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!

this may be a record…blogging a wedding less than 2 weeks after it happened? go me.

so, you already know i went to columbus 2 weekends ago to shoot ashley and andy’s wedding. andy is a friend from college…we lived in the same apartment complex, took hebrew together, and served on a student committee together. good times. also, you should know…andy is FREAKISHLY NEAT. his apartment was always one bajillion times cleaner than mine. i used to walk over to borrow his vacuum cleaner…oh, once every 3 weeks if i was feeling particularly donna reed-ish…

i first met ashley last summer when i went to columbus to visit my friend phil (who is an awesome wedding photographer in his own right, but due to a recent girlfriend acquisition, he bailed on second shooting with me. as my friend hannah would say, “only extremely naive people believe ‘bros before hos’.” (not that i am calling myself a bro, but you know what i mean.)) ANYWAY, i was telling you that i met ashley, and i remember thinking she was pretty and very nice. (she popped in toward the end of a big group dinner, so…it’s not like we sat down and had a heart to heart.)

without further ado…the photos.  (they got married at the awesome everal barn and homestead in westerville, oh, but…somehow my favourites don’t showcase the super cool venue.)

ashley’s sister made the bouquet…pretty, right?

this is one of my favourites…i don’t know why.  kate the bridesmaid was doing her bridesmaidy thing and helping ashley with…something.  maybe i just like the colours or the layering…dunno.  also, kate INSISTED on calling me gwyneth paltrow, so i was forced to point out that gwyneth paltrow, while awesome as pepper potts in iron man, is about 8 feet taller than me, 100 lbs lighter than me, and names her children after fruit.

there’s kate again.  helpful, that one.  also…v. photogenic.

this is one of my very favourites!

andy gettin’ his bow-tie did by his brother/best man.  (who is about 80 feet tall…he probably had to stoop.)

i probably shouldn’t admit this…but…they were all so serious, and they were sorta friends, rather than just my average clients (not that i don’t love you all, i DOOOO!  but i probably wouldn’t do this with a bride whose husband-to-be i did not eat spaghetti and meatballs with in college.)  anyway…they were all so serious, so i told them…if there’s a butt in front of you, grab it.  and they did.  and it is hilarious.

while i’m confessing…i will further admit that…i kind of have more fun shooting the groomsmen than the bridesmaids.  please don’t stone me.  i know they’re prettier in their nice dresses and strappy shoes, but…well, i can’t get them to do stuff like this:

or this:

or this:

or this:

do you need a close-up of andy in the middle?  because i did…

(he informed me that those are light grey cashmere socks from the gap.  i prefer to hold onto my belief that they are white athletic socks that he’s wearing with his rented tux.)

andy’s comment on this one:  “this is pretty dang awesome.  it’s like a i merit an entire cadre of bodyguards.”

don’t you love the way he’s looking at her?  that’s the way guys are supposed to look at their girls.

this one makes me feel a little mushy, too, the way he’s gently stroking her hand during the prayer…and i won’t tell anyone he was peeking.

heeeeyyy!  we’re married!  wooo!

(all of the sepia toned images were processed with “tasty coffee” presets developed by christina rawatta…i’m loving them!)

b&g with their deliciously adorably chubby nephew jacob.  he was a doll.

i had to include this one…check out the father of the groom’s facial expression…(i told them to pretend they were at cedar point on a roller coaster…i’m buyin’ it…aren’t you?)

first dance

groom with his super cool sister-in-law stef…

and lastly…chucking the bouquet.  (one of her 2 unmarried bridesmaids caught it…much to her outward chagrin but probably inward secret delight.)  also, it must be said…at these moments, i am very glad i’m the photographer and cannot be made to go stand over there with the group of unattached ladies.  “what?  oh, no…sorry.  gotta take the photos.  too bad.  maybe next time!”

ashley and andy…thanks so much for letting me be part of your day.  i had a blast, and hopefully it won’t be too long till i’m back that way again to visit that awesome apartment of yours!

so, i’m lucky. i get to travel and take photos and…it’s awesome.

last weekend (3-5 may), i went to columbus, oh to photograph my college friend andy’s wedding to his sweet ashley. it was a fairly traditional, midwestern wedding…complete with…the money dance!

NONE of the weddings i’ve photographed in new england have had this, so i was intrigued to see how it went down. basically…the maid of honour and the best man each hold a receptacle (the maid of honour/sister-of-the-bride had a nice flower vase…the best man/brother-of-the-groom couldn’t find anything, so…ha! he grabbed a huge basket from the buffet table that had been holding silverware.) people come up and pay some sum of money to dance with the bride or the groom.

at first, the bride was winning, but then i think it kind of evened out. one of his groomsmen came forward and paid an unknown sum to dance with the groom. i told them, “give me junior high dance!!” they totally did. i love it.

my favourite part is the look on matt (the groomsman)’s face. i don’t even know what it says, but it is awesome. also, just after this one, they stepped it up and went junior high SLOW DANCE…i think andy even rested his head on matt’s shoulder. it’s basically amazing.

