gwyneth colleen photography » portsmouth, nh wedding photographer

when i saw this image (click for original source)

i was blown away by the creativity of this baby’s mom. i immediately posted it on facebook, proclaiming, “next person who asks for a baby session…we’re doin’ THIS!” my friend liz immediately responded, “ooh ooh, pick me!”  she’d been planning on having me do a 6 month session for her little girl (internet nickname:  chuck) anyway, so this was a PERFECT opportunity for both of us to exercise our creative juices.

liz made all of the costumes and provided many of the set elements.  i laid out the sets and provided other colors/textures…and the goat!  tell me in the comments which stories you think chuck is “acting out” for us.

(this one’s my favorite!)

can’t get enough of chuck in that wig? i couldn’t either! she looks just like a real life cabbage patch, doesn’t she?! and those EYES!

liz is seriously impressive with the whole wig-making, costume compiling thing, huh?

if you’re interested in a make-believe session like this for your little one, please send me an email!

my friends adam & gina recently brought baby tommy home. i was so honored to spend some time with them this week to celebrate his arrival into their lives.

we started off with older sister lou-lou…giving her a little one on one concentrated attention now that there’s a new addition to her family.
cute as a bug, huh?

the thing that makes me love love love this one is how it shows the layers of family.

i think this one is my VERY VERY favorite from the session.

i really wanted to make sure this session was about the entire family and this time in their lives where they’re changing and welcoming and making room for a new addition.

and last, but certainly not least…welcome to the world, baby tommy.

I’m visiting my sister and brother-in-law (and neffypoo!) in Columbus, MS for Thanksgiving.  Today, we frantically got ourselves ready and out the door to beat the fading daylight so I could get take some family portraits.  I am the WORST-AUNT-EVER, and I didn’t take one single non-camera-phone picture of neffypoo when he and my sister visited me in August.  So…I HAD to take pictures this time.

We headed to the historical downtown area for our mini-shoot.

first we have Bek-the-sister being adorable…

but josh & neffypoo wouldn’t be outdone.

And of course, I had to take the opportunity to get a few cute shots of just the happy parents.

Isn’t her headband CUTE? It’s her early Christmas present…and, uh, I definitely have the same one in my etsy cart right now.

My family is awesome…you want proof? My sister is going to make me an almond pound cake tomorrow, JUST BECAUSE she knows how much I love almond flavored desserts.

i’m sorry i’ve been a little awol.  i’ve been gone.  a lot.

last weekend i went up to the maritimes to photograph the amazing and wonderful sean & sarah.  perhaps you remember amanda & matt?  well, amanda’s maid of honor was sarah.  i stayed in touch with her and her boyfriend zach through facebook (wooo, facebook!)  zach works with sean…who happened to be engaged to a different sarah.  zach sent me a message asking if i was available 10/10…and the rest is history.

i’ve got a LOT of favorites from this wedding.  so, please bear with me. 

i started the day off with sean, and his brother/best man sandy.

i know. sandy SHOULD be a male model. i already told him so.

sean really wanted a picture of the two of them…in wellies, of course…down in this boggy marsh area. of course i said, “sure! let’s go for it!”

when you’re in the middle of rural nova scotia…you can walk up the middle of the road, and it’s no big deal.

then we headed back to the family farm (where the wedding was taking place) for one of my favorite parts of the day: the first time the groom sees his bride. when i was going through the images, i had to keep every single one from the series. i don’t know if i’ve ever seen a more emotional first look.

the moms and sarah’s sister and friends looked on. i don’t think any of them had dry eyes!

next up was bride & groom portrait time. my other favorite part of the day! (shut up. i have a lot of favorites.)

(yes, this does look beautiful and romantic…but it was also sort of practical. it POURED the day before the wedding and drizzled off and on the day of, so sean was protecting poor sarah’s dress. very gallant, no?)

we headed over to sarah’s family’s cottage…they lived in halifax, but the essence of their family resides at this cottage. her dad was there, so i made him turn around before he could look at her.

then sarah got carried around the yard for some more photo ops. in keeping with his forebears, sean scrapped the romantic threshhold carry and went for the village raiding method.

sarah doesn’t look like she minds much, does she?

sean works for the canadian version of REI…most of his friends are of the intrepid, wilderness-junkie types. there was a whole village of TENT-CAMPERS. in the muddy, wet, wet, wet fields. and yet, they look so happy! amazing.

k-ris and megan–you guys are my heroes.

the fam has a vintage, mint jag that was slotted for the getaway vehicle. and sarah looks totally fierce, right?

continuing in the transportation theme…i actually flagged sean down as he was whizzing around the property on this old scooter…photo op time!

sean’s dad showed up in military bagpiper regalia…which, of course, was AWESOME.

i thought this image of sean’s mom, carol, perfectly encapsulated the feel of the day. no one let the elements win. everything was still graceful and beautiful and elegant…but the boots were never far from reach.

i could, of course, keep going, but since i think there are already 30 something photos in this post, i’ll stop. it was an amazing day, and everyone made me feel so welcome and included. their families were simply amazing…no one let the rain or changed plans get them down.  ugh.  i’m leaving so much out…basically, i love canada & sean & sarah (& zach & sarah for the introduction!)

next up:  my adventures with zach & sarah & baby stella around the maritimes.  (yeah, i went to green gables.)