Wedding Gallery

Yay!
The Summer Workshop just started over at Bad Girls!
My class, "Reclaim, Reuse, Recycle" was the first class opened - it's based on a Norwegian "technique" that's become widely popular among the Norwegian scrapbookers for the moment being thanks to Bibbi (Who's crazy talented by the way. Check her out.). It was suggested that I'd introduce this class by saying "As we all now, the Norwegians shit a lot....." (Thanks to you know who you are ;) ) but alas.....that introduction was edited out *grin* The reason for this intro? Well, it's a minialbum made out of toilet rolls. Empty ones. Clean ones. Duh. Here's mine - it's made using Bad Girls May kit - with lots of Fancy Pants, Prima & Melissa Frances stuff. Want to make one for yourself? Head on over to this thread on the message board - remember - there will be like 10 or 11 classes total and they're all FREE! :D Oh, and tomorrow is the Bad Girl June kit reveal day! Yay!

Want to know what else's free? The LUXE giveaway!! Luxe Designs has come up with such a fun start on this Sex and the City-weekend (the MOVIE ...based on the tv-series...based on the books...:p) Check out The Manhattan on the Luxe blog and jump over to the other blogs for a chance on "The Miranda", "The Carrie" and so on..:D

Personally I'm outta here soon - I'm hitting the theaters in an hour - no - not to watch SATC..... Indy here I come!!! =) Have an enjoyable weekend y'all!! :)

I know. It has been a while.
I've been gone - in Oslo at my dads place to work on my M.A. thesis. So much to do! When I went my husband told me it was fine as long as I "didn't even touch scrapbooking & worked hard". Well. I worked hard alright - day and night. And I DID NOT VISIT ONE SINGLE SCRAPBOOKING STORE!!! How 'bout that!! Dang. I wish I had but at the same time...I know this - full time away from the stash & stuff - was what I needed to get a kickstart - I can't go back to being a fulltime student right yet, but I will make an effort to work on stuff still.

Anyways. Am back home & indulging in stuff that's on my to-do-list. First out - a birthday-card (tag-card) for a young lady in our family. She's having a childrens party right now and Adrians with them - with this card and the pressie :) Love the Fancy Pants papers!! Used papers from different lines - Simplicity (gorgeous dreamy whitey paper - and it's got a totally kickass pink backside!), Daydreamer and Celebrate....and maybe some other lines aswell. The ribbons are all from Fancy Pants too, and the diecut aswell..I dressed the manilla-tags with more Fancy Pants paper on the back - some leftover scraps that I didn't use after all (don't you hate it when that happens? You arrange & stitch together papers and then you find out that this wasn't what you wanted after all...grr..well, I got to use them in the end!) The only things not Fancy Pants here are the letters (American Craft), brad (dressed in Doodlebug glitter & decorated with a pearl), stamp (cuuuuute! From Autumn Leaves) & the flowers (Prima).

Anyways. Must. Continue. Bad Girls is next on the to-do-list!

Stacy and Jeremy got married in the small town of Newton, WI... Here are some highlights...










When they cut their cake they cracked their cake knife in half! I was so happy I was able to get the looks on their faces the moment it happened!

Loved doing this sketch for Pencil-Lines!! Finally got to use some of the new Sassafras Lass papers I bought when I was in Stavanger some weeks ago - lovelovelovelove! That's me and my two cousins, I think I was fairly newly adopted then. Didn't seem to keen on a photosession, haa! Love the ribbon I got from Tessa, the tickets from Trude Julie and the film from Xstine. Thanks a bunches gals!! The title is AC alphas dressed w/vintage paper & sewn upon & some glossy love.

Okay, the bags are..uh..oh wait, no, they aren't right yet - but will be soon - packed, that is. I am heading off to Oslo to my father to do some serious and much-needed studying. Well, as much studying as I am able to muster for the moment being, but I am getting better and better for every day and well, it's not like I'm gonna run a marathon or something like that so I am feeling pretty positive that this will be a good week. And since my mother is gonna visit us next weekend because of some senior-thingie she and my stephfather was gonna attend here in Bergen, I am going to travel back home with them, yay.

