Wedding Gallery

*sigh*
Not happy about her haircut. Wanted a more sassier and sleekier look, but got a boring cuppey look. Bah!

Ohwell...it will grow out right..... and when looking at her from certain angles it might remind you of an Amelie-haircut. But only from some angles. :p Hrm. Life with shorter hair better get so much easier now.

Been a while - so I'll take the resume-version :)

• The classes went wonderfully well - had six eager ladies throughout the weekend. Two of them even dreamed about scrapping the first night after we finished (that's a good sign no? for a future scrapbooker? :D) and they all thought the time went too fast and didn't want to stop when we had to close for the evening :)
• Sneakies for the Bad Girl November-kit!!!! Soooooooo yummy...I'm deadly serious!! I think this kit is my fave so far... *sighs* And I didn't even get to use the most yummiest stuff in the kit for this..!! Will prob do very soon though ;)
• My Fiskars-layout for Pencillines - that's Eli & her hubby and kids..and my kid ofc...:) Photos from our imfamous pumpkin-hunting (re: pumpkins does not grow in Bergen)
• I came home to a sick family. Ugh! And I had to finish my Bad Girls-layouts too! hectic hectic.
• In about one hour... Amalie will no longer have long hair. Photos to come. *here's to hoping she'll still look cute!!!!!*
• Some photos from last weekend: My pupils & this totally adorable baby: Christoffer!! :D Will add more soon :)
  

Another amazing weekend of shooting! I had one "fearless" bridal session and one engagement session. I feel like I took some chances and got some great shots!

To view my first Fearless Bridal session please follow these links:
http://ardentphotography.blogspot.com/2007/10/autumn-embrace.html
http://ardentphotography.blogspot.com/2007/10/at-angle.html

I thought I'd post this one in the spirit of Halloween. This is an image taken at sunset on October 27, 2007 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The temperature outside was a chilling 46 degrees. Once that sun went down it got cold in a hurry.

Happy Halloween!

Yikes!! I just had my worst 15 minutes ever!!! I coudln't find my creditcard and it was also my electronic ticket for the flight taking off in two hours or so!! Sooo full panic calling my hubs cellphone & mother in law to get her here earlier as she was gonna drive me and after 10minutes hubs calls back and tells me it's on the floor in the wardrobe...duuuh.....*panic over* Yikes!! So. Not. Funny!

Anyways. Just wanted to wish you an enjoyable weekend (the weather is lovely here in Bergen - sunny and crisp - do take some time to go out this weekend!) and add this layout I did last night (funny eh...I have all sorts of deadlines and yet I suddenly decide to just make a layout just in a whim while I should be doing other more urgent stuff uh?)..anyways... my (scrap)room - feat Scenic Route & Daisy D :) American Crafts, Making Memories and a lil Heidi Swapp for embellies :)

Myself I'm gonna try find some time to play with my Bad Girls kit for Nov at the hotelroom...*swoon* sneakies starts today on the Bad Girls blog!! And don't forget PencilLines on sunday -- we've got to play with a really generous sponsor for that sketch!! See yas :)

These shots are so much fun! I was able to photograph the Oberweiser family at Alicia Park in Appleton, Wisconsin. I posted a few of my favs.... I love the expression on the kids' faces. The artistic nature of the pose and the expression made me want to try something a little different in post production. I desaturated it a bit to make it real moody.

Soooo I've been tagged.....fours by Kathrine (tag 1):

Jobs I've had:

1. Helpdesk at a motherboard/techstuff-company (no I didn't really help them - I'm not that good - I just took their messages and passed them on)
2. Webdesigner for said company (Uh. Kinda embarrassing affairs - it was looong time ago when the internet just had started to get known around)
3. Assistant at KappAhl...a clothing store. Man....my legs were mushy every day. Had no idea how tiresome it was. Funniest things were "running" on the high (VERY high!) racks to fetch more clothes to restock the store with.
4. Assistant-teacher at the elementary & youth school (on demand - when they lacked teachers bc of illness etc I stepped in) & even worked a week at kindergarten. Worst. Week. Ever. Those little beans got ENERGY like no tomorrow! Which is why I love kindergarten...when it comes to delivering my kids to them :p

