Little Corner of Ania

I’ve been so extra sucky at snapping photos of the kids w/my DSLR ever since I got the iPhone (hm. Last time I’ll mention the iPhone, I promise..for a while..), so here’s some photos I forced myself to take w/the DSLR :)

Gotta admit….the DSLR sure is handy when it comes to Earth Hour ;)
ISO 800 – 24mm – f/2.8 – 1/20 sec

ISO1600 – 24mm – f/2.8 – 1/25 sec

And here’s the glow-necklace I talked about (on IG I think) – it glows in the dark and continued to do so for at least 18-24 hours..think..rave..haha... The kids found this fun :) You can’t really see him (because he kept moving and it’s quite dark), but Adrian is helping Amalie wearing this “necklace” here.

ISO1250 – 26mm – f/2.8 – 1/25sec

The kids had their cousin sleep over the other day, and cooked us dinner (the keyword is to tell them you’ll judge their food and throw the dice to give them grades ;p That’ll make them all over this task ;p)

I told Adrian he was the master chef in charge (as he was the only one w/some experience cooking dinner on his own of these kids) – and he rose to the challenge, delegating responsibilities and showed them what to do if they wasn’t sure….so cute to watch..I knew he’d be good at this, I’ve seen how he naturally takes charge when playing WoW w/the others, but still..nice to see it play out in irl-fields too :) )

This dude told us we just had to back up his story, telling his mom he actually DID cook..apparently for the first time in his life…hehe…

We gave them 5 out of 6. They weren’t satisfied with us explaining that they needed to have something to reach for, hence no 6, so they ran to grab a dice & threw it until they all got 6 :p

It was quite foggy when I was gonna put Amalie to bed, so I told her “quick, grab a dress and let’s go out for a bit” :p I dunno, I was hoping for a bit more fog, but hey, a little fog is better than no fog :p She oughta quit doing these poses though..

To which I told her: “Ok, enough now, do something else” – “hmmm!”

Then she gave me this,.. :p

And this…

And this..and then we went back into the house to brush her teeth and read her a book :p

Hoping for more fog soon…fog equals cool backgrounds…plus….I only got to snap photos of her while the cars were passing once – the other times I couldn’t focus in time, sniff…they create such cool light-trails in the fog sorta (see first fog-photo)…(all fog photos: ISO1250, f/2.8, 24mm, 1/40sec)

Hoopla…busy week inc…my last one before starting work for real next week :)

I’ll admit, scrapwise I work in a very weird tempo…I try to get deadlines off the way, so I won’t have to stress about them – while in reality I *do* stress about them while working on getting them off the way – then I twiddle my thumbs and try to find challenges and other stuff to occupy myself with when I don’t have any deadlines…(which would mean – I should rather space out the deadlines so I won’t stress at all, but ahwell)

I joined Sassafras’ March-challenge, doing blocking…fun one, and perfect for this mix of old and older Sass-papers :) The image (if you can find it :p it’s drowning a bit here maybe??) is of my daughters bedfellows..I need to snap a picture of her soft bedfellows (aka teddies and stuff as well :p)

Dang..I love these colors mixed together!

Here’s a note w/my journaling on, about her bedfellows..they count a Snow White, a Knights Horse, a dinosaur, Bakugans and some princesses, among other figurines.

I also joined a challenge at the Aussie Scrap Source, where the prize was to win a guest design-spot at Sassafras. I didn’t reach up, but it was fun scrapping this layout (I don’t like the other one much, sigh..bu this kiting one I love :) ). They have another contest going on atm, where you can win a guest-spot at Websters Pages by the way, if you have a fair bit of their stash lying around at home :)

Lovelovelove these little monsters!! Plus, I love the Pink Paislee-tape I used to “tape” on the picture…love that careless look it gives..

And I’m proud of this kite (how original..not ;p), which was put together by sewing the borders together around a diamondshaped piece of patterned papers, cutting a star-sticker into pieces for the “tail-end” and using these buttoned&sewed-upon flowers to decorate it.

