(and what’s even MORE perfect is…while this sort of happened b/c of weather and time and this is the setting we had to work with, it could NOT be any better; ashlee’s reception theme/decor centered around b&w pictures of old hollywood stars.)

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.)

options:
1) ignore it and take photos in full sun and embrace the skull look. pirates are very en vogue these days, right?
2) commandeer the blue wall of the beach “facilities” house. (i may or may not have asked a tired bicyclist if he’d mind if we moved his picnic table aside so i could use that wall as my canvas. thanks tired bicyclist!

sub question:
what to do when the groom and his 2 stand-up-men used to be in a band together and call each other names like tater, edge, and jefe?

options:
1) break out my stern, no-nonsense “you will listen to me, and we will create amazing photo-art” persona.
2) just GO WITH IT and have some FUN! (this decision was pretty well made for me when tater revealed that his front tooth prosthetic was removable.)

WARNING: there are a LOT of images in this post! enjoy.

WHO’S the big scary monsters? YOU ARE! that’s right…

i would like to point out that at this point…i was giving them NO direction. i like how edge (on the left) looks so prissy and satisfied with himself. like he’s expecting a gold star or O on his progress report.

sarah’s bouquet had a casualty…so jeff took the opportunity to do some self beautification.

actually, jeff, nasturtiums are the edible flower. i’m pretty sure lilies would taste…gross.

a brief lull wherein my gnashing teeth and pleas of, “for the MOTHERS, for the MOOOOTTHEERS!” were heard. i think this is the ONLY everyone’s smiling and no one’s doing anything wacky image i got of the whole group.

see?

this one might be my favourite…it feels like it should be in highlights for children…”figure out everything that is going on in this picture.” (also, those are my cute new crocs…not as comfortable as my other pair, but…admittedly, a little cuter.)

what started with this (i mean, c’mon…i had to do it, right?)

quickly devolved into this

and then this

and finally this

and you’d think that was as far as they could go. but you would be wrong.

the one on the end (edge) then decided they were the “manwitches”…i think maybe he’s harbouring fantasies of being viktor krum?

then we lost jeff.

it was all over. the end.

there are a LOT more amazingly fun images from this wedding, but since i’ve already posted about 42 thousand, i should probably quit. but if you want to see more, click here.

oh and also…i made sarah’s dress.  and i am proud of that. i also made the bouquets; i am proud of that, too.

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.

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. )

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.

if you’ve worked with me before, can you do me a favour? i’d LOVE it if you could write a review for me, either on google or wedding wire. (and to those who already have, i know i already said it, but thanks sooo much!)

and, because i KNOW i’ve been delinquent in posting, here is a photo.

tammy was taking a photo of the bride’s parents and their lifelong friends…and raegan decided she wanted to be in the picture, too. GOSH i love that woman!

(don’t you want a mojito now?)

eric took a bit of convincing.  like many men, he wasn’t into the idea of being followed around w/ a camera for a few hours.

but…i had an advantage!  i have SEEN eric’s dvd shelf.  i know what’s on his DVR…i mentioned some ideas i’d seen…and wham.  he was in.  the session was inspired by indiana jones.  ahh-nold movies.  the hunt for red october.  jurassic park.  bruce lee.  oh, and godzilla.  this was one of the most fun sessions i’ve ever shot, so if you’re a creative couple with a unique idea for a session, by all means!  speak up!

we started off at the rope swing in our front yard.  (it was HARD to position them to get the right light but not have the house in the background!  indy wasn’t swinging from rope trees w/ 60s ranch houses in the background, now was he?!)

sweet little mao was outside…and of course he wanted to be a part of whatever we were doing.

at least he thought he did.

i love, love, love that THIS is what they used for their save the dates…they made it look like a little movie poster.

then.

the dinosaurs came.

eric tried to be brave and protect his woman, but…

sometimes you’ve just gotta get outta dodge before the t-rexes devour you.

but then the ship captain of…uh, the s.s. gdjggfajo…came to save the day! he laughs in the face of danger!

and all was well for our happy couple.

roll credits

so…in an effort to be perceived as awesome (who doesn’t want ppl to think she is awesome, come on now?!) i’m offering to anyone who books in the next month an extra-special, radtastic deal. it’s too fantabulous for posting IN PUBLIC…ON THE INTERWEBS…so, email me if you want more info!

