2009 :: A look back

I'm sooo excited for this new year... before the clock strikes 12:00 I want to recap the wonderful adventures of 2009...

An Ardent Photography Photobooth

2009 was a terrific year for Ardent Photography... I started out the year shooting a wedding with Rachel of www.mergeweddings.com in Key West Florida. I flew to the island in a ridiculously small 8-seater airplane - in the co-pilot seat! I knew from that moment it was going to be a fantastic year!

In March I returned for my second straight year at the WPPI conference in Las Vegas, NV. I had a blast rooming with Molly Michel of m three studio and participating in classes and shootouts all week long. I bought my first "real" purse and necklace at Tiffany's... thank Molly for introducing me to nice things.


That Easter Andy and I took off to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for some along adult time. It was so very relaxing to have nothing to do besides sit and soak up the sun.

Shortly after our trip to Mexico I was hired to shoot my first destination wedding in the Dominican Republic. I brought along friend and photographer Miranda Zynda-Kneeland of Reminisce Photography to be my second shooter. It was a true honor and privilege to photograph Robin and Justin's wedding in Punta Cana.

My busy wedding schedule only allowed me to take a limited number of High School Seniors. This year I shot 10 sessions and had a blast photographing seniors from Xavier, Appleton East, North and West as well as a senior from Winneconne High Schools.

The summer's weddings brought lots of joyful moments in couples lives - and I loved shooting at many new locations. I especially loved shooting for Tracy and Tim in Pembine at the Four Season Resort and in Door County for Kirsten and Andrew at the family's private residence. Thank you to all of my wedding couples for making 2009 such a fantastic season!!!


The most joyful news of the summer had to be finding out I was pregnant with our second child - a GIRL!!! Drew will finally be a big brother - our due date is March 1, 2010. He wants to name her "Cook"... it's actually quite cute, we are calling her that for now... but we do have several cute girl names on our list!

In other business 2009 news... Unveiled Portraits - my boutique boudoir photography venture has been such a dream come true. I've shot more than 75 boudoir sessions total and in the month of October I raised $900 for my first ever Boudoir for Breast Cancer fund raiser with the help of matching funds from Invitation Consultants.

I was also featured in Wisconsin Bride Magazine as an expert in boudoir photography. I am beyond excited to continue photographing boudoir session in 2010 and continue to make Unveiled Portraits the best boudoir photography studio in the state of Wisconsin. Thank you to all of my wonderful ladies!!! Here's to a new year of loving your sexy-self just the way you are!!!

This year was also a great year for my family. We took our very first family vacation in December to Disney World. Seeing Disney through the eyes of a 3 year old was definitely magical.

Drew had the most fun on the Triceratops ride at Animal Kingdom and getting his face painted up like a dragon. For Andy and I, our favorite part of the trip was getting selected to see the fireworks show as VIP's at Epcot. We were the only people in the entire park that got to sit alongside the people who designed the show and just yards away from where the fireworks are shot off.

To help make way for lil' sister "Cook" Drew said goodbye to his toddler bed and hello to a big boy bed. He is doing great in the bed and hasn't fallen out yet... He also was bumped up in his swimming class at Swimtastic Swim School. He can swim all independently for 3 feet, he is also jumping into the pool and swims to the side - all by himself!

Andy caught the biggest fish at my brother Nic's bachelor party in Pickerel Lake, WI - the thing was a HUGE 42" and very very tasty ;-) He has also been very busy playing in his softball and pool leagues. We are very fortunate his company has been so successful this year and are looking forward to what the future holds. We are both so lucky to have careers we love and a family that we adore!


Have a very happy and prosperous 2010!!!!

xoxo Amy

License to Cruise...

Erica and Eric's wedding party stopped for drinks at Anduzzi's before their wedding reception on Friday night. College Ave. was just revving up for it's annual "License to Cruise" car show the night before the famous Octoberfest.