Actually, if this post has made it it means I am on the train as I am scheduling it and obviously would be home to edit/interrupt the sceduled post or something kinda :p

In the meantime...am sharing a few ATC's I've made lately....I really really am starting to fancy the whole ATC thingie...such a great thing to send other scrappers instead of little notes or cards kinda. I think anyways :) (note to self: these atcs needs something extra - like more alphaletters on them. Ohwell. Will remember that for the next times :) )

Oh yeah. I couldn't stop using the gorgeous wedding-papers sponsed by Scrappers Choice. So I took a few more wedding-photos (lovelove weddingpreparations!) and some leftoverpapers lying around on my desk - like Daisy D, Prima, KI & Scenic Route papers, stitched them together and slapped them on the page for this Pencil-Lines sketch. The tree-tag is selfmade.

Did you see this by the way?? Fraggle Rock! Yay! :D

Today is Norways Constitution Day - hooray!
The day is filled with icecream, waving flags and kids yelling "hooray" as loud as they can as they walk past in the Childrens Parade..swelling national music from the marching bands and cakes and playthings at the schoolground and well..lots of children all around. I just skipped the children outta the door - and am crossing fingers my husband will remember to take some pictures today... I am not well enough after the surgery to join them, so I'm staying at home to rest up & prepare some food for the guests arriving later today.

I made this layout last year - but I don't think I have shown it before, so today is a nice day to show it :p It's from last years Constitution Day - from morning to early afternoon. The papers are from Sassafras Lass and Rouge de Garance.

Ps. Luxe is continuing their giveaway on their blog - I can't wait to get my hands on Capri!! :D

Hurra for 17. mai!! Gratulerer med dagen alle sammen! Nå har ungene og mannen akkurat dratt ut døra - ungene høylytte og kjempespente og med en knippe selvlaga flagg på slep - de siste lagde de imorges mens de ventet på å kunne dra haha - og mannen drassende med påprakka kamera. Må jo ha noen bilder fra denne dagen selv om jeg ikke er med da!! Håper han kommer hjem med noen fine bilder :) Været er kjempenydelig - sol og blå himmel - Amalie er i den nye kjolen sin hun fikk til burdagen fra tante Pia & co, og Adrian i tøff hodeskallsskjorte og genser kjøpt fra farmor igår. Og mamma, om du leser dette - tusen takk for 17. maisblomsten vi fikk! Skal sende bilder av den og dagen i løpet av morgendagen tenker jeg. Tenker jeg skal ta og hvile meg litt før jeg vanner blomstene og lager eggerøre og gjør klar rømmegrøten - ferdiglaga rømmegrøt men like god for det! :) Ha en strålende dag alle nordmenn!! :)

I love what they have done with the übertalented Vibeke Spigseth as their main (??) designer - at least I love the direction they seems to have taken with her aboard - Scrappedugnad was so lucky to be sponsed by Scrappers Choice this time - a Scandinavian provider of scrapbook-stuff - their spring papers are mostly themed papers - something I normally don't do but hot darn, these are b e a u t i f u l for reals! I lucked out and got the wedding papers - ahh the quality of this paper and its structure is to die for and it's so beautiful... perfect for the weddingphotos I shot last fall of my husbands cousin. I wanted to make this simple - let the paper and photos take the mainstage while accenting it with sewing & a splash of color from Prima.. oh, and I almost forgot the challenge itself - use stamps - blush - uhm, right - this cute lil stamp in the middle there is cute eh?? Design Linda Mortensen - love it and love it even more that I got to use it - it's too underused!!

Come join the challenge - use stamps ;) - and you can get the chance to win some of these yummy papers & embellies for yourself too!