1. offbeat bride had someone ask about quirky/unique/affordable dress suggestions for plus size brides.
the number one answer was…get your dress custom made! (which i am ALL for…when it’s my turn, oh, my dress will be the only one like it, ever.) but they also said torrid recently launched a bridal line. and some of them are actually pretty cute!  and very affordable.

2. wpja got a write-up from divine caroline. i’ve never heard of her/it, but…a friend sent me the link, and it was fun to say, “i haven’t seen this yet, but…i’m a member of that association!”

so, not yesterday, but the sunday before i was headed back to nh after hanging with my temporarily a bachelor father in upstate ny… (mom is on a, like, 2 month road trip including stops in PA, FL, MS, Arkansas (what is the abbreviation for that? we have a LOT of states that start w/ a’s don’t we?), and KS) raegan lives about 30 mins from where my parents live, and she’d found me…months ago…i can’t even remember how, and she was planning almost 2 years out…so, there was no real rush to get things sorted.

we agreed we’d meet next time i went home. i almost forgot to call her, but…i didn’t (whew…that was suspenseful, huh?) luckily, she was able to meet me even though i called her friday and wanted to meet sunday. we got some delicious panera (and bonehead photographer gwyn forgot her wallet in the car, so raegan bought my sandwich. um, yeah…i WILL be making that up to her.) and just chatted like we’d known each other for years…eventually we got around to, oh yeah…i’m a wedding photographer, and you’re getting married. we talked a little about how neither of us is very frou-frou, and planning a wedding is a big…THING!

so, as is my custom, i sent her an email the next day saying, “it was so great to meet you, we’re going to have so much fun, thanks for that yummy sandwich, etc, etc…” (incidentally…the cilantro hummus at panera is DELISH!) she wrote back and said, “yeah, i went home and talked to joe…told him how we were talking about the whole wedding planning thing, and, uh…yeah, we’re thinking we might scrap it and do a destination wedding on the beach on grand cayman. is that something you’d do.”

i took a few days to respond to her. i had to think it over very carefully…you know, deliberate. going to the caymans isn’t something you want to rush into.

and by a few days, i mean a few nanoseconds, and i think my careful and deliberate response read something like this, “OMG!! are you serious? iwouldsodothatinaheartbeat!!” you didn’t know it was possible to be high pitched a shrill in an email, did you?

so, they’re going to get hitched on the beach in front of this amazing hotel:

so, my POINT in all of this is…if you’re thinking of hiring me, but you feel a bit daunted by the whole planning-a-party-for-everyone-you’ve-ever-known thing…yeah, GO with that.

i’ve never been to hawai’i…i love nz–even have a nz driver’s license…fiji, or really anywhere in polynesia is great with me, too.

watch this space…in about 13 months, you’re going to see some UH-MAZE-ING photos.

i failed you.

i promised.

and i’d like to think i’m a girl who keeps her promises.  but i’ve clearly proved that i am not, because i promised this days ago…and i’m just now getting to it.

so, you all know how this riotous explosion of colour started. margaret picked up her phone. and i rearranged my schedule. and flew fewer than 24 hours later to florida. the venue was the hilton sandestin, which is, like…an entire CITY!  (i’m serious.  it has its own branded strip malls, and golf courses, like 17 and a half hotels, and people LIVE there.)

also, when i was waiting at the airport for margaret to pick me up…the sheriffs…i guess they decided, “well, everyone’s picked up their stuff, no more flights coming in tonight…our work here is done.”  so…they got in their…this is not a joke…ELECTRIC GOLF CART, complete with sheriff’s logo on the front, and very quietly whirred off into the night.  my only regret was that i was sitting there alone and had no one to laugh at them with.  will you all laugh with me?  i mean, florida is WEIRD, right?

without further ado…the photos.  this was a two day event, and i took…a LOT of photos…this is just a handful of my favourites.

day 1

it was florida.  i’d just left snow and ice and cold…i was ecstatic to be in the land of sand and ocean and palm trees.

abstract…i almost deleted it, and then i was like…wait a second!  that’s awesome!

day 2

indian jewelry is crazy beautiful and sparkly.  and i loved the texture of the leather on that chair…incidentally, past clients looking for albums…leather w/ that texture is totally a cover option w/ the supplier i use.  it’s hott.