There was a staff photographer from the Post Crescent taking shots... he saw me setting up the wedding party and took a few shots. I am actually surprised the image was published in the paper... I wish I could have sent them the kick butt shot I took!

Enjoy!

Amy Gaerthofner of Ardent Photography photographs a wedding party in front of a vintage Chevy Impala along College Avenue in downtown Appleton during License to Cruise on Friday, September 25, 2009. Post-Crescent photo by Kirk Wagner Kirk Wagner

Image Source

Happy Friday!

I wanted to share a few images of me and my growing belly... and give you a bit of a status on how my pregnancy is going.

I am still feeling great! In fact, I have two weddings to shoot this weekend and my son's 3rd birthday party on Sunday... It should be a whirlwind of a weekend! My ultrasound is in a few weeks, we will find out if we are having a brother or a sister for big-bro Drew.

Side note: I was really sticking it out here, I'm only about 17 weeks in this image... These photos are going to be used in our Holiday cards and I wanted to look a bit farther along than I was. ;-)

This image was taken during our annual fall photo session. This year the Spottswoods took some amazing photos of my family. I'll post more of these fabulous pics closer to the Holidays.

Have a great weekend!

My pre-wedding season vacation

*** note ***
we are healthy and not affected in any way by the swine flu. We returned to the US on April 16th far ahead of the outbreaks.

In the last 12 months I've traveled quite a bit. I've even been to a few sunny locations like Hawaii and Key West. Even though it might seem like I've been on lot's of "vacations"... none of them can measure up to 5 days of nothing-ness all while enjoying it with your husband.

We stayed at the Riu Palace all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The weather was between 80-84 degrees and the only cloud we saw in the sky was on our last day. It took a good day for us to both unwind and actually believe that we were BOTH on this vacation with no responsibilities. No child to potty-train, no dog to feed, no dishes to do, no emails to write... by the second day I told Andy that I had nothing on my mind. No images in my head and no thoughts coming to mind; this has not happened for me in at least 3 years.

Besides laying in the sun we both read 500(ish) page books. I read Twilight and Andy read a thriller. If you know me, I do not read books very often. I'm more of a magazine or blog reader. So for me to finish a book in that short of time is pretty cool. (I could do an entire Twilight review post...)

We also tried out boogie boarding. My friend Marina Miller from Honolulu would be proud that I caught the very first wave with my "rad moves". We only had a little bit of time in the ocean but it was sooooo much fun!

The Riu Palace was excellent. The food was great, the service was amazing, the rooms were modern and soooo comfy, the room service was so much fun and free... I could go on and on.

The only downfall of our entire trip was on the flight from Chicago to Puerto Vallarta... the airline maintenance crew missed flipping a switch that flowed the water to the plane's restrooms. About one hour into our flight the captain came on "we are headed back to Chicago". We had to land, wait almost 2 hours and get on another plane... United Airlines made good on the blunder by offering us $150 towards our next ticket purchase and a free cocktail.

Here are some snapshots from our trip... taken with an 7 year old digital point and shoot camera.

My next "vacation" is only a few weeks away... I will be shooting a destination wedding in Punta Cana for an amazing Kaukauna couple. I am taking Miranda of Reminisce Photography and Design as my second shooter.

If you are looking to book an awesome vacation check out Funjet Vacations online

Fun photo time...

I came across this photo today... I thought it was too much fun not to blog about.


This is Natalie and me on College Avenue last October taking a photo break while headed to Trisha and Scott's reception at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel. Natalie will be working as an Assistant Photographer this season. She is really great at keeping me organized.

New respect for the Aviation industry...

This week I am in Key West shooting a wedding... part of my journey to the Key's included a trip on a very small plane. With the incident that happened today with the US Airlines flight that made an emergency landing in water I feel thankful that God has put his hand in the hands that fly us.