Movies I could watch over and over again:
(Um truth to be told I don't really like watching movies over and over again. But..fave movies? Hm sure. Totally random because I don't like ranking really)

1. True Romance (Totally cute! Really!! Been a while Ive seen it now hm.)
   
2. Speed (ohmygodkeanureevesohmygod!! I totally remember watching this in the theaters and when Keanu appeared on the big screen I stood up and totally *swoon* and my friends had to drag me back to the seat again)
3. Pulp Fiction (hahahahahaha...I think I was the only one laughing like all the time in the theaters :p my girlfriends were like "shhh!!" and "ewww what are you laughing for" ok remember I think I was only 15 or so when it hit the theaters :p)
4. Legally Blonde (any movie with Reese really....I totally ♥ her... oh..which reminds me..Walk the Line was soo good!)

TV shows I watch:

1. Rome (Just finished season two..which was the last one aswell....sniff...)
   
2. The Shield (season 1 + 2 were the best - Glenn Close one good one...last one okay)
   
3. Heroes (I hear season two isn't going too well? Hm. Season 1 rocked but the season finale, totally sucked)
   
4. House MD (hahaha totally ♥♥♥)
   
5. (Dexter - I don't know why cause I think the acting stinks or well..is interesting to say the least..but still it keeps intriguing me)
6. (Carnivale)
7. Ok six shows I watch! For now..:p

Places I've lived:

1. Oslo
2. Bergen, 2x rented apartments
3. Askøy, 1x rented apartment, 2x houses :p
4. Oh. I guess. Seoul the seven first months of my life.
   

Fave food:

1. Taco or lasagna or pizza. When well made. Can't decide.
   
2. Baked beef...
   
3. Love a really good pasta...these are incredible rare around here though :(
4. Tapas..like the one we got at the "Toscana" restaurant in Götheburg....ooooh totally ♥♥♥♥)

Fave colors:

1. Um. I really don't know. Uh. Green?
2. Brown?
3. Red?
4. Blue?
   
5. Gee this one was useful I bet.

Places I'd love to be atm:

1. Paris
2. Toscana..or Nice..
   
3. NYC..cause it looks like a fun city :)
4. In bed :p

Names I like but won't use on my children:

1. Lauralanthalasa ;) (bonuspoints if you know where this is from :p)
   
2. Amelie
3. Adriana/Adrienne
4. Oliver

Tag 2:
And then there's 7 random things about me - from ToveTyll.

1. I don't like to go to bed wo my hubby. But I don't mind letting him wait.
2. If a movie is sad I'll cry. But I'll often pretend I didn't. So shush!
   
3. I'm a proactive procrastinator :p
4. "Look mom I'm on TV!" (I was a child and it was several different childrens show)
   
5. I can play long conversations in my head imagining out all sort of possible witty and elaborate eloquent answers...(usually after the actual conversation)...but all that comes out of my mouth is mostly "mmhm" "sure" "yeah" "totally". :p
   
6. I'm foulmouthed when driving. I mean c'mon with all those sucky drivers out there how can you not :p (myself excluded ofcourse..I'm a near perfect driver ;) *cough*)
   
7. I rarely slept in mom and dads bed when I was little because I didn't want to disturb them. I'd rather lie terrified in bed deadly convinced the closet was a monster and was gonna move and get me if I blinked. (My kids? Jumps in our bed all the time!! hrmf!)

Um I have to tag others, right. Er. How many did I have to tag? Hm. Ohwell. Just pickin' a number :p

Tracie, Mari, Annie, Iris, Vibeke S, Lilo and Olava (just to shake her up a lil :) ) - take your pick. Feel free to do both or one or none :P

Now. Must. Work. Get. Stuff. Done.
Amalie's at home "sick" (she's acting suspiciousily like her normal, energic self :p) and I have to pack and prepare last minute stuff for the classes in Ålesund. Eep!

This fall I did at least 6 family/kid sessions. I had the pleasure of photographing my nieces, Lauren and Mia and their puppy Banjo. Despite being less than one year old, Banjo can sure take both girls for a spin!

The weather has been more than cooperative this fall. I have never enjoyed the color and season as much as I have this year.