i am posting this at 0-dark-thirty, (well, 0-dark-45, actually) on april 8, 2009. which means that this special offer is on the table until may 8, 2009. don’t miss out!
and, because you should have a picture…here is a sneak peak from amy and ben’s beautiful rhode island wedding.

anyway.

i got najib from the breeder’s a couple weeks ago…he’s settling in quite fine (except for running under my feet and getting stepped on every now and again.)

i also just got a new lens in the mail, so…here you go:

one of the more well known ones is stylemepretty.com i recently sent them an email…”hey check out this wedding i shot last summer.” i didn’t hear back, (but then again, it had only been one day), so i wasn’t too concerned.

then i got a comment from someone (hi fellow blue-dress buddy!) saying she’d clicked over and found me from stylemepretty. stylemestunned!

heather and andy’s AWESOMETASTIC indiana wedding was featured over there yesterday. made my day! (it also helped that i got a new camera, new phone, new flash, and new computer program ALL IN THE SAME DAY.)

fast forward to today…my good friend matthew emailed me because his wife becky’s laptop is a mac. he knows i know more about macs and photo editing software than he does. matthew also loves google and all its (well, really “his”) minions, but unfortunately, picasa doesn’t work on macs. (which, incidentally, is false information. it DOES work on macs, but only the newer intel macs.

so i flexed my fingers and began googling. and i hit the jackpot!

i’m posting this here because i do semi-regularly get questions from other photographers, friends or clients about cameras, lenses, photo-processing…and i thought this might help someone else.

first i guess i’ll mention the software i use, the price, how i use it, and then the FREE alternative.

adobe photoshop lightroom (LR): $299 (less if you qualify for an educational discount!)  i shoot in RAW format, which is sort of like film in that i have a negative that needs to be processed before it’s in any sort of usable state.  i import all of my photos into this extremely powerful program, use the library mode to decide which are keepers and which aren’t, and then i do exposure and colour adjustments in the develop mode.  probably THE main reason i love LR so much is that it is geared toward batch processing…i can do individual tweaks, or i can apply the same change to 500 images with one click.  there are entire books written about this program, so i’m going to just leave you with the free alternative.  blue marine

adobe photoshop (PS):  $699 (less if you qualify for an educational discount!)  this is the gold standard for digital image manipulation.  again, books upon books have been written, and there’s basically no limit to what can be done w this program.  i use it mostly for retouching and sharpening…giving images that extra bit o’ love.  this blog post lists several free alteratives, which platform they work on (mac vs windows), and what their strengths are.

i’ve heard good things about iphoto and picasa, which are both included/free.  i am a mac girl, so i started off using iphoto, and immediately fell in deep, deep hatred.  now, when i get a new computer, the first thing i do is delete it.  that said…i have different priorities and do different things w/ my photos than an average user, and it IS pretty intuitive and well-organised (except for saving 17 versions of a photo if you make 1 measly little change thereby eating up hard drive space.)

in digital photography, the software used is a huge part of the overall process.  working on an image after you release the shutter can take it from “eh” to “wow!”, and having the right tools makes that a much more pleasurable process.  the really good tools cost a lot of money, so if you’re just an enthusiast w/o a trump-budget, hopefully these free programs will enrich your photographic experience!

if anyone has any geek-side-of-photography related questions…leave ‘em in the comments, and i’ll either answer them there, or write another post.

rob is a singer/songwriter (with a side job in marketing), and ali is a nurse…she spends her days helping new life to enter the world uneventfully.  (if babies being born can be referred to as “uneventful”.)  they put so much thought and care into making their wedding a true reflection of them, their love, their values, and the people who made them who they are today.  everything was perfect, down to the last detail.  their invitations were wooden boxes…about 8×6…full of faux grass.  impeccably designed paper goods (mmmm…paper), proclaimed the date, time, location.  but what really struck me (they sent me one), was the obvious care that went into crafting them.  ali spent her dozens of olympics-watching hours hand-stitching pine branches onto their forest themed invites.  there were pinecones.  the box was carefully confetti-ed with tiny brass dragonfiles and rough stone arrowheads…a theme they carried through their entire day.  the envelopes were gocco-ed with arrowheads and dragonflies.  they were perfect.  (i photographed the invitations to share with you here, and…i cannot find those files anywhere.  FAIL.)