This was the other layout I sent in, but tbh, I’m not really feeling it – I think it turned out a bit too busy/messy/boring..hmm..maybe if the photos were clean b&w? Hmm…ahwell…it still documents an important aspect re my daughters food-habits – how she wants her slices to be made. I have several other photos and ideas/themes for new layouts re the food-habits of the kids..they’re peculiar when it comes to what they eat and how the food is supposed to be made! And I love that w/my iPhone it’s so easy to just snap a quick photo before serving them food hehe…

Ahwell!

Now onto something else – Spring Fever over at Crate Paper! :D

Spring is fast approaching (but none too fast it seems, hrmf!) and you’ll find spring-ish inspirations over at Crate Paper – as far as I am aware there will be at least three Spring-posts with chances to win collections and surprises in each – so if you like Crate Paper I wouldn’t miss these opportunities! :)

And finally – don’t forget to tune into Pencil-Lines tonight where the new DT finally is going to start their new era – I know I’m excited to see what they’re coming up with :)

I have a new tutorial up at the Crate Paper-blog – you can find it here. I’ll probably put it up here on my own blog in a while, but for now – just head over there to see it for yourself :)

It’s a Children’s Art Storage-book I made my daughter because she kept handing me small sheets filled with her drawings or stickers telling me to hold on to them for her..and I’m like, dude, keep the sheets in your notebook, stop tearing them out cause they’ll only get lost! But noo..part of the fun with notebooks apparently is to tear out the pages after finishing them, despite it making it difficult for me to hold on to a zillion small pages :p So..I made her this book :)

I love how she’s trying to draw things she sees…the bunny seen here is a drawing of Super-Bunny, a French childrens book we recently read…hehe..she’s good methinks!

Had to find the image to show you…teehee…*proud mama* ;p

Here’s the book..it’s quite simple to create – a bit like binding your own book I guess, although I’m using the sewing machine here..

Here’s a peek of the making-of-process..

Go ahead, try it for yourselves! :)

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on the babypictures by the way!

pattyo Said,

1:34 AM

Oh, so many beautiful photos! Regarding finding an afghan as a prop--your friend Banglamarie makes beautiful ones.

Oh I well aware, and I’ve seen and know how much time these take – and I “just” want to use it as a prop – so I don’t think I can ask that of her or any of my friends :) Better look at flea-markets and second-hand-stores methinks. Didn’t know it was called afghan though, thanks! :)

Cassie Said,

5:02 PM

Beautiful card! The photos are gorgeous! I am following your pinterest boards now too!! =)

Thanks! Although I think my pinterest boards sucks, it’s just for my personal use so I won’t forget this and that....I don’t seem to browse and come across as nearly as many lovely things the other ladies seem to do! :D

Nati Tristan Said,

2:31 AM

Your family is beautiful! that church is beautiful as well!

Thank you! Yes, it is – I’ve only seen it from the outside before, and was pleasantly surprised and delighted over the bright and lovely colors inside :)

Eli Said,

8:41 AM

Herlige dåpsbarnet :) Knallflotte bilder; ser ut som at dagen ble helt perfekt! (og bare hyggelig å kunne være behjelpelig med lue; ble litt lettet når Pia sendte mld om at den passet :) )Klem

Du reddet oss ut av en knipe der, takktakk! :)

Silje Said,

12:13 PM

Ååååh! Herlige bilder, Anne Jo.
Og - jeg er forelsket i bestemoren din.

missusem Said,

6:18 PM

So good to see the generational love between all of you. You have a lovely family Anne! :)

pattyo Said,

11:57 PM

What wonderful, precious photos! Love the baby's christening gown and the traditional Norwegian dress.

Thank you both!

Well, that’s what her mom claims, and I’m certainly not one to oppose that statement! (Means “worlds finest Alma” in Norwegian)

What follows are the rest of the pictures from the photosession – or well – mostly the more amusing shots, like the crying ones, or the goofy ones and stuff. Part one can be seen here.

I really, really love this shot.

And this one..look at the tears welling up her eyes….awww…

Aaand she cries! Ahhh so fun haha..honestly..love taking pictures of babies crying (not in a mean way, just think they look oh so cute when they really go for it…minus the volume, haha)

The crying prompted a break: a lullaby and a quick powernap.

Haha, this one is like, “yaaa-awn man, do we really have to continue shooting??”

