoping it will create some life boundaries for me so i might be slightly LESS accessible.  you will not get an immediate email response anytime between 8am and midnight…but…you WILL get a happier, more well-rested and better adjusted photographer.  and that should translate to better photos!