I've gotta admit....the last week's been such a poo one....I've been moody and not too chatty or felt like my usual self.... I mean....I can handle scheduled surgeries...I know I'm not done with these stupid stuff..... still...when thrown out into the prospect of an emergency surgery..... no... I don't handle that too well. Last weekend I was on standby for an emergency surgery, and finally admitted to the hospital on sunday. No biggie really - just a small but needed surgery... it just sucks the whole thing tho.... especially when the doc tells you you can't go home on monday as expected because you had to stay an extra day for the antibiotics IV.. I HATE antibiotics.... yeah yeah I know - it's the good guys on your side helping you and blah blah but I may at least be allowed to say I hate the smell of it I hate it when they have to give you it thru IV it hurts like hell and feels like poison creeiping up your veins....and Ive had my runins with it, messing up my IVs making them have to find new spots to do the IV from....



anyways...Im blathering.....I'm so sorry for my hubs being alone with the kids while I'm gone....especially when I'll be gone again this upcoming weekend teaching in Ålesund leaving him alone once again! Oops!



Ohwell. Normal life resumes once again - I'll be back to normality now that this unexpected bump on the road's done...promise! Just waiting to be taken home from the hospital (have I ever mentioned? Thank god for free wireless networks at hospitals!)..will add some layouts and stuff once I'm back home...I know it's been a while now..:p

• The kiddos really appreciated the candy Silje attached in my mail. They even thought it was fun to continue play with the "eyecandy" after it was devoured :p I have to admit I was VERY dubious wheter to let them have the candy (because I wanted them myself *blush*) but as there were two of each kind I *assume* they were supposed to be for the kids. (so remember: when sending candy to my kids; please gievf too!! =) )
• I got a "friendship" page from Silje! ♥ :D Silly me forgot to take a photo...will do so soon..along with the other pages in my "friendship"-book - I love it!! :)
• I don't like hospitals.
• I like baking muffins! I want to learn how to make real american frosting though! And cupcakes! Are they any different from muffins??
• Lilo tagged me the other day; I've actually done that one but I thought mine turned out pretty boring and blah compared to others cool ones...love reading others answers..why can't I be just as exciting?? :p Soooo I'm not gonna repeat my boring answers - just have a look here if you're curious :p ♥ Lilo! :)
  
• I am scrapping. Will share some new layouts & projects soon I promise :) Just getting a bit weary and tired about uploading stuff to a zillion online-galleries all the time. Is it just me or? Hm. Maybe I'm getting bored. Or maybe I should slow down.
• I still want a D300!! *stomps feet on the ground*
  
• The Bad Girls Academy has come to an end and we got a winner...Julie..and not only that, but we've got TWO new additions to the Design Team (Julie and Sri)! I'm so happy - being part of the process of picking only one winner was so freakin hard (I know everybody keeps saying that and now I know it's true :p)....so I'm so very happy we were able to add two to our DT.. am so excited to get to know them better and see what they will come up with every month :)
• Speaking of Bad Girls, I went Bad Girl Patrolling last night. Still waiting for a response before I'll announce the friday-winner of the Bad Girls RAK on the forums. (Every friday someone in the DT goes on a BG Patrol - if we spot you with your Bad Girl blinkie on (either on blogs or other forums) you might be the lucky RAK winner :) )
  
• Im bummed because I keep forgetting my camera when I once in a while have the chance to take photos of the beautiful lights on the bridge connecting our little island with the mainland. Hrmf.
• I'm still gutted that Pullo cheated on his wife!! Wtf why!! Men!! (Rome)
• Amalie is now officially in her Terrible Two's. *sigh* The slightest sign that she won't get what she wants and it's straight on the floor, jumping, stomping, crying...kinda tiresome :p
• Don't cut your childs bangs yourself. Unless you're a hairdresser by profession I guess.

Slightly bored despite several assignments waiting here. Thought I would put up a before/after photo taken the other day.

I really like how it turned out. Shot in JPG I wanted to try take photos of Amalie while taking a stroll outside. Not so easy when I'm holding the camera at a distance with one hand while the other is trying to hold her hand - a number of shots was of the surroundings rather than Amalie. Still - these kind of "accident" shots sorta have their charm.... if you know how to pull out their colors.