Notice the spinning wheel in the background? I’m not sure if I placed it correctly – looking at the pictures I start to wonder if it should have been placed a bit closer to the baby – between the baby and the shelves in the background, and maybe to the left or something. That it should have been peeking from the left. I dunno. I just wanted to include it in some of the pictures..

Definitely not have its wheel right behind the babys head…ahwell! Added this one because I find the pouting cute ;p It’s like she’s saying “oh god, why me!?”

Hungry baby is hungry! Haha. Loveloveloved this blanket!! Since there’s no way I’m gonna crochet something like this on my own (and don’t even think about trying to get me started, yarn-friends!!), I might gonna start to scavenge flea-markets and similar for a blanket like this. Would be oh so fantastic for future photosessions, donchathink?? Darn. So cool. Really!

*soft sigh* Lovelovelove the light (a huge window to the left), the background and her mellow expression…

And her cheeks…and look at her hands...awww…it’s like she knew this was the last of the pictures and just gave up – like she’s thinking “alright cmon, let’s get this over with already so I can go back to my own business”.

I’m so glad we did these last shots because they’re my personal faves (along with the cry- and soothingpictures). Thank you so much for letting me borrow your precious Alma!

This is soon on its way in the mail! :)

For those curious – I decided to do this CD-envelope a little different than my past ones (aka minus using brads or buttons & thread to fasten the back). This time I just created a hmm, sleeve (?), decorated it and it’s holding the CD-envelope together when put on (no bulky buttons or brads). Just make sure it’s not fit too snugly around the CD-envelope so it’s difficult sliding it on/off.

Materials: Prima, tag from Elle’s Studio, letters from Pink Paislee and transparency from Hambly Screenprints :)

Now, on to something more personal, yet related...

I’ve started to time the time spent on the whole editing-process, to try and pinpoint the “correct” pricerange for the whole thing. It’s one of the ugh-part of the whole thing – trying to determine how much I’m “worth”. And actually registering the time spent on the post-procession has given me some eyeopeners, to say the least.

Yes, I know – I should not undersell myself (I’ve been spending too long time in that category – although I do not regret that – it has been necessary because I’ve needed the experience, especially to back up the whole “I’m worth this” thing – a great tip I’ve picked up is to up your price a little with every new wedding until you’re at a satisfactory price), and I spend probably too much time on the post-procession because I really, really can not hand out pictures I’m personally not satisfied with. A friend suggested that I could offer an own price-package for unedited photos, but tbh, to me that’s out of the question – I don’t know what it is (but my pride) but it would absolutely pain me giving others unedited photos. I’m like – ugh – no, no way – these photos aren’t done then!

And still – even when knowing I shouldn’t undersell myself, it’s hard pinpointing and giving people quotas (As a couple, who had seen my wedding-pictures and trying to back me up, told me at a party once – “Honestly, with your price quote, and if we hadn’t seen your pictures, we would think you weren’t good enough because you’re too cheap. You seriously need to raise the prices for your own sake.” That being said, I’m satisfied with the current wedding-price I’m at atm. It’s determining the other things that’s giving me a headache atm.). And some of my friends and past clients are great supporters of mine, helping me feeling better about my photography, my decisions, and even sending me more work… thank you so much, I truly appreciate you and the different ways in which you all have supported me and still do.

I’m not really sure if this is the correct place to write about all this, especially in a photosession-post, how tacky haha. But – it’s been on my mind for a very long time (about a year and half or longer – but more pressing the last half year), so it’s not about this session nor the latest ones. It’s simply about moving on, I think. At least trying to tell myself it’s about time. Oh I know – I do have so so much more to learn, and I learn new things during all my sessions – but I am also past the newbieish-phase and I guess it’s time to acknowledge that. And it feels good typing this “out loud”  – yet.. although I have a strong support among my closest re adjusting my prices, it still feels difficult for me determining it, sticking to it and saying or typing the price to potential clients when it comes to that.

I’d love to know your experiences and opinions on this, whether you’re a budding photographer, a seasoned photographer, or just on the other side of the business i.e. clients – what’s your thoughts about prices and what to expect from someone you might be considering to hire as a photographer, eventually – what’s your past experiences and thoughts re these?

So, this is it. My last, official contributions to Pencil-Lines. LG guested and created the sketch we used, #231, and funnily enough we actually used the same patterned paper for this one as well.