On January 13, my third and final flight of the day and after 15 hours into my trip, I found out we were to be flying a "very small aircraft". Hmmm... They asked us for our weight and weighed our bags. The gate agent mentioned that no carry-ons were allowed - period. I begged her that my camera gear needed to stay with me at all times. She was able to make an exception for me to store my bag in the back of the 10 seat plane. Whew!

The plane arrived and boy it was tiny!!! The controller asked "who wants to sit in the front?" - I quickly raised my hand! I can't believe I did that!!! Last year at this time I was deathly afraid of flying. My imagination gets the best of me... luckily my husband Andy is reassuring in telling me that things are going to be ok. I've flown a lot this past year... although I am still a bit nervous during take-off (and I say a little prayer during lift-off) I am a much better flying passenger.

During the take off of this flight I couldn't help but to smile from ear to ear! It was like taking to the air in a Buick! But what a blast! Luckily they allowed me to take my camera and keep it on my lap. It took every ounce of resistance I had to not move or look around too much. I was too afraid of distracting the captain (who was sitting about 8" away from me to the left) or causing unnecessary movement within the plane.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to fly in the co-pilot seat! And I want to send a big thank you to all of the people who call an aircraft their "office". We as passengers have a tendency to not listen to the safety instructions or look behind us for the nearest exit. Today has been a testimony to the dedication of safety of these workers.

Every Little Moment...

In 2008 I had the great pleasure of meeting for the first time Samantha and Aubrey at WPPI in Las Vegas. We shared a room together and got all dolled up and went to parties. I learned a lot about the two ladies and knew I wanted to someday shoot beside them.

In October I had a double header wedding weekend that required a second shooter. They were available and I flew them out to shoot with me that weekend. They helped shoot the weddings of Lizzie and Mike as well as Kathy and Jeremiah.

Of course they stayed a few extra days and we were able to do some fun photo sessions (and girlie stuff like makeup at the MAC counter and pedicures). Here are two of my favorites of them... and if you look a couple posts down you can see their work on our New Year's Day cards.

Samantha Nicole Johnson

Aubrey Robison

Please check out their blog and website at www.everylittlemomentphotography.com

Every Little Moment....

My friends Aubrey and Samantha of Every Little Moment Photography from Salt Lake City, Utah were in town last week as my guest shooters. We had lots of shoot on the calendar including 2 weddings, one engagement session and a couple of "just for fun" shoot outs.

The girls flew into O'Hare airport and rented an HHR to drive to Neenah. On the way into town they met up with me and local photographers in Hartford, WI for our monthly meeting. The girls were able to have a glimpse of the new project we are working on for our brides...

The next day we traveled to Oshkosh for a shoot-out between Ardent Photography and Every Little Moment. Included in this session was my assistant Natalie.

On Friday it was down to the Madison area to shoot a wedding for Lizzie and Mike. They had their reception at the Lake Windsor Golf Club... voted Best of 2008 by Wisconsin Bride Magazine for best reception venue!!! It was fab!

On Saturday we shot a local outdoor wedding at Smith Park in Menasha... This wedding was a BLAST to shoot. It was a military wedding with 4 members of the wedding party in their full dress military uniforms.

Sunday was time to get down to business with some relaxation time... we got makeovers at the MAC counter and pedicures to soothe our achy feet. Then we did another photo session and capped the night off with dinner and tiramisu at Victoria's.

It was such a blast hanging out with these girls! I can't wait until I can travel to Salt Lake and shoot with them!

Something new...

I have been wanting to try this for a while... I almost always do an "opposites attract" photo with my engagement and wedding couples. But I wanted to put a spin on it and create an image with multiple exposures...

I like how it turned out....

Boston and NYC!!!

Top ten things I did on my trip out East!

#1 visited NYC
- Saw a show on Broadway Wicked
- visited Times Square
- World Trade Center site
- Walked the Brooklyn Bridge
- Grand Central Station
- B&H Photo
- New York Cheese Cake at Roxy's
- got some amazing shots of the city
- visited Radio City Music Hall
- Saw the Today Show set

#2 hung out with Anne Ruthmann
- along with Rachel and our husbands...