Adjustments in photoshop includes: Adjusting the levels - now, I'm not too familiar with all the phrases and stuff but the histogram was a bit clipped (I think is the correct word)...like..when the histogram doesnt cover the whole spectre/line?....adjusted the sliders to when the histograms sorta started. Looked immediately much much better. Then I added medium contrast in curves and opened the red and green curves respectively and "pulled" out the colors a lil more... went into hue/saturation and for the color yellow: made it a lil more saturated and brighter. Unsharp mask and a lil duplicate/screen-mode and voila...lush fall-colors.

So. Don't immediately discard those dull, boring photos. Play a bit with photoshop and discover the possibilities :)

Sometimes when things doesn't go as planned and you go a lil *bleh* *yuck* because of the temp. setback..... it's great to have friends who knows how to cheer you up....

Well, look what cheered me up today.... Tracie...seriously....*hugs* !!!!! You have no idea how much I appreciate this and how much I'm smiling right now! Go check it out...her Pencillines entry for the minialbumsketch from Caroline Lau (Maya Road)....

Here's mine by the way - yet another page to the unfinished Maya Road album of mine about the move and all :p I used a lil transparency, lil Maya Road chipboardalphas, dabbers to dress'em up, some yummy tags and Lindas superb journalingstamp (a HUGE fave!) to add some journaling.

Todays soundtrack: You raise me up - Josh Groban

©2007 Ardent Photography LLC

This image is part of the amazing "fearless bride/groom" session I shot on October 7, 2007 at my Aunt's farm in Kaukauna, WI. This shot was so cool because I told them to run towards each other. This is the end product of that direction. I love the embrace, the light, the movement of the hair and gown. Uh, this is why I am a photographer.

Some more reasons why I love what I do!

©2007 Ardent Photography LLC

I've been curious about 3 bugs ever since they launced, but never really gotten around to get these papers....thought they looked too bold for me or something...but loved their colors and prints.. So when I got to know they were sponsing a Pencillines-sketch I was soo excited and so not disappointed at all! I got the Coco kaboodle-kit, a pretty girly and cute kit complete with papers, alphabets, stickers and diecuts... whipped up this layout for this weeks Pencillines-sketch and felt inspired to do another layout with these papers while I had them up....this kinda somehow feels a bit like the "old" me-style....? Dunno...it's quite different I'm sure....still I like it, it's fun to indulge in what feels like *real* girlygirly stuff once in a while! :D

Don't forget that October is quite special for Pencillines - lots and lots of RAKs and fun little things to join in this month so be sure you'll join us for the celebration! :)

Todays soundtrack: Wonderful Life - Gwen Stefani

It's no secret that I love Jessica Claire :)
Here she shows how you can turn a blah photo into a wow photo...in four simple steps!

More editingstuff: overphotoshopped? Yes imo...but still - there's nice techniques to learn here.

100 things I've learned about photography. Oh lookie, 76. Re-check your ISO-Settings. It’s aweful to detect the wrong settings on your screen. SO friggin TRUE!!!! And oh, so easy to forget! (at least on my d70s - I hear canonusers are better off because it's harder to miss for them). Some others that caught my eye:

7. Write tips about photography, because writing is also learning - Mhmm guess that's why I'm tryin to share stuff here even though I'm no pro and prob may be wrong a few times in the process

25. Get feedback from your lady nu uh

30. Take selfportraits don't really wanna!

35. Always shoot in RAW Hmm I just switched back to JPGs for everydayshots because I feel I rely too much on RAW atm.. it's my way of forcing me to become a lil better. I think. But heck yes - RAW is freakin awesome!!

38. It takes time to become a good photographer What if I'm in a hurry? ;p

39. The best equipment is that what you have now Yeah yeah..;p
42. Pay attention to the different way that light falls on different parts of your scene Good one, it's noted. Will try.

60. Post processing = Optimizing your image to the best result And that is totally okay! (repeatx1000 times in my head)

66. It’s who’s behind the camera, not the camera Or behind the photoshop?
71. Shoot as often as possible yes, Id love to shoot more often though

73. Don’t be afraid of getting dirty *snicker*

100. Write a 100 things list No wai!

On the subject of lightning - or more specific - backlightning; I find this interesting and would love to try it out sometime myself.

Am downloading this atm. And hopefully reading it aswell. What I've seen so far is that it's superb - lots of questions answered about the digital workflow. Only looked briefly thru it though. *need to make time to read this properly* It's mainly for Canonusers but has great informative stuff for "everybody" still.

Re. RAW. I've had several questions from different people about this format. And seriously, I just have to say this about RAW. It ROCKS. *and* it SUCKS. Some (personal) notes about RAW:

• The like, bestest thing about shooting in RAW is the awesome flexibility it gives you. It allows you to tweak the photo and retrieve wonderful and so many different exposures (or is it called exposes? hm). I think my favorite - when I'm "seriously" working with a photo and it has areas which have severe umm, contrasts in it (like some of the weddingphotos - where you easily get either blown areas for the weddingdress or very dark faces kinda) is to save two different exposures of the photo and blend them together into one in Photoshop. That way I am able to "save" the photo even though it had very blown areas (over-exposed) and daaaark areas (underexposed) - I save one file with "correct" highlight-exposure and one file with "correct" shade-exposure, blend these together in layers and use layering mask to make the final photo look much better. Kinda a bit like what you do with HDR-photos afaik. This is however a bit hassle and just something I do with the real real "important" photos just to practice. And you can ofcourse do the same with plain JPGs, but the quality wouldn't be as good I think. Tho it depends on the photo in question I guess...(but yes have done that too and to me who's not a pro it have looked okayish as long as the photo isn't that severe damaged)
  
• Changing the whitebalance with just one click!! Or slider :p Ooohhh love this! You know how sometimes your camera detects the whitebalance totally wrong (because all light have their own temperature) and you get photos with yellowish hue or blue hue and stuff? Sure, you could correct it to a certain degree with either the useage of levels or curves and/or use digital photofilters to cover up - but again - for "true" and oh so easy adjustment of the light-temperature of the photo: tadaa - use RAW. I also use it to add intentional warmth to a photo if I find it a bit "cold" and stuff - you can use it creatively ...simply because RAW stores so much data about your file that gets lost when you save it in jpg because it's such a sizesaver kinda.....so it only keeps the needed info and cuts loose the other....
• Changing the exposure..... oy....I love over-exposing if you haven't noticed.....so easy to correct the overall exposure....yey!
• I don't know if it's specific stuff that's possible with CS3 or if it's available/common for RAW editing-programs.... but in addition to easy access to exposure and temperature...you got "friendly" sharpening, contrasting, brightnessing, fill-lighting, adding of black ..uh..I dont know...something..which adds to the black pigments or something I think...love it but have to be sooo careful to not overdo it :p ... and so on and so on
• They say B&W converting is best done in RAW and that it's excellent - with the possibility of true two-toning etc - but I don't know - haven't tried it too much and the little I tried was a bit messy and stuff - I guess I need to properly learn it and pay attention - but I love the B&W-converter in CS3 so I'm satisfied with doing that kinda thing in the JPG-file anyways.
• You can even add realistic vignetting in the CS3 RAW thingie! Fun :D
• I've noticed it seem to be much "easier" to use some actions when I have a "perfect" photo just needing to be brushed up a bit kinda - less individual adjustments involved when I save the photos at a certain exposure kinda. Or it could just mean I'm starting to learn how to properly get the most of the diff. actions I have and what kind of photos fits to what kind of action.
  