It’s been three+ wonderful years with Pencil-Lines, but well, all good things has to come to an end – it’ll be somewhat funny and weird not having to do PL anymore..Thank you so much for the wonderful time together, Anna + PL!! It will be fun to follow the new team on the sideline :)

Nevertheless..the papers are from Pink Paislee (from the Sweetness-collection), and the flowers from Prima and Kort & Godt.

I decided that since it was my last, official contributions (and I really liked the sketch as well), I might aswell do another CD-card (plus, I needed to make two of’em at once, so :p). Once again – papers and stickers from Pink Paislee (Starlight-collection)…I really like this collection, despite it being “4th of July”-themed – it’s still not that typical and quite versatile enough that I’ve used it a lot in the past. Am actually creating a layout with these papers atm too…

As you might notice, I turned the sketch some for this one.

And since there’s been quite a bit of photos on my blog lately, I figured I’d throw in another card, hm?

A quick card I created for my mother-in-law, who needed a card for her sister’s birthday. I used a mix of Fancy Pants (the base), 3ndypapir (the illustration of the girls + butterflies), Hambly Screenprints (love the birdcage-motif – one sheet of that transparency lasts forever the way I use them and is perfect for such cards/layouts :) ) and flowers from Kort&Godt and Prima.

I sprayed the image with glimmer-mist, it doesn’t show too well here but shimmers in reality :)

I love to pair two or more butterflies like this – it’s become pretty popular lately, and hey, one have to admit it looks better than just one butterfly alone? :)

Oh, and even a leftover-strip of Pink Paislee snuck in..haha..actually the same scrap I used for the first card in this post I just discovered :)

I do have a number of layouts I’ve created lately – but am not able to share yet (I think I count three or four waiting to be shared). Just sayin’, since it might seem like I’ve gone total cardmaker-y on you. I promise I have not. Not entirely, anyways :)

And for my yarn-friends (you know who you are!) – this looks like a great idea, doesn’t? Or will the birds think that’s like, food, and that’ll be bad? Eeh…

Okay, so I sort of promised that my next blogpost would be scrapbook-related. And this one is. Half of it, anyways. I’m in the middle of editing the babyphotos I mentioned earlier and they’re like, way too cute not to be shared like, immediately…sooo.

Right, card first ;) This is actually a CD-card I created for the babysession before this latest one – and I used Pencil-Lines sketch #230 and Fancy Pants Designs-papers for this card.

I used lots of older products on this one – this babyline is an older one, the badge from American Crafts and the journaling from Making Memories aswell. All part of my grand scheme to shrink my evergrowing stash (as if it helps ><)

Right.

Off to the photos: please meet sweet, sweet Alma! :)

Such a sweet sweet girl, I truly enjoyed shooting her (even when she started crying and required a nap to be able to tolerate even more shooting :p).

Now, notice the catchlights in her eyes? Sure, it’s just details, but hm, do you think it looks silly when they show at the bottom of the eyes? I *think* I read somewhere they should be between 10 and 2 o’clock sorta, to look somewhat more natural…which I ofcourse forgot about when I shot her. The catchlight here comes from my reflector, by the way.

At least the catchlights are “correct” here, hm. Hi Alma!

Starting to show the first signs of “do I really wanna cooperate?” :p
(now, I know this picture should be culled, but I have a hard time culling and I find such non-perfect pictures pretty darn cute still)

Look at this chubby, cute baby! *soft sigh*

Ofcourse – the mandatory must-have-feet-and-toes-picture…:)

Adding this picture just to show how we (ok, mostly her mom) tried to make her stay happy and watch in the general direction we hoped she’d look at for the pictures and stuff..teehee..

So darling…

This picture sort of has a serenity I just love being able to snap. I have at least another picture like that too, of mother and child, but I forgot to check w/her whether it was ok to have her on the blog as well so not sharing it here.

Right. As mentioned - I’m almost halfway through editing these pictures – hope to be done by Monday or Tuesday – and will probably share more pictures by then. The last pictures we shot were the best (think: awesome, vividly colored grannysquare-blanket) – I have no idea how I’ll pick which pictures to edit from this part of the session, sigh..I’ll probably just keep most!