#3 Got a personal tour of MIT and Harvard

#4 Dessert at Mike's Pastry

#5 Fenway Park

#6 Trains, planes and automobiles

#7 Filene's Basement

#8 Breakfast at the Paramount

#9 Got to spend time with my husband

#10 Finished a business book


So my trip to Boston to shoot a wedding turned into a mini-vacation for my husband and I. I was originally hired by Rachel Hadiashar of MERGEweddings as an associate photographer for a wedding in Boston on September 6th. There ended up being a miscommunication and Rachel and I no longer had the gig. I had already booked my tickets and pretty much would loose out on my money so Andy and I decided to make the trip anyway.

I had a second opportunity to shoot with Gwyneth Colleen Photography, a photographer who I last shot with while in Boston earlier this year. That opportunity also fell through last minute as well as a couple of portrait sessions I was to be a part of. Soooo, Andy and I decided to make the best of the situation tour Boston and make a trip to New York City.

We were enthusiastically welcomed to town by Rachel who picked us up at the airport and immediately swooped us into her tour of Boston's MIT and Harvard. It was sooo much fun to hear about the colleges and to think of all the young minds who are being educated there.

The second night in Boston we (Andy, Rachel and Rachel's husband Ali) all traveled to Lowell, MA to meet up with "Rock Star Wedding Photographer" Anne Ruthmann and her husband Alex. We sipped beer and ate great food while talking. After dinner we walked to a gallery showing of a independent film maker and listened to a live jazz band. It was great fun - and sooo incredibly normal to be hanging out with people who have the exact same passions in life as you.

The very next morning we took the Boltbus from Boston to NYC Saturday morning... the bus dropped us right across the street from B&H Photo in downtown Manhattan! More on B&H later... After our 4 hour bus ride (which wasn't that bad because of the power receptacles and wi-fi) we needed to find our hotel to shower and dress for our night on Broadway. We hopped on the subway and made our way to the Hilton. Soon after our arrival the effects of tropical storm Hannah hit. It poured buckets and I mean big huge drops of rain for hours and hours... Our first night in NYC was a washout.

We found our way to a cute little Italian restaurant for our pre-theatre meal. It was awesome and authentic way to fill our bellies for the night ahead. We hopped in a cab after dinner to avoid getting my new Nine West hot pink pumps wet in the huge NYC puddles and made our way to the Gershwin Theatre to see Wicked.

I have to admit... we are very lucky in Wisconsin to have some amazing performing arts venues. I imagined Broadway to have lavish theatres with beautiful articulate details. The Gershwin was kinda ordinary by the looks of it.

When the curtain lifted on the actors I knew we were in for an amazing evening. The stage was awesome! The cast was AMAZING. The costuming, lighting and orchestra really came across as something special. My very first Broadway show was one to remember for a lifetime!!! Now I can check off one of the things I've always, always, always wanted to do. Check.

After the show it finally stopped raining. So we decided to explore the city. I grabbed my camera and we went out of the town. We hit Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, the Ed Sullivan Theatre... I got some pretty cool night shots in Times Square while playing around with slower shutter speeds.

The next morning we were bound and determined to explore the city even more. So we got of early and headed downtown towards the Financial District. Our main goal was to visit Ground Zero. We emerged from the subway and at the top of the stairs there is was. It was a powerful moment for Andy and I. Almost seven years to the date we were there. I plan on doing a separate blog post in dedication of September 11th....

Being in the area and after dedicating much of the morning to the Freedom Tower memorial construction site. We decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm sure if you've been to NYC before it is totally the "touristy" thing to do... but as a photographer I knew I could get some neat shots if I was willing to take the hike... it was worth it.

