gwyneth colleen photography » portsmouth, nh wedding photographer

confession:  it takes me roughly 400 years to properly blog a wedding…which is probably why i post so infrequently.  i don’t want to do it halfway…so i just…don’t do it.

but.

there are people out there…people who deserve blog posts from me.  so, hopefully this adorable family i photographed when i was in arizona last september will tide you over.

i started off focusing on little jacob.  he was just about 1 month old at the time.
(NB:  if you want to schedule a baby shoot…1 month old is basically the worst time possible!  at that age every child goes through that horrible precursor of adolescence…BABY ACNE!  the very best time to photograph your baby is in the first two weeks…so if you know you want to do a session, it would be best to contact me before the baby’s even born.)

look at those tasty baby fingers!

and delicious baby toes!

and for dessert…delectable baby leg rolls.

then the whole fam joined in the fun…big brother joel was alternately delightful and…two.  family sessions are NEVER boring!

i love this one because it’s got everyone in it…in a way that totally shows off the new family dynamic.

(moral of the story…to stop almost-2-yr-old crying children…throw them in the air. high.)

and now for my 2 favourite images from the session…

i didn’t pose her…we were walking back to their house, and i saw her there in that perfect light, looking down at her little bubba…and yelled, FREEZE! and it’s perfect.

i found these old timey photos of me whilst i was packing.  and i thought to myself, “self, those loyal blog readers deserve a present, and what better present is there than looking at the gwyn as a wee, tiny girl w/ fluffy white blonde ringletted hairs?”  and i couldn’t think of one, so i made it happen.  these are posted in no particular order, so…chronology was kind of ignored.  (in case you were all, “whoah, she had hair, and then she didn’t, and then she DID again!”)

first off, the christmas one.  i would have guessed this was a horrible olan mills type photo, but i kind of remember my mom saying something about having ugly olive carpeting in that house, so…she could have taken it.  who knows.  but the point is…wasn’t i adorable?

1.  my mom is STILL obsessed with green.
2.  i STILL cannot concentrate w/o doing the “michael jordan face”.  (i got teased for it a LOT in 2nd grade.  mean abe singer and his sidekick whose name i cannot remember.)

i think i look like i’m about to sneeze.  this grandpa lives in arizona now, but he used to live in nevada when i was little.  bek-the-sister and i used to go exploring in the mountains/desert behind his house.  once we found this abandoned talcum mine and decided we were going to make homemade baby powder.  yeah, we were awesome.  (i don’t think it really worked out that well for us, though.)

coochee-coochee-coo!

omg…the…something-babies-are-afraid-of is coming!

i think this is my great grandpa.  i don’t really know.

anyway, merry christmas!  i am hard at work getting print orders ready to mail out on monday and finalising everything before my big trip.  (oh, and packing all of my earthly possessions into boxes so i can put them in a 10×10 concrete/corrugated tin closet.  awesome.)

a few years ago…in 2005, before i was REALLY into photography…when i was testing the waters…with my big toe and my “super zoom point and shoot”…that made me feel so big and badass…these children were my muses.  my job was to go take care of them all day every day…here are a few of them back in those days:

(yeah, i was a little overzealous with the in-camera sepia setting…good land.)

(trying to get a 2 year old and a 5 year old to jump at the same time w/ a camera w/ shutter delay is…awesome.)

anyway, i used to dress them up in matching/coordinating outfits and do their hair and then do little photoshoots…when their mom used the top one up there for their “hey, we just moved” cards…i was like, “huh…maybe i should do more of this…”  (course NOW…i look at these and go, “oh.  oh my gosh.  WOW.” because i see everything wrong with these images.  heh.)

so, i practiced.  including setting them up w/ a christmas card shot…too bad i forgot how i had to make all their food on matzo for a week because they’re JEWISH.  derrr.  i am awesome.  (but very creative!  matzo pizza, matzo grilled cheese, matzo pb&j, matzo quesadillas (yeah, pretty much the same as the grilled cheese.))

the little one, eva, wasn’t having any of it…i love this series for sophie’s face (she’s the one on the left.  the responsible older sister.  who is basically a teenager in an 8 year old’s body these days.  er…she was then, too.)

here’s one from after i’d actually started doing commissioned work…also, anyone who tells you it’s all the photographer and not the camera…is crazy.  note the difference in image quality!