• And simply: With RAW there's so much smaller margin to screw up a photo... if you normally shoot decently I guess it's pretty hard to discard a photo due to technical things unless you really did a totally unfocused photo or wrong cropping or the people you shot was looking other ways etc....
• The negative things? You always have to go through the RAW-converter first before entering CS3/photoshop.... which means...you have to chose what information on the picture/file you want to highlight and use... so if you aren't the editing kind of gal and/or satisfied with your photos as they are... just go for JPGs.. the RAW-converter, although helpful, do take some time even though you just click the "auto" button and are satisfied with the following results..lots of loading (although it could very well be my pc too :p) and stuff and then you have to save in jpg or tiff.
• To me, RAW makes me a bit slacking...lazy.....I'm not too "ooh need to get the correct exposure" anymore when shooting RAW (ok I lie, I still am, but not as viligant *cough*) because I tend to think; Hm, that can probably be fixed in CS3 anyways as it's shot in RAW. Don't get me wrong, thats great for very important shots..... but for everyday shooting....I want to improve myself.....I need to learn the hard way...discard photos because I did the wrong choices etc...... RAW doesn't really help me doing that when shooting in RAW... so for that reason....I shoot in JPGS for everydayphotos...and RAW when I feel this is a special situation where I don't want to miss anything.... or for photosessions...or when the lightnings just crazy silly stupid aka not ideal ;o
• And oh. RAW-files are huuuuge compared with the slimmer JPG-files ...just so you're warned ;p
  

But seriously. There's nothing "hocuspocus" with RAW. It's just a format. Try shooting in RAW and do try out the RAW program in Photoshop. It's quite easy....just a bit more timeconsuming which isn't for everybody I know... I know the CS2 and Elements ones were very decent (in my humble, limited experience ;p). Just be aware that if you installed your cameras special programs it might have installed their specific RAW programs aswell - and told Photoshop to open it every time you wanted to open/edit RAW-files. I've read that nikons RAW-program is superb and great but the version I got on my CD was...uh...veeeeery simple and uhm... well...needless to say I turned that addon off and reenabled Photoshops own RAW-converter and got pleasantly surprised of the possibilties with RAW (it didn't seem "all that" with the NIkon program I had)

Oookaaay enough photobabbling!! (yes I'm posessed by/about photography sometimes ;p)

On to scrappy things...just noticed this morning that I was the September-winner of Lifetime Moments Designing with 2007 gig. How fun! I won back in May and was fortunate to win again...yeah! Hopefully I'll be able to do most of the weekly assignments rest of the year so I'll be eligible to win a RAK aswell ...that was the goal when I signed up for joining this thing so winning the monthly contests is just a sweet, sweet bonus :D

The Bad Girls Academy contest is down to ten finalists, and wow..seriously this judging-thing is killing me, it's so very impossible to decide because there's too many damn good scrappers around! And to think we have to pick just one next week...yikes!! (yeah, don't envy our positions atm :p) Personally I'm so sorry to see all the Norwegian scrappers go this week....*sniff* but that's life....you can only have ten on that top list.....when you in reality needs to like, just nominate everbody as winners :p I am however very exited to see what layouts these top-ten will deliver.....no doubt it'll be dazzling and stunning! Which in turn will make our work even more of a nightmare...eek...:p

Hmmmmm must.adhere.some.photos!
Have I told you how much I LOVE Stavanger??? Sooo many yummy eyecandylocations and odds and bits! Seriously! There was this street with colorful treehouses (and I mean colorful! Pink, purple, bright blue, limegreen etc etc colors on the walls and windows and doors....oooh joy!)... lovely and charming small streets.... and this trashcan...♥


Have a happy weekend y'all and thanks a lot for stopping by! :)

V. sleepy, about to hit bed shortly. Just wanted to share these two:

A card for Pencil-Lines (seriously, I'm NO cardmaker.....hence this simple card..am gonna practice some more though - want the aquarel-pens from Papirloftet - hopefully soon :) ) - *love* this stamp though - it's from Lene Solhaug :D

& a layout...I sooo love that one....... seriously LOVE Xstine - she's such a cutiepie & *so* sweet!

Was slightly bored on the crop on sunday cause I had packed my stuff already - was gonna take an early plane home. Xstine had the solution tho - an ubercool Polaroid-cam & I could use her stash. Just had to do a layout in "xstine"-style right?? :D


Zzz I'm off to bed :)

Ps. I ♥ ...um...*blackout* totally forgot what I was supposed to say now! *cough* *off to bed!*

Oh ps2: think my pc is approx okayish. Got piccies backuped - thats the most important stuff! Think I'll see if I (or someone else :p) can fix a clean instal sometime soon - it's buggy & about time to do that....format & reinstall stuff from scratch. Ohwell.