New York City was fascinating to me... it is one of the places I've always wanted to be. Some of the other quick touristy things we did was visit Grand Central Station, Macy's and (my fav) B&H Photo!

The next day back in Boston I was able to shoot a real session... yay! I was just itching to shoot someone other than my unwilling husband :-) It was a high school senior session and it was fun. I was able to shoot a few and assist Rachel. When we returned home we brainstormed ideas - watch out!!! We have some excellent stuff coming down the road...

Now I'm home and with my soon to be two-year-old son. It is good to be back, but I have lots of catching up to do...

Thanks for reading my incredibly long blog post!

Start spreading the news...

I'm leaving for NYC and Boston on Thursday... I can't wait to shoot and vacation a bit!!! We were lucky enough to get tickets to see Wicked on Broadway - really good seats too!

While in Boston I will be shooting with and for Rachel Hadiashar of MERGEweddings.com some of you may remember reading about Rachel when she shot for me in June.

Thanks for being patient with me as I travel... I hope to check email often and get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks!
Amy

Mastering an image...

I include retouching with all prints 8x10 and larger. Bottom line is that I want you to have a perfect portrait. I will correct the image to look amazing... not to look "photoshopped".

Prior to starting Ardent Photography I was an Art Director and worked daily in Photoshop mastering both images and graphics. I began using Photoshop in 1996 - it is amazing how far it has come since the "one undo"!

Here is an example of a recent order. The bride's mother ordered an 8x10 portrait and I brightened the eyes, softened the skin and just overall "polished" the image.

Unveiled Portraits :: Grand Opening Special $50 off!

Next on-location session is August 2nd and 3rd... Call now to reserve your appointment time. Only 6 spots left!!!!

Grand Opening Special
$50 off boudoir session now through the end of October.

1.5 on-loaction boudoir session
2 outfits/looks
10 page 5x5 album and it's images on a cd
All files are "digitally mastered" and captured in a classy tasteful way.
$50 print/product credit

$300 for a limited time only

Lauren and Kevin :: June 7, 2008

Yes - 06-07-08! What an awesome date to be married! And awesome it was! Lauren and Kevin's wedding is by far the most eventful and crazy wedding I ever encountered in my life!

The day started out in the mid 80's - hot, sunny and humid. I was happy when I entered the church to find out that the AC was on full blast! Lauren and her girls were getting ready in the bride's room and Kevin and his guys were in the parking lot decorating their pick-up trucks.

The first challenge of the day came from the pastor of the church. I wasn't allowed to come up the middle aisle for any part of the ceremony. That meant I couldn't be in my usual spot for the rings, the unity candle or the kiss! Luckily the pastor allowed me to be half way up on the side aisles... I captured the exchanging of the rings from the right aisle and Jason Samsa (a photographer shadowing and second shooting) covered it from the left aisle. I ended up sitting as a guest in the pew for the kiss and popped out at the last moment to get an awesome shot from the center. I was able to capture all the moments as they happened and from a more unique angle.

After the ceremony and receiving line we were ready to start shooting the group formals. At that exact moment the tornado sirens started to blast. I hurried and completed all the family and wedding party poses. After the last group the power flickered and eventually the church lost all power. The sirens went off again and eventually everyone that was left in the church found their way to the basement.

Sometimes challenges can lead to more creativity in the way I shoot and not having access to light is a major challenge! Another challenge was to keep the momentum of the day from dying out. So we played! Jason came up with a great idea of painting with light. I had all the bridesmaids and the bride open up their cell phones and trace letters in the air while I photographed them with a long exposure. The results were fantastic!!! We had soooo much fun and it made the one and a half hours in the basement of the church go by without stress.

We finally made our way to the reception hall, thank goodness the power was on! I was able to shoot about 15min outdoors with no rain. I decided to stay past my end time to get some outdoor shots of the bride and groom alone. It was worth staying the extra hour to get beautiful images of Lauren and Kevin on the golf course.

Here are some more highlights: