gwyneth colleen photography bio picture

hi there cats and kittens...

thanks for stopping by gwyneth colleen photography.  i'm gwyn.  this handy little paragraph is to help you find your way around. this right here?  it's my blog.  it's going to have the most up to date information and latest examples of my work...  the more "traditional" website you're used to seeing from photographers is still here, though!  just click on "website" above, and if you're like me and like to kick it old school...choose "dial up" for the html version.  exact same site but not so flashy.  haha. flashy...get it?  ok, nevermind.  i'll stick to taking photos...

thanks for stopping by.  please come back often. and send me emails and leave me comments.  i love to hear from...everyone!

photo courtesy of shyla photography

next level church

the last several weeks (when i’ve been in town) i’ve been attending probably the hippest, happening-est church in the seacoast, nh area. seriously…chances are, you have never been to a service like this.

everyone is super friendly, and they ply you with snacks and after your first visit…a little goody box that includes a gift card to an area restaurant. and a few weeks after my first visit, i got a letter in the mail with a gift card for a free chipotle burrito. (granted, i don’t really love chipotle, and if i’m going to eat a burrito, it’s loco cocos all the way, baby.) but still!

anyway, they’re preparing to launch their new site (i’ve seen a preview…it looks sweet!) so they asked me to do some headshots of the men behind the ministry.

i don’t want to spoil the big reveal, so i’m only going to post one…(which is my favourite not b/c of WHO it is…but b/c i love the tones and clarity! photographer nerd alert!)

so, click back on www.nlc.tv i think…sunday? saturday? and come check it out.

raegan & joe: married|grand cayman destination wedding photographer

i’ve already designed my beloved raegan & joe’s wedding album…so i’m going to post those layouts in lieu of a more normal gwyn-style wedding post.  this is quite possibly my most very favourite wedding album design EVER.  thanks again to tammy for coming to shoot and contributing some of these incredible images!


we started off shooting the rehearsal dinner…she wanted complete coverage of the weekend in her album.


(there was an error in the layout rendering…they’re all supposed to be b&w…oops!)


these are all tammy’s.


(these are all tammy’s, too.)


(another good reason to hire a 2nd shooter…this moment from 2 perspectives!)


(i liked tammy’s shots of the kiss better than mine…check out that BLUUUUUUEEEE SKY!)

and last but not least…arguably my favourite spread…in the history of wedding album spreads.

24 June 2009 - 23:17 Rachel - I gasped. This is magical, Gwyn. You are hot stuff.

24 June 2009 - 23:22 Lance - I concur!

25 June 2009 - 09:15 Gail - Umm yeah, so looking at these images makes me want to stump for legally allowing people to marry their spouse twice. Just so I could do it again, destination style, and have you duplicate these images for me and my hubby. WELL DONE!

25 June 2009 - 09:42 gwyn - gail...it's called "vow renewal"...just let me know when to buy the ticket for. :-D

25 June 2009 - 19:07 Amanda - What a gorgeous wedding! I think my favorite is the unfocussed close up of their feet on the dock.. And I love the last layout! So colorful and fun

1 July 2009 - 10:16 Hussey Photography - These photos are flippin' AMAZING!!! What a gorgeous wedding!!!!! you did such an awesome job capturing their day!!!! WOW!!! -Tim

1 July 2009 - 16:00 Steve - Wow, Gwyn! I love the photos, and I love how you lay them out; really minimalist!

sarah & jeff: engaged!|portsmouth, nh wedding photographer

so, guys…you should totally pick your wedding photographer before you propose.  here’s why:


sarah went on ahead of us…she has no idea what’s about to happen! (she DID say later that we were walking along talking very chummily. :-D)

sarah & jeff are really good friends of mine. the circumstances around their wedding/engagement are pretty funny…jeff’s finishing up his PhD and just got offered a job teaching at his alma mater…so they decided in the space of about 3 weeks to get married in 2 months…the week before they move! so…they’re planning their wedding, they’ve made deposits (secured the photographer!)…and jeff still hadn’t proposed. sarah and i eat lunch every thursday, and i’ve taken to asking her every time we speak, “are you engaged yet?!” when i asked her yesterday, she said, “no. i really think he’s going to do it the night before!” i giggled in my head because *i* knew when he was gonna pop the question!

we planned to go ahead and do the engagement session anyway…which proved to be perfect timing for jeff. (and extra ironic for me! sarah and i actually discussed whether i should offer to hide in the bushes when jeff proposed…but she said she didn’t think jeff would go for it. so when i got his email a couple weeks ago suggesting that very thing, i was bemused and excited.)


she’s been wearing the ring anyway, so even though he asked for it back before kneeling…she was still surprised!


a gleeful post-engagement twirl…first it was sarah’s turn…then jeff’s!

stay tuned for a post with photos from the rest of their session!

oh oh!  additional fun trivia…like i said, they’re really close friends of mine, so when i was talking to jeff about possible locations, i said, “which beach was it where you first said, ‘i…’  wait.  am i supposed to know that?”  so, this is the beach where they first told each other, “i love you.”  even though it was a horrible, gross, grey, cloudy and cold day, it was worth it to go somewhere that had so much meaning to them together.

19 June 2009 - 10:15 Rachel - oh I know them! this is great, and I really love the photos. The blues and greys are really lovely.

19 June 2009 - 10:28 Steve - These are so cute! I love the ones at the bottom where they're picking each other up! Can't wait to see the rest, Gwyn!

19 June 2009 - 11:40 Kristi - great stuff, Gwyn! Congrats to them both!

19 June 2009 - 11:41 Kristi - and you made horrible, gross, grey look MARVELOUS!!! I love the light...hmmm why don't my shots on horrible gross days look this good?!

19 June 2009 - 12:14 meg - soooo cute! the whole story makes so much more sense to me now. love it!

19 June 2009 - 16:34 sarah k chen - sarah + jeff's are awesome. :) lol just had to get that in there. love your photos capturing the occasion - they're so cute!

19 June 2009 - 18:30 Jeannette - I love it!!!! you have so caught Sarah's fun personality. :) (I'd say the same for Jeff, but I don't know him as well) How much fun!

19 June 2009 - 19:23 jess - aww how cute :)

20 June 2009 - 11:58 Sarah - Yes, it was totally worth it. Gwyn is quite fantastic and amazing, isn't she? It should be publicly known as well that while we were huddling under umbrellas most of the time that she was making the very wet and nasty day look beautiful, she was just getting really bedraggled. Now that's a good friend (as well as photographer) for you.

a GUEST at a wedding?

this past april i traveled down to the baltimore area with some good friends of mine (who’ve made many appearances on this blog) to attend a mutual friend’s wedding.

i didn’t even bring my camera, but i did email their photographer to ask for a couple of the funny dancing shots…my date was TOTALLY cute

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becky and i are totally amused that we unwittingly made the same face/did the same thing…(also, yes, she DID just have that 5 month old baby in the picture.  and yes.  i DO sometimes hate her.  and yes, it does pain me to put a picture of myself next to her.  there…are you happy you dragged all that out of me?  i need a counseling session now.)

9 June 2009 - 10:41 Becky Miller - Your dress is way cuter than mine.

18 June 2009 - 09:54 Rachel - party face!