In other words. Age of Conan is launcing tomorrow. We have preordered so I guess we're ready to play tomorrow. I haven't been playing any MMORPGS in a good while now - longest break ever since I started playing such games at 16. The last game I played was World of Warcraft, and we kinda quit it a few months ago - in the end I was just raiding and it just wasn't enough. I do miss the big games though, the excitement, the cooperations, the people - I guess the game itself just grew..old? I haven't been missing playing too much - so I wonder how it will be playing Age of Conan. Will I get back on track playing hardcore or will I keep on carrying a laidback approach as I have the last year or so? Hm. We'll see. I kinda like having time to scrap in the evenings, but I do miss playing and experiencing&doing things with my husband in the games. Oh. And I'm also looking for D&D miniature sets for my kiddo - he seem to have taken a keen interest in these small figures when my husband came home from a D&Dgame with some friends. He really got it quick and tried really hard to learn the diff stats and stuff - cool. The nerd generation is safe. Sooo to keep him happy I'm looking for D&D sets on ebay...he is reeeeeally giddy about getting new figures and daddy keeps telling him to tell mommy cause it's mommy who's doin ebay! Right! I'm not even sure what I am looking for or what's a good buy or whatever. Hrm. Feel free to help out if you know :p

Ps! Luxe has just gotten quite a few new collections into their store and are celebrating the new lines with giveaways..check it out :)

Why the name Ardent Photography?
Ardent is a word that, according to Webster, is characterized by eager warmth of feeling, passion, or intensely devoted. The word perfectly describes the passion that surrounds people in love and my enthusiasm for photographing them.

What is your photographic style?
Artistic, romantic, sophisticated, wedding & relationship photography that is just a bit edgy.

Do you shoot digital or film?
Digital. But I sometimes snap a few frames with an antique film camera for a unique look.

Do you have a studio?
I have a small studio/gallery in my home. I use the space for photo sessions during the winter months and for client meetings.

Did you go to school for photography?
I have my bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design from the Universtiy of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. In addition to my design degree I also have my minor in art history and many credits in photography.

How long have you been shooting weddings?
I have been shooting weddings unofficially since 2002 (I assisted my first in 1995) and I started Ardent Photography in 2005.

Why do you offer an engagement session with all of your packages?
I offer engagement sessions as "get to know you" time. I love learning about how you met, how you hold hands, what makes you laugh... Plus it is a great time for you to get used to my shooting style and dumb jokes.

How many photos do you take at our wedding?
I average about 200 frames per hour when I shoot with two cameras. The actual amount of proofs you will see is quite a bit lower than that. I go through every photo and hand select the very best images from your day. I remove blinks, motion blurred images and duplicates from the bunch. You will end up with around 600-900 final proofs in your proof book depending on your package coverage.

What kind of albums do you offer?
I offer hardbound coffee table albums in a variety of sizes. I also offer custom art books with leather cover options.

In what format are the initial proofs offered?
You will receive a hardbound proof book contact sheets of all your photos. In addition to the proof book you will have a private website of your wedding images to share with friends, family and co-workers. The proof book is yours to keep forever, the website is live for 60 days.

How soon after the event are the proofs ready for viewing?
I always post a few teaser photos on my blog at www.ardentphotography.blogspot.com. The proofs in their entirety are ready for viewing on your personal website up to 4 weeks from the wedding day.

How do my family and friends know when my online proofing site is ready?
At your reception I will place an email sign-up list near the guest book. Guests will be encouraged to add their information to the list. They will be notified by email when your wedding website will be ready.

Do you retain the copyright for the photos?
Yes. You can purchase the personal rights release and high resolution images from me at any time. Some packages have the high-res files included in the package.

Are your high res files large enough to print larger than 8x10?
I include the same high resolution files I print your photos from on your DVD. The files you receive from me are large enough to print 16x20 and higher, unlike many photographers who say their files are high resolution. Of course, I recommend ordering from Ardent to ensure the highest quality enlargements - plus they will come retouched and mounted on archival board to protect the print for generations.

Do you shoot destination weddings?
Yes. I have done weddings in Boston and California. I have my passport and would love to quote of your destination wedding!

Do you have a replacement photographer in case you become unavailable on the wedding day?
Yes, in the very slim chance an act of God does not allow me to shoot a wedding I have a large network of qualified photographers that could take my place.

What kind of equipment do you typically bring with you on the day-of?
2-3 professional digital SLR camera bodies, a variety of L-Series lenses, 3 flashes, reflectors, up to 36 GB of digital media, a laptop computer, ladder and umbrellas.

Do you bring back-up equipment to the event in case of malfunction?
Yes. I have back up equipment for everything.

How do we reserve our wedding date with Ardent?
Whew! You are still here? Great!!! The first step in reserving your date with Ardent Photography is to find out if your date is available. You can check my calendar section on the website or shoot me and email. The next step is to set up a complimentary photography consultation. After we talk about your wedding dreams and details you will be able to look through printed samples and albums. All I need to retain your date is $350 and a signed contract.

Teaser photo from Becky and Jason's wedding on May 3, 2008. Their photos are ABSOLUTELY stunning and I cannot wait to get a slide show up on the blog for you all to view!

Oh - and I'm testing new watermarks that include my new logo... I had a designer help me with the concept last September and I am finally getting things updated with the new modern/edgy look... do you like???

The Bad Girls Summer Workshop!! YEAH!

Ten amazing & totally fabulous classes.
Challenges, contests & PRIZES. Chatting and fun.
All FREE!
Yeap!
And - we're using the May kit so you'll find TONS of inspo here if you have gotten the kit and not quite sure what to do with it. My class? I am showing a Norwegian speciality. Teeheeeeheeeee. If you don't have the kit - what the frak.... welcome anyways cause it's not like you HAVE to have the same kind of papers and stuff right? You can use whatever you have at hand...and these are superb projects and there will be supply-lists on the message board in advance so you can prepare..some are already out..

More info to come at the messageboard/blog so watch it..

Yay! I got Adrian to help me after I had written all the names and cut them down into strips mixin' them up in the bucket, but Amalie caught us and insisted on helping out too! So. I guess we have two winners - the first winner (Adrian) will get the RAK I posted below here and the second winner (Amalie) will get a smaller RAK from me. Cause I can't disappoint my children displaying only one of them on the blog you know ;p So - congratulations to Aquarell (mainRAK) and Monica (small RAK)!! Email me your adresses please - my email should be located somewhere in the right sidebar :p And thank you all for partipicating!! :)

Today was a wonderful day - sunny and lovely - so my husband suggested that I took the children out for a walk to my mother-in-law while he's out playing badminton then some D&D. Right. Me + children + walk? uhm, lemme see, last time we did so we got totally lost. But this was like, well, we have driven there lots of times - how can we get lost when we're walking the same route?? Three words: Don't take shortcuts. Or. "Shortcuts". Hum it ended well with my husband finally locating us with his car on his way home from the badminton-thingie (just as my cellphone-battery died, yay!), drove us to mother-in-law and left us there mumbling something about us cutting in on his D&D playtime :p We got treated well - waffles and icecream and strawberries and then she took us to a gardenstore buying us plants and stuff - among them rosemary - yay! Now I have rosemary in my garden! Fresh herbs! Let's see how long this lasts :p

Yesterday we had Breanne Crawford guestdesign at Pencil-Lines - I totally ADMIRE that woman!!! LOVE her style! Mine is fairly uh, I dunno, square? Used Imaginisce-papers and some 7gypsies, fancy pants ribbons, prima and american crafts.

Have a nice week! And wish me one too...

I just had to test some new actions -- thanks to Jolene I found out that Totally Rad Actions actually have free samples of their actions for those on the fence about purchasing their actions. I have been drooling on their actions for what, a year plus now. Hmm. This sure makes me drool even more!! These photos are from today - Amalie was a bit sad because Adrian was going to a friend of his so I eased her mind promising we'd paint.. this is some paint from IKEA that supposedly will glow in the dark. I don't know if it works yet but darn I LOVE the neon-colors!!


