geography related bitterness and affection

(and a lot of parenthetical expressions)

first, the bitterness:

I think "Live Free or Die Hard" should have something to do with New Hampshire.

affection:

The reason I have any bitterness about that is because I *HEART* New Hampshire. I have since before I moved here. I was thrilled that the winding stream that is life deposited me here. And I've lived in my current apartment longer than I've lived anywhere since I graduated from college. (Coming up on a year without moving at all, baby! Maybe someday I'll tell you about living overseas and going to grad school and then going overseas again and then job hunting and then picking up and moving w/o really having a job yet, because...you just gotta GO for it!, and the year I moved 3 times.)

I've mentioned this before, but I think Portsmouth, NH is pretty much the best city/town in the United States. I'm from upstate NY, as much as a Navy brat can be from anywhere (Ballston Spa...a very random, historic, and dichotomically charming and uninspiring small town north of Albany), but I love Portsmouth. It has the delicious historic district with the federal style houses painted marvelous colors that make my heart go pitter patter...old churches with amazing doors, stone and brick walkways; it exudes the very essence of New England. If I ever become a famous rockstar wedding photographer and can afford to live whereever I want, I will buy a brick home in Portsmouth.

So, Portsmouth and other NH brides...make my dream come true! I'll take good care of you, I promise!

nose to the grindstone

i've been hiding this from you for months now: but i can't hide it any longer. just for today, i'm going to let the real me peek through.

i hate capital letters. i appreciate punctuation and grammar and spelling...but i hate capital letters. it probably has more to do with my love of symmetry than with any particular affinity for e. e. cummings. in fact, it definitely does, because i don't love e. e. cummings.

i've been using capital letters for professionalism's sake...and, after today, i shall continue to do so (unless there is an overwhelming outpouring of support for my bold and vulnerable stand.)

all of that is neither here nor there, though.

my sister's gone. she's on her way back to new jersey. yesterday we went to boston, and on our way down we were listening to alanis morrissette and talking about "ironic"...and how it's ironic that she wrote an un-ironic song about irony. it IS, however, ironic that new jersey is named "the garden state." because...have you BEEN there? (to be fair, the part of jersey from which she hails is kind of green and full of flowers and trees and deer, etc...and it's much closer to philly than nyc.)

this morning i've been plowing through halida and jeff's wedding photos. family formals are usually a quick "line 'em up and shoot 'em...and move 'em out." that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for creativity, but i still make an effort. i just LOVE the following image of jeff's family. his parents are on the left, jeff and halida in the center (y'know, in case the white dress didn't tip you off...), and jeff's brother jonathan and his fiance caroline (seen in the below post--yeah, i LOVE this family!) are on the right.

'Tis the Season

I'm so behind on posting! I've got 3 weddings to write about...scratch that...4! I still haven't shown you all my May 19th wedding *hangs head in shame* and there are some beautiful images that I've been looking forward to sharing.

But...I've been bogged down with image processing and album designing. As I told one client this week, "'tis the season"...Wedding season is in full swing, and I'm having a blast.

However, I don't expect to be making any great strides on my to-do list this week; my sister is in town (up from NJ...she brought her dog with her, and my poor little cat didn't come out from under the bed all day.) Then next Monday I'm leaving for Indiana for just over a week. I went to college there, so I'm looking forward to catching up with LOTS of friends before I shoot Nick and Katie's wedding in South Bend on the uber popular 07.07.07.

I wouldn't leave you without any photos, though...Jonathan is Jeff's (see below brother. He officiated at their wedding (for better or worse the 24 hour internet-ordination era has come upon us. If nothing else, I do like that it allows couples to choose a loved one to preside over the most important promise they'll ever make), and he brought his charming new fiance Caroline along with him. We got to steal a few minutes at the most gorgeous time of day to do a mini-engagement session on an island in Maine...on the beach...at sunset...with a PIER! (and bonus--they were already decked out in their finest duds.) I was like a kid in a candy shop. Without further ado...


I was lovin' that sunflare...








aren't they cute?

I'll try to put more photos up this week...but I make no promises.

warm fuzzies

today I got this email from Jeff (see post directly below this 'un):

Gwyn-

these are a HUGE hit with us and our families and we absolutely love them! great job and we're looking forward to this weekend, thanks again,
Jeff


warm fuzzies. like...mint hot chocolate and sweat pants on a winter day, Gloria Jean's iced mochas, kittens, and polka-dots. THAT'S how I feel when I get emails like this. y'know, for the record.

halida & jeff--engagement

The story of how Halida and Jeff found me is my favorite to date...my friend Amy works in an awesome shoe store in downtown Portsmouth (bestplaceonearth). Halida was in there..and I guess they got to chatting, and Amy mentioned that she knew a wedding photographer. They exchanged information, and I think Amy sent Halida the link to my website.

I was actually in dialogue with another couple in Ohio for that particular date, and I've never been so happy when plans fell through. Halida and Jeff are GREAT. They're getting married this coming Saturday, so I was amazed (and honored) that they found time to meet me in Portsmouth to do engagement photos less than a week before their wedding. We had a great time though; the day was unbelievably beautiful and the light was stunning. I had a hard time picking my favorites!








this is her grandmother's ring...as is! so, because they had an heirloom ring to use, Jeff gave her an engagement bike...today they're actually biking from Portsmouth to Newburyport, or Hampton Beach...or some other ridiculously long distance to go on a bicycle. They're hardcore.
















the rest of the photos from this amazing session are here.
Check 'em out, because I had a dickens of a time narrowing down my choices to just 8!

H&J--I'll see you guys on Saturday. I can't WAIT!