and that was just the invitations!

the night before they were going to head up to maine from boston, rob spent the evening hand-delivering a mix-cd he’d made for each guest.  (the out of town ones were fed-exed).  he wanted everyone to enjoy the journey and be in the right “place” upon arrival.  they thought of everything.  (not the least of which was…me!  my birthday was the day after their wedding, and the VERY FIRST THING ali did when i arrived was hand me a very thoughtful birthday gift.  and they had a special birthday cupcake for me and another guest whose birthday was their actual wedding day.  how can you not love people like this?)

the drive up to the campground they selected-kingsley pines-was beautiful!  it was a grey day, so the colours of all the changing foliage really stood out.  when i arrived, they day was still grey and misty, but everyone’s spirits were bright and celebratory (that was a terrible metaphor, wasn’t it?  i’m sorry.)

rob & ali have a “thing” for bigfoot and hello kitty respectively.

(this is one of my all-time favourite ring shots.)

nothing like getting ready in a rustic camp bathroom…ali’s two sisters watch her work the available 1.5cm end-of-lipstick-tube mirror.

the ceremony was originally supposed to be in a semi-circle underneath a giant oak tree (think party tree from lord of the rings) at sunset.  there were going to be candles marking their path and lanterns hanging from the branches.  as you can see…the weather did not cooperate.

(please forgive my poor attempt at a long exposure.  i was resting my camera on a log railing.)

i figured if the weather wasn’t going to cooperate…at least we’d USE it!

ali’s french aunt made her a special french phrasebook for newlyweds in honour of (and in preparation for) their honeymoon to france.

ali enjoys her phrasebook and rob & his brother hug after his toast.

because of the weather (have i mentioned the weather yet?  ha.) we didn’t have time to do bride & groom portraits…so ali & rob got brave and scheduled a day after (really, more like month after) session.  we met in picturesque amesbury, mass and got some AMAZING images.  (and finished it off w/ delectable flatbread.  one can never go wrong with flatbread.  NEVER.)

they wanted a chance to get to re-use their special wedding-day umbrellas…i was happy to oblige. 

rob & ali…thank you for everything.  i feel like my life is better for having met you. 

]]> http://www.gwynethcolleen.com/wedding/ali-rob-weddingmaine-wedding-photographer/feed/ 1 http://www.gwynethcolleen.com/personal/vintageportsmouth-wedding-photographer/ http://www.gwynethcolleen.com/personal/vintageportsmouth-wedding-photographer/#comments Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:13:23 +0000 gwyneth http://www.gwynethcolleen.com/?p=181 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.)

it is, of course, very gratifying for me…so i took a photo.

and here’s doug taking a photo of me taking a photo of people looking at the photos i already took.

and here’s doug looking at the photo he just took of me taking a photo of people looking at the photos i already took.

and last, but certainly not least…here is…the doug.  after the first wedding he shot with me, people in the bridal party told me they thought we were married, we were together, he was gay.  none of those things are true, and ladies…he’s single.  and i have his phone number.  i’ll give it to you if you want it!

anyway, they are currently, this very minute, featured on offbeat bride.  which means, by extension, so am i!  it was pretty much the best way to start my morning (side note:  being self employed means that if i want to go to bed at 3 and get up at 10, i totally can.  and i do.) to fire up ye olde mac and see the most fun wedding ever getting its due accolades.  (oh, and the interest from the offbeat brides whose quirkiness i truly embrace…yeah, that doesn’t hurt either.)

so.  yay for claire and bobby (whom i love so very much), and welcome, all those who have clicked their way here from OBB.  (good thing she didn’t call it off-the-beaten-track bride, because then it would be obtb, and if someone forgot that first b, it would just be confusing.  like…i thought i was coming here to bet on grey gander to show?  ok.  rambling now.  but since i’m already rambling, little known gwyn fact:  i worked as a mutuel clerk (read:  bet taker) at the saratoga racetrack for a couple summers in college.  totally fun.)

29

year

old

male

flowergirl

obviously…there will be more.

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.

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 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.)