(i love this because it’s SOOO them!)  they got a make-up kit for christmas…and yes, yes i DID get a makeover, and i was the pretty-pretty-prettiest princess of them all.  sorry, no pictures of THAT.

i saw them a few weeks ago…and they’ve grown so much, but they’re still the most beautiful little girls i’ve ever seen.  (i have been known to tell people, “when i have kids…i am objective enough to know that they will not be as cute as my wee girlies.”)  after we were done swimming, i once again dressed them up, and even though i was running late…took 5 minutes to snap a few frames of them.  aren’t they gorgeous?

(their mom has a large studio shot print of their feet/legs hanging over the fireplace…so, in my 5 minutes, i wanted to capture the rough-and-tumble…tanned toes and scratched up summer legs.)

(laughing at mom over my shoulder).

i love these 3 so much.  i try to make time to visit them every time i go visit my parents.  this time, as i let myself in the gate to their pool area, i heard cries of, “GWYN!  GWYN!”  it’s good to know they love me, too. 

did you know there are about 72 bazillion starbucks in boston? i did. wanna know how? i walked almost a mile out of my way to go to the one that i *thought* was closest to south station…turns out it was closed. oh well.

when i finally found mark and debra, we had a great time talking about how they met and their wedding plans. (oh, just you wait…) then we went to the fort point area of south boston…where they met and worked and let their love blossom.

(this one is my favourite: did you see “the departed”? mark worked in the building that martin sheen fell off of in the end. i thought that was super cool, so…even though it was a construction area, i had them stand so i could see the top of the building, and i laid in all the construction detritus so i could capture that angle. which…now that i am typing it…sounds kind of obsessive and morbid, doesn’t it? it wasn’t really, i promise! anyway…i was wearing a white and black polka dotted shirt, and now…at least 6 months and many washings later, i think it is STILL dirt-stained. i am committed, my friends. or…maybe i should be committed?)

their wedding was a few short weeks later, so i saw them again on a beautiful summer morning in cape cod. they were getting married in debra’s parents’ back yard. this place had a lot of significance to her, because their family pretty much built the place. her mother is an avid gardener, and her flowers adorned the tables, debra’s hair, and comprised the bridal bouquet.

the entire affair was full of colour and love and family. this huppa was made for them by mark’s sister, i believe. a very close friend officiated. the only attendees were family and the very closest of friends.

they were both walked to the huppa by both sets of parents. this is something i am seeing more and more often…i think it’s beautiful to acknowledge both parents. “you both raised me and brought me to this point, and now you take me to the one with whom i will walk the rest of my days.” well, that’s how i see it anyway. and i love it.

gotta love that look of anticipation.

and this…hoo boy. i LOVE this. instead of having a first dance, they had a first “hula hoop”. they go to a lot of music festivals, and it’s just something they do. everyone hula hoops. so, mark and debra brought along their entire stash of hula hoops, put a song on the ipod/bose dock, and everyone hooped it up. it was tremendous.

under mom’s grape arbor. delicious light, no?

under the huppa…that blue sky is deeeelish.

and, um, yeah…i had them jumping through hoops. literally. WHAT?! c’mon! what would YOU do with a yard full of beautiful children whom they love and several giant hula hoops? that’s what i THOUGHT.

one of my favourite images from the day. beautiful mom’s garden flowers, and spunky green bridal shoes. love it.

one of debra’s dearest friends and her man share a moment while everyone looks at the photo album mark’s parents gave them.

this moment between debra and her sister is one of my very favourite photographs ever.

debra’s parents, and the newlyweds.

i really loved being part of their celebration. it was just a family gathering…complete with cut up fruit and pb&j for all the kids!

it was beautiful, lovely, relaxed and full of joy, just like these two. mark and debra…thank you for letting me be part of your special day!