the transformation from woman to bride is always great…but this was like something out of a movie.

mmmm, look at that tasty reflection!

this was after the groom made his big grand entrance and the entire throng was making its way to the ceremony site.  i originally uploaded it because i thought it was hilarious how bad it was…but it’s kind of grown on me over time…i like the colour and movement.

i was shooting through a gauzy veil/curtain thing…i just…love this.  love.

when you’re second shooting…it’s a lot different than if you’re the primary photographer.  the goal is to complement, rather than capture all the really important things.  to see different moments, different angles, different details.  it’s a fresh and creative challenge, but i thoroughly enjoy it every now and again.

i almost shot the whole thing w/o a flash…but then i broke it out the last night to get some drama in the dancing shots.  and, uh, the cake shot.  the decorations at this shindig were INCREDIBLE.  (they were done by mandap world out of atlanta.)

they had some incredible performances…this girl could MOOOVE!  (also, i was playing w/ a few different camera techniques.  you get this whirling vortex effect by quickly swinging your camera around w/ a wrist-flick while you press the shutter.)

this post is going to be some blatant search engine whoring.  since i’ve been doing this wedding photography thing, i have shot ONE, that is uno, un, satu, y (i can’t remember how to spell the chinese pin yin)…less than two and barely more than zero in any language…wedding in portsmouth.  portsmouth, that is beautiful and charming and RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD!  i’ve gone to boston and other places in mass SEVERAL times, and even went to nashua and manchester and bedford, nh once each.  which is great.  but PORTSMOUTH…i pine for you!

i have a major crush on portsmouth, nh, and i really, really wish brides from portsmouth, newington, exeter, hampton…all the cute towns around here would find me.  so…i am typing all kinds of relevant keywords and phrases in this post…please, please don’t hate me.  i’ll make up to you later this afternoon with some hott photos of a glorious indian wedding.  deal?

so, portsmouth wedding photographer…that’s me.  (see what i just did there?  i sicken myself.)  but you don’t understand…boston, cape cod, portland, me…those all take me a couple hours plus to drive to and from.  once, last summer, i had a wedding on the cape, and i was BEAT.  i had to pull over and take a nap in the rest area.  yeah, and by the time i woke up…it was, “everyone is leaving the cape for the week” rush hour.  very strategic of me.  the 2.5 hour drive became 2.5 DAYS.  and no, i am not exaggerating.
(ok, i am exaggerating a LITTLE bit.)

so, ladies and gents…if you’re getting married in portsmouth, nh and looking for a photographer to capture the beauty and fun of your wedding day…call me.  you’ll make me a very, very happy girl.  and i won’t forget it.  (however, i hope that you WILL forget this post.  not you, google…just everyone else who read it.)

this photo is BEGGING…crying out…for a caption. you wouldn’t deny a poor, defenseless photo a caption, would you? and, as an incentive, because no one bit on the print offer below…i’m gonna pick the best caption in a week. if the submitter (person who submitted it?) is someone i have photographed, free 8×10!!

(or, uh…if i don’t have a photograph of you, and you love red chuck taylors, or…mutt-cats…i have photos of those things, too. but i’ll think you’re mildly strange. but hey…strange plays with me!)

(please excuse the slightly more informal nature of this post…it was originally written for a different audience…but i figured, well, since it’s already written…and there ARE pictures…)

on 2 apr–that is, wednesday, i received a telephone call from a photographer in boston.
“heeeey…um, are you free this weekend?”
“actually, yeah.”
“um…wanna come to florida to shoot an indian wedding with me?”
“let me think…um, YES.”

so, i did.  there were some logistical hiccups including flight booking, but in the end…a flight was secured, and i managed to book my ticket through houston.  i was SUPPOSED to get to see a friend on the way through, but, because my flight was an HOUR AND A HALF late getting in…that did not happen.  and lo…i was very sad.  in fact, i took sad-face pictures of myself sitting in the airport.  um…still on camera.  oops.

then i got to florida, and the crazy awesome indian partying shenanigans commenced.  so. much. colour!  also… they went ALL OUT.  it was GORGEOUS.  i’ll post some of those photos at some stage, maybe.  if you’re good.  THIS post, though, is about the day i spent in texas sunday.

the day started at midnight, as days are wont to do.  at that point, i was not asleep, as i generally want to be.  (see what i did there, with the wont/want?  awesome, right?)  i didn’t get to sleep for a little while, which was less than good, because the alarm was going off at 4am regardless of how many minutes my eyes were closed.  i got to the airport in plenty of time to wait and ask them nicely to change my ticket, but i waited in the WRONG LINE, and thus, by the time i got to the right person, her answer was, “oh, if you’d gotten here earlier, i could have helped you.”

so, i had to waste time when i got to houston listening to an airline employee say, “i’d LIKE to help you out…i WISH i could waive the change fee, i really do.  i mean that, but…i can’t.”  OK, lady, FINE.  charge me the exorbitant amt and just GIVE ME THE NEW TICKET!  flight successfully changed from my 1100 departure to 1720, i made for the doors to where a 1998 gunmetal grey ford explorer (i mean, chariot) awaited to usher me around houston-town.  it even came with a cool driver.  SWEET!

first order of business was comestibles.  we’d both been up for, oh, 4.5 hours by that point?  what’s that you say?  sunday mornings were made for IHOP?  we totally agree.  i kicked it 8-year-old-styles and got one of those chocolate pancakes w/ chocolate chips and a whipped cream smile.  which i did not finish.  then, we drove around for about a hundred years…discovered that the astros were NOT playing (SAD!) and then wound up at the zoo.

which…was…AWESOME!  i haven’t been to a zoo since, uh…australia in 2001, i think!  i’m ganking some of scott’s photos because his camera was small and fit in his pocket, and i didn’t feel like carrying my giant one.

this animal is…so weird…and awesome.  we were reading about it in spanish, and we came to a word we didn’t know…i told him, “it means ‘get it on’…” so, we went to the english board and sure enough, “these solitary animals come together only to mate.”  (can i write that here?)

(i like how it’s got a zebra butt.)

this tiger…must have been bored out of its gourd.  it was doing laps around its enclosure.  it would swim down the channel, get out, drippingly plod back to the start of the water and then kitty-paddle back to the end…lather, rinse, repeat.  it was doing it so dispassionately, too.

basically, i cannot beat scott’s caption of this, so…i will blatantly pirate it.  “please refain from feeding Dipppin Dots to the rabid, fanged animal” also “No Aerobics Allowed in the Zoo”

we went straight to the elephants…because i like them.

then, we went and got some comida.  mmmm, those honey chipotle chicken crisper things at chilli’s are DELICIOUS.

again, his caption is great…”can you read this guy’s sign….two points for honesty i guess”
(i grabbed his camera as we were getting ready to continue driving…the light just turned green, so i’m pretty stoked that it turned out.)

so, our last stop of the day was at alexander deussen park…a totally random state park type place, with…um…bison and peacocks.  weird, right?

anyway, scott is an army man, and therefore he must stalk prey and defeat it soundly.  which he did.

quarry in sight…he moves in…

aforementioned quarry was not particularly pleased at the method of detainment…”um, dude, you’re huge, and you’re STEPPING ON MY ENTRAILS WHILE THEY’RE STILL INSIDE ME.”  he expressed this nonverbal displeasure by attempting to fangoriously devour scott’s not-sneakers (i was informed that they were not sneakers after i made the egregious error of referring to them as such.  he was unable to provide a more precise classification than, “shoes”.)  fortunately, for all involved, the vile viper was unsuccessful.  (2 points or a free 8×10 to the first client who can tell me what “fangoriously devour” is from…no asking google!  email gwyn[at]gwynethcolleen[dot]com)

scott, however, was victorious.  “behold…i have captured and not-quite-slain the serpent!”

don’t worry about that lil snake…it lived to slither another day.

but scott still totally reveled in his victory.  (also, it should be said…i think this photo freaking rocks.)

the end.

you might have noticed a wee change…i’ve moved my blog right to the front…no more of that splash page silliness!  you want the updates right away, right?  (huge thanks/shout-out to houston photographer christine tremoulet’s super-geek!  you rock!)

well…i’m just trying to make your lives easier.  so…the “regular site” is still there and totally accessible.  just look in the column on the right hand side…click on “portfolio-flash” if you’re on a high speed connection and like the bells and whistles, “portfolio-html” if you’re on dial-up–or, like me–don’t so much like the bells and whistles.

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i got about 12 minutes of sleep last night getting ready for this last minute trip to florida.  i had laundry to do, gear to pack, and shoes to buy.

what?

yes.  buying shoes was a crucial part of the recipe for floridian success.  i’m going to be on my feet 3 days straight shooting about 8 hours a day.  if i’m not wearing comfy shoes, i will wish death were upon me.  so i bought these.  and lo.  they are very, very comfortable.  HIGHLY recommended.  in fact…i am wearing them right now.  they are the only shoes i packed for my sojourn to the south (in the geographical rather than cultural sense)…course, their exclusive status is only because i couldn’t find my flip-flops…and around 1:30am, i decided they just weren’t that important!  excuse me, i need to go get sustenance and caffeine now.