I also gathered some of the stuff I will be giving away - one of my leftover class-kits from Prima, some Norwegian Vintage papers, ribbons, chipboard, flowers, rubons, embellishments and quite a few papers. I am sure I'll find even more stuff to add to this RAK so feel free to comment in this post if you haven't already - I will draw a winner from that list tomorrow (monday) :)

I was fortunate to be a shooter and a guest at Rachel and Eric's wedding. Rachel and I have been friends for about 5 years. We were both teachers at Marcia's School of Dance and spent a lot of time together dancing at workshops and on stage.

When Rachel started dating Eric I used them as my very first "sample engagement" session. Imagine Rachel asking Eric after only a few weeks of dating if it was alright to model as an engaged couple. During that session I knew that they were some day going to be married.

When Rachel called to tell me that he finally popped the question and that they were getting married in 4 months I was sooo happy! She asked me about shooting her wedding, and although I was honored that she asked, I told her that I don't do wedding photography for neither close friends or family. For me it is just too difficult to do an amazing job if I have Aunties or old college buddies wanting to talk to me all day.

So I referred a couple of photographer's names to her and Dave Jackson's name rang a bell. I told her I though he was awesome and that she should meet with him right away. One week later she had him booked.

Since then Dave and I have met for coffee and shot together while at WPPI in Las Vegas. He is a really nice guy and doesn't hold back. The great thing for me is that he allowed me to second shoot for him during Rachel and Eric's wedding.

I got some great photos... here are some of the highlights!

Look what popped in my mailbox today! Such a sweet surprise - quite a few chipboards from Anam ...and not any chipboards, but Riff Raff chipboards - wow! They totally rock! And Anam!! You're too kind!! I'm very tempted to call them my babies - just look!! Hot darn, those dinos are too cute for words and the crown and wings and skull and mail....o.O Totally LOVE this!! Thank you so much!! And the quality really surprised me - so sturdy and solid and almost treelike...very clean and crisp cuts.. I was showing these chipboards on the net to some friends the other day and they thought it seemed a bit thin..but that's so not the case once you see it irl...I'm so happy!! It's even what I needed for a project I've had lying on my desk for days!! **hugs** I am definately buying more (Bad Girls stocking this!!)

In other words. I suddenly noticed this is my post no 500 on the blog. Shit! I had planned to do a lil RAK and all for my 500th post when I saw it was drawing near some weeks ago but it just snuck upon me and all so I'm kinda a bit unprepared...BUT!

Just comment in this post and I'll do a drawing on sunday or something like that - and yeah - anyone can comment :)
I kinda planned to take piccies of stuff I'd give away and stuff but ohwell - I'll update with a piccie later I guess :p It'll be scrappy stuff for sure ;p

o.O
Somebody kinda made the Luxe Designs DT.
O.o
I'm scared. And giddy. And excited. And a bit more scared.

Had a lil photosession yesterday - yay I got to take piccies of a yummy lil baby!!
Am not sure which ones of the hand-piccies I like best and I am aware the editing of the second last photo is a bit off (purple outline of the babys white body) - but all in all - I think I managed to get a few nice shots and it was a nice experience taking photos of someone else in their home (with that as the purpose) working with the environment we had at hand. Got loads more to learn - like trying to plan the cropping better at location and stuff - but hm, I'm still inexperienced as in I rather want to snap the photo like now instead of waiting for the right crop and the moment possibly gone. But all in all - a great experience :) Like 260 photos got culled down to 115 - well done self! And oh, this lil man had such a funny hair - it soo reminded me of my own Amalie when she was at his age - her hair was like, standing right up like a lil troll. Too cute!

For those curious - I brought both my 18-200 and 50mm lenses but only used the latter. Wish I whipped up the 18-200 one though for the groupshots, but ahwell. I